When I get super terrible, a single tablet (2mg) can make me feel better. Doesn't even make me feel like I need another. Fine for weeks
They called it a peace pipe for a reason. We're the ones that went and capitalized on it and made it horrible and deadly addictive.
My question exactly.. I genuinely don't get it
Like many things, it's an irrational decision to start at some point, and then addiction keeps you doing it. I have tried out a few drugs in my teenage/young adult years, including some "hard" ones, which ended up genuinely being one-off curiosity things for me. But the one that I simply wasn't able to kick until last year was nicotine. It really is scarily addictive for something so widespread and legal. (Alcohol was also hard, but easier for me).
That, and the part about "no high" is just not really true, even after you develop a dependency/addiction (with rapidly diminishing returns, of course). But especially when first starting to vape/smoke, there are very much effects beyond placebo. It hooks into a lot of your neurochemistry, and like most things that do, you feel that. To the point that, e.g., many people that consume weed with tobacco, will think the initial wooziness they feel is already due to the weed, when really, it is a tobacco hit. The weed effects generally come afterwards.
Of course, the effect is not at all as intense as alcohol or other drugs, but there are effects. There are also, to my knowledge, some indications, that a lot of people with ADHD use it to self-medicate, since it seems to affect them differently, like other drugs do, too.
Of course, the effect is not at all as intense as alcohol or other drugs, but there are effects. There are also, to my knowledge, some indications, that a lot of people with ADHD use it to self-medicate, since it seems to affect them differently, like other drugs do, too.
Sounds plausible; nicotine is a stimulant by means of triggering the release of adrenaline, dopamine, and serotonin. That is pretty much what an ADHD brain lacks.
I've done coke, meth, acid, ecstasy, heavy amounts of opiates and I had been a full on alcoholic for years and I stopped all of those, quite easily as well. Cigarettes are another story tho.
One time I tried quitting cigarettes cold turkey and had a mild heart attack.
I've gotten close before but I just end up back here smoking.
Nicotine is by far the most addictive drug I've ever taken.
Definitely. I'm sure that the experience is also different for different people, but ~~overall~~ for me, it was really hard to get rid of. I was basically non-functioning for about 2 weeks, when I quit cold turkey last year, and I still get cravings every now and then, and I still don't feel "the same", just, in an overall psychological/bodily way that is hard to convey. Also, the (unwanted) weight gain after I quit was very much an unfortunate reality.
That is probably not the experience everyone has, different physiologies and psychological factors and all that, but I am certainly not the only person I anecdotally heard from, that had an intense struggle with the stuff. And it's also not the first time I heard from other people having gone through other addictions mentioning, that nicotine is the one they struggled with the most, or are still struggling with.
Bottom line: Don't start with nicotine, it really is not worth it. And if you are already caught up in it, and are one of the people that just can't quit - don't feel like you are weak or anything like that. Nicotine really is that addictive.
As someone who has done a lot of drugs, nicotine having "no high" is just bs. Yeah it's mild, but take a few drags very quickly and find out.
Besides the chemical addiction part, it's also a genuinely social one as well.
Smoking areas are designated places where strangers talk to each other. Asking for a light or offering one is a super simple way to break the ice. My dad quit cold turkey several times but he always fell back into the habit hanging with his friends
Smoking is also an activity that some workplaces allow you to use to justify extra breaks.
For example, it's easier for one of my coworkers to go outside and have a smoke break without judgement than it is for me to go sit in the break room for 5-10 minutes and eat a snack if I'm tired.
My grandfather picked up smoking in WWII because non-smoke4s didn't get any breaks from digging trenches.
It took over 50 years, but WWII still managed to kill him.
Still a big reason a lot of joes start smoking. If you don’t have nicotine and alcohol issues going in, the Army is happy to issue you some.
Also, nicotine serves as a pretty fair appetite suppressant and stimulant, thus why some of us fell into the habit in early college. Easier to justify the cost of a meal a day and a smoke than it is for the supplies to make three squares a day, at least in a food desert.
Yeah, my coworkers take smoke breaks together and I genuinely think I missing some important socialization because I don't smoke
When I smoked, we had people that would just come and hang out for the break and the conversation. Go for it, it's fine. Just don't complain about smoking or you won't be welcome, predictably enough.
I can speak as someone who previously smoked for a decade+ and then quit. I started because some friends who smoked offered me one and I was dumb enough to say yes. Horrible. But there was a very nice immediate head rush/high. And then that led to friends continuing to offer cigarettes and me continuing to be dumb. And then addiction takes hold and it goes from there.
I probably didn't actually BUY my own smokes until I'd already smoked more than a carton off of other people offering.
And it is a HARD drug to quit. Still to this day when I smell someone smoking a cig I immediately get the "awww fuck I could really use one of those right now" urges
As a non-smoker, I get that sensation when I smell a cigar or cigarillo - a sweet scent of tobacco.
But cigarettes? What's even to smell? It just smells like an ash toilet
It just smells like an ash toilet
IMO that's part of why so many people (me included) fall for this shit: "there's no way I'll become addicted to this horrendous shit, no harm in bumming another one to look cool".
Because it's a drug that makes you feel good?
Also: I am now convinced that a sizable portion of the Population is neurodivergent in a way that Nicotine does A LOT more for them than "a slight calming effect".
Because it’s a drug that makes you feel good?
More specifically, its a stimulant that makes your brain more active and helps you cut through your exhaustion. Like caffeine, its a "work drug" designed to crank more units of labor out of you in a limited time span, at the expense of your overall health and well-being.
That's why capitalist countries have been so loathe to outlaw it, when compared to the creative/transgressive stimulants like LSD and THC.
TL;DR: Show me someone with any hard-to-quit habit, and I'll show you someone that's self-medicating for something.
This is tragically under-appreciated in our society. Especially when it seems everyone is converging on some kind of self-diagnosis, and collectively coming to a "hey nobody's normal" conclusion. We're so very close to framing help as "harm reduction for nicotine" and "maybe it's also neurodiversity and/or trauma", but we keep missing the mark and argue about vapes instead.
Also, as the greentext suggests, I personally think we're way past the point where people that can avoid starting or can quit easy, have already done so. What you see these days is a rather hard-core use cohort that has complex addiction to work through.
So.. yeah. Helping a friend quit? Please work with them to consider the jenga-tower of adverse psychology that a-pack-a-day might be holding up. It could be way harder to pull off than either of you think.
Apparently there are some people that live under the illusion that nicotine doesn't actually do anything, I saw one of these guys in another thread. I'm sure whoever placed them under that illusion did it with good intentions, but the implication that there are people getting hooked on it every day just to look cool is so funny
Smoking a cigarette feels like you’ve been standing your entire life and you just sat down. Then it feels like nothing and the world hurts when you don’t have it
I haven't smoked in 15 years, and I could start again tomorrow. I love smoking and still miss it.
Thats a good streak, dude. Keep going :)
Yah, remembering the feeling of being knifed in the chest still keeps me from going back.
This is actually a very good description of how a shot of heroin feels, when you have a habit. It's just much moreso than cigarettes.
A friend of mine started smoking because it was the only way to take regular breaks from his construction job.
I just went out with the smokers when they were taking smoke breaks. I only ever got shit about it from two bosses and everyone else backed me up so they dropped the issue.
Need to shit? Smoke a cigarette quickly and you will soon be shitting. Need to relax? Long slow drags of a cig will relax you? Need to perk up lots of short quick puffs will raise ypur energy levels (note do not do this if holding back a shit)
Experiencing the constipation, stress, and fatigue commonly associated with a nicotine withdrawal? Try nicotine!
It certainly does have an effect, albeit much less than hard drugs. I've smoked twice. The second time I decided to try a cigarette with a beer to see why people liked it so much. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to never try smoking again.
Basically why I am extremely hesitant to try most drugs. Either I don't like it, or I DO like and and want to keep trying it... either way the odds of it being a good thing for me long term are pretty sketchy.
I believe the head rush effect is mostly when you first start and after that it diminishes and then you're just dealing with the withdrawal.
I was in the military, and smokers got breaks.
It does have a felt effect, but is very mild. The thing is that the body loves nicotine, and even if you’re not consciously getting high, your body is getting high. That’s why vapes were able to become popular.
The body loves it so much, the smoke stops smelling bad to you.
And finally, the fact that it smells bad & keeps people away is a GOOD thing.
smokers got breaks.
When I quit smoking, I pretty much stopped going to parties, conventions, dance clubs, and concerts. Having an excuse to get out of the crowd and noise and decompress for ten minutes every couple of hours made "going out" so much more tolerable for me.
vaping is the new cool thing. I wasn't super socially present through high school, but I know that lots of the kids there do vape in the bathrooms and stuff and it's seen as cool somehow
I just watched Casablanca for the first time a couple of days ago, and as someone that hates smoking, I just don't get how it came to be everywhere back in the day. Ingrid Bergman is probably the only non-smoker in the entire movie! Both her (breast, 69) and Humphrey Bogart (esophageal, 57) died of cancer.
Growing up with two smoking parents that'd both gladly hotbox their kids, my brother and I, when we drove anywhere was just awful. I really don't get how you can do that to other people without feeling ashamed.
That first set of parenthesese were really confusing until I read the rest of the sentence.
You’ve obviously never been a smoker 🚬 sweet sweet nicotine, i miss u so!
Because nothing matters. Never gonna retire. Never gonna own a home. Couldnt afford kids even if i wanted them. Why worry about "being productive" into my fuckin 80s?
Addiction is a helluva drug!
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