“..So why do we still smoke?….(What people experience as pleasure or relaxing is really the sensation of going from feeling really crappy to just about normal..”)
“..It makes our clothes smell, turns us into social outcasts –
– and we know it’s killing us…”
(first..can we clear up this myth..that is repeated here..)
“..Addiction
Smoking is at least as addictive as heroin, cocaine or alcohol. ..”
(this equivalence-claim is a load of absolute horse-shit..self-pitying/justifying rubbish usually trotted out by someone hanging off a cigarette..
..having experimented to a reasonably serious degree with all..
..i would rate them as heroin:..most ‘addictive’/worst withdrawals..and by a country mile..
..next in seriousness i would rate alcohol..
..then nicotine..
..then cocaine..
(n.b..i am just talking/rating here on how addictive each is….and the severity of withdrawals/difficulties in stopping..)
“..Almost no one enjoys his or her first cigarette, and perseverance is usually down to peer pressure.
“But by the time the novelty of smoking has worn off, you’re likely to be hooked,” says Professor John Britton, chair of the Royal College of Physicians’ Tobacco Advisory Group.
It’s the nicotine, a chemical that is less harmful than caffeine, that creates the dependence.
But the method of delivery is also part of the addiction.
The tobacco industry has invested heavily to make the smoke easier to inhale..
.. speeding the nicotine into the bloodstream to hit the brain in around seven seconds.
As well as being more harmful and creating greater dependency, this also ensures that other nicotine products –
- patches, gums and sprays – simply don’t hit the spot.
Once delivered to the brain, a range of brain receptors are able to use the nicotine to help stimulate production of dopamine..
.. the brain chemical that plays a part in making us feel pleasure.
“As the effect wears off, you need another cigarette to stave off withdrawal symptoms including anxiety, nervousness, agitation and depression,” explains Professor Britton.
“What people experience as pleasure or relaxing is really the sensation of going from feeling really crappy to just about normal,” he says.
The brain learns to tolerate nicotine quite quickly..
..and there are different degrees of addiction..
..depending on the age you start smoking..
..how many cigarettes you smoke..
..and how deeply you inhale..”
(those latter qualifications also apply to those other drugs..)
go to source/story>>So why do we still smoke? - Features, Health & Wellbeing - The Independent