Smoking: worse addiction that heroin or crack cocaine?

fadfere wrote:

Porn addiction is horrible.

Same with gambling, alcoholism....

Running, positive addiction or not?

Why a lot of us will continue even with injuries?

Or is there such a thing as an addictive personality type?

So, I gave up coffee for awhile, didn't miss it that much.

Thanks for feedback on this thread.

'Monkeygirl', is there such a thing as an addictive personality type?

Afraid I can't answer your question but you well may be right.

monkeygirl wrote:

Nicotine is the most versatile, and therefore the most addictive drug available. It can be used to calm or settle your nerves. It can also be used as a stimulant. This versatility makes it so addictive. This can not be said for other drugs which tend to only work on the nervous system in 1 way or the other. Nicotine also requires much more regular doses, and addicts adjust their dosing without even realizing it - depending on the nicotine levels in their system. From a standpoint purely of which drug is most addictive, hands down nicotine. Its been a while since I took behavioral pharmacology, but I do believe that the withdrawl symptoms are also worse....though on that point I am not 100% certain. Anyone else have any knowledge on that??

The WD symptoms are definitely NOT worse than heroin. Nicotine is said to be more addicting than any other substance though. I've heard this from a few different people, even drug counselors. Nicotine WD usually produces bad anxiety and irritability, etc., but it's not nearly as physically and mentally taxing as an opiate/opiod withdrawal.

Part of any addiction includes fear of withdrawal. With cocaine/crack/other stimulants WD tends to be more mental, while opiates/opiods have a very strong physical WD. There's definitely a much bigger fear of WD when you're going to get sick and very uncomfortable when it sets in.

Reefer Madness wrote:

The WD symptoms are definitely NOT worse than heroin. Nicotine is said to be more addicting than any other substance though. I've heard this from a few different people, even drug counselors. Nicotine WD usually produces bad anxiety and irritability, etc., but it's not nearly as physically and mentally taxing as an opiate/opiod withdrawal.

Part of any addiction includes fear of withdrawal. With cocaine/crack/other stimulants WD tends to be more mental, while opiates/opiods have a very strong physical WD. There's definitely a much bigger fear of WD when you're going to get sick and very uncomfortable when it sets in.

Nicotine withdrawal vs crack cocaine WD? That's what I thought could be true. Maybe it's to do with the once social acceptance of smoking, how in the 50's it was fashionable or cool to be lighting up vs snorting cocaine or mainlining heroin. Now there's so much pressure to ban smoking from public places, even in one's own apartment due to neighbours's complaining as well as any workplace.

Now what about crystal meth (death) addictions? I hear one only has to try this just once they are hooked badly on this!

Zyban makes it realitively easy to give the smokes away.

There has been a lot of negatives surrounding the use of zyban.

The truth is a two month risk of side effects from Zyban is, by far,a better option than the risk of a life time of smoking.

when i was on zyban it felt like i was on acid all the time. that was enough to stop using it.

snatch wrote:

Zyban makes it realitively easy to give the smokes away.

There has been a lot of negatives surrounding the use of zyban.

The truth is a two month risk of side effects from Zyban is, by far,a better option than the risk of a life time of smoking.

I've heard people use Wellbutrin for this.

As far as meth, it's not the crazy, one-hit you're addicted drug that people make it out to be. However, whenever I've seen someone addicted to meth, they are in far worse condition than H or crack.

It's the mental state of mind the meth user is in, when I say they're worse off. The H user will be in fear of WD and realize that the life is being either high or sick. It's a lot easier to see your life falling apart.

A meth head will stay up for days, then pass out and wake up, avoiding parts of the 'crash'. It seems they have a harder time seeing past the drug. Every substance can be like this, meth keeps them blinded until it's too late in most cases.

Plus, there's not much that can help a meth addict when they quit.

For opiates/opiods, you can get on a suboxone program and meet with a licensed doctor every 1-2weeks.

For the posters here who have had an addiction, what keeps it up? I've never smoked, been an alcoholic or on any other drugs and I'm curious into the state of mind of an addict. What is it that doesn't make quitting an act of will to endure the suffering and be done the poison?

do you want to hear from a voice of experience? well, what happens is that the drugs polute your mind and you cant see what they are doing to you. cigarette smoking is actually the worse of the 3 because it is still somewhat social acceptable and people use it as a crutch to kick the dope.

its easier to see how the heroin is destroying you. cocaine will drain your wallet really fast. cigarettes are cheap, available everywhere and harder to see how they are destroying yourself.

of the 3, cigs are the hardest to kick. heroin is the ugliest. listen closely to the lyrics in the song "under the bridge" by red hot chili peppers and "heaven beside you" by alice in chains. that will paint a better picture for you. or "spoonman"...

The price of cigarettes has gone up though. Someone I know would save himself $300.00 per month if he could ever quit.

Socially acceptable? Yeah when one thinks back to the Malboro Man ads back in the 50's.

more socially acceptable than heroin or cocaine. you wont be thrown in jail for cigs

Try This:

From 'Big Sugar'

light it up

we've been a little more than just friends

and in most cases that's just where it ends

but i took the time to stoke up your flame

can i get a witness to back up my claim

now i'm standin' so close to your fire

if i say that i quit ya, you can call me a liar

now we've been a little more than just friends

and where we go now, i guess that depends

if i get myself caught up in your scene

black hair, black coffee, and hard nicotine

i can't sleep, i can't eat

need you to hold my hand so i can cross the street

oh yeah, she's all that

oh yeah, she's all that

sugar in my coffee

oh yeah, makes me mean

oh yeah, she's all that

oh yeah, she's all that

i'm her silver dollar,

she's my slot machine

oh yeah, she's all that

oh yeah, she's all that

oh yeah, why I call her

tina, my nicotine

we've been a little more than just friends

and where we go now, i guess that depends

oh yeah, she's all that

oh yeah, she's all that

sugar in my coffee

oh yeah, makes me mean

oh yeah, she's all that

oh yeah, she's all that

she's my V8 motor

i'm her gasoline

oh yeah, she's all that

oh yeah, she's all that

i'm her silver dollar,

she's my slot machine

oh yeah, she's all that

oh yeah, she's all that

oh yeah, why i call her

tina, my nicotine

nicotine

my nicotine

Just about sums it all up.

or this one - down in a hole

Bury me softly in this womb

I give this part of me for you

Sand rains down and here I sit

Holding rare flowers

In a tomb...in bloom

Down in a hole and I dont know if I can be saved

See my heart I decorate it like a grave

You dont understand who they

Thought I was supposed to be

Look at me now a man

Who wont let himself be

Down in a hole, feelin so small

Down in a hole, losin my soul

Id like to fly,

But my wings have been so denied

Down in a hole and theyve put all

The stones in their place

Ive eaten the sun so my tongue

Has been burned of the taste

I have been guilty

Of kicking myself in the teeth

I will speak no more

Of my feelings beneath

Down in a hole, feelin so small

Down in a hole, losin my soul

Id like to fly but my

Wings have been so denied

Bury me softly in this womb

Oh I want to be inside of you

I give this part of me for you

Oh I want to be inside of you

Sand rains down and here I sit

Holding rare flowers (oh I want to be inside of you)

In a tomb...in bloom

Oh I want to be inside...

Down in a hole, feelin so small

Down in a hole, losin my soul

Down in a hole, feelin so small

Down in a hole, outta control

Id like to fly but my

Wings have been so denied

for the record; the writer of these lyrics lost the battle with his addiction.

Tuone Udaina wrote: For the posters here who have had an addiction, what keeps it up? I've never smoked, been an alcoholic or on any other drugs and I'm curious into the state of mind of an addict. What is it that doesn't make quitting an act of will to endure the suffering and be done the poison?

Some additional factors to what was already said:

- denial & procrastination are a powerful combo, e.g. it's surprisingly easy to believe yourself when you say "I'll quit next week" for the 90th week in a row, at least it is when you're predisposed to believe anything which will "protect" your habit

- the tough part isn't saying no at this moment, or at 6 PM tomorrow, or next Wednesday - it's saying no at all future moments, for days and weeks and months and years to come, including when you've had a few drinks, when your wife or girlfriend or boss pisses you off, when you're going crazy because an injury has prevented you from running for a few weeks, when you find out your dad's had a heart attack, etc.

- the urge doesn't simply disappear after "the poison has left the body" in a few days or weeks; it's not at all like after the cessation of purely physical withdrawal symptoms (which are really pretty short-lived and not so bad for nicotine) the addict is purged of desire for his former behavior

- in the case of smoking you're saying no not primarily to a bit of "enjoyment" but to a practice that's become a really deeply embedded part of your life, as you've employed it dozens of times a day for years to cope with various feelings and situations - now you've got to face all of those feelings and situations without a cigarette and find a different way to deal with each of them

If you quit an addiction but continually, perpetually long for it, feel that you're missing out on something and desperately need it back and would feel so much better if only you could revisit that feeling for a brief moment just this once, feel like you've gotten through all these days and weeks of self-denial but now you're fried from that constant exercise of will and just want to go "home" - meaning the chemical brain state you used to seek out... well, it's somewhere between highly probable and certain that sooner or later you'll give in, if you're trying to do this on will alone.

Jacking off is the hardest addiciton, then cigarrettes, then alcohol, then the rest of everything

You really have a problem, sorry to hear about that.

I see why people might THINK smoking is worse than crack or heroin, even people who have been addicted to both smoking and crack or heroin. However, even though I have never done either, I have done some addictive drugs, and I can say with certainty that for the EXTREME addict, a cig addiction PALES compared to a smack addiction, or a coke addiction, or pills, or even alcohol. Why? Because smoking DOESN'T TAKE THE PAIN AWAY... you see... that is why addicts do their drugs of choice, to feel happy again. It is self medicating. And although people do self-medicate with cigs, as they do with food or masturbation or anything else, cigarettes are simply NOT as effective at self medicating as heroin or coke/crack, even marijuana. In fact, I know several potheads who say it would be to tougher for them to quit pot than cigs, for this very reason. Pot allows them to forget about the rest of the world and veg out. Cigarettes don't do this.

Cigarettes are bad, very very habitual, and nicotine is obviously quite addictive, but it simply does not have the power to consume someone's LIFE like heroin or cocaine does.