Eastern Iowans have a sweet new alternative to try and quit smoking. Coralville pharmacist Mike Stein is making lollipops laced with nicotine in two strengths. He offers a variety of flavors like watermelon, cinnamon and strawberry, which some people prefer to the nicotine gums on the market.A doctor’s prescription is required. Stein is also selling the suckers at a sister drug store in Waterloo. In addition to the advantage of better taste, Stein says the lollipops are preferred to the nicotine patches because they offer a “burst” of nicotine, much more like a cigarette. The sugar-free suckers help satisfy the hand-to-mouth fixation of cigarettes, too. Depending on a person’s addiction, he says it may take four-to-twelve weeks to quit smoking using the lollipops. Stein sells the “NicoStop” lollipops in five-packs for 20-dollars, which he says is a fair price for trying to “lick” the dirty habit.
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