IN 1967, in India, I came across a practitioner of ancient Ayurvedic medicine who successfully used a decoction of common oats (Avena sativa) to cure the opium habit. While using an alcoholic extract of the plant on a group of opium addicts, several patients reported a loss of interest in smoking. The drug is listed in the United States Dispensatory and National Formulary1–2, yet no reference has been traced regarding its application on smokers (Library of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, personal communication). I have therefore studied the effect of this drug on a group of smokers.