Acupuncture is an age old traditional Chinese therapy, which involves the accurate placement of fine needles on specific points of the body to achieve a therapeutic goal. Often viewed as a sham by most western practitioners, acupuncture is slowly making its way into the arsenal of anti-smoking groups. Its use to combat nicotine dependence in the West began by chance after observers in Hong Kong noted that opium smokers receiving acupuncture for pain relief began experiencing less severe withdrawal symptoms than expected. This led to a wave of experimentation by acupunture practitioners with the sole aim of helping smokers quit their dependence on nicotine

2 techniques have been developed:

• Needles are inserted during an acupunture session, and left for the entire session, often lasting 20 minutes. This is done on a specified quit date and repeated several days later when the withdrawal symptoms become noticable.
• Indwelling needles or beads are fixed onto pressure points in the ear lobe (attached with surgical tape) and the participant is then asked to press these attachments intermittently or during periods when the crave for nicotine needs to be suppressed.

Early studies on the effects of acupuncture have reported encouraging success. In 1982, a study by Fuller boasted a success rate of 95% in the first few months, and in 1983, another study by Choy reported a 88% success rate. However, subsequent studies have revealed inconsistent findings, and various reports have attempted to critique the efficacy of acupuncture based on different research data.

Conclusion: The current conclusion is that there are no consistent evidence showing that active acupunture techniques have an effect on quitting smoking. This does not mean that acupunture is useless, but that the studies to date contain various flaws that make it difficult to draw a definite conclusion. Acupunture shows a positive outcome in the hands of experienced users and it is definitely better than stopping cold turkey.