srry about yesterday - random building evac due to a gas leak.
I'll pick up where I left off.
You say that you crave the effects when you weren't smoking. Hell, I crave the effects too - but I know for DAMN sure that I'm not addicted to them. Just because you really want to do something, that doesn't necessarily constitute an addiction, does it?
because of my schedule and my love of driving (or dare I say...ADDICTION... to driving) I haven't been good and drunk for a long long LONG LONG time, and I have a bottle of Goldschlagger and some Puerto Rican Rum in More Spam Vomit I have been DYING to chug, but I haven't taken a sip of either because I need to go places or can't risk a hangover on a weekday.
Here's how I see it:
Heroin and other drugs can really only be enjoyed in the privacy of your own or a friend's home. Going out while intoxicated with these is very risky.
Alcohol can be enjoyed in someone's home, or in a restaurant or bar or bowling alley or pool hall or any other social place. Going out while intoxicated is minimally risky as long as you are accompanied by a friend who isn't intoxicated.
Smoking can be enjoyed in all of the above mentioned places, except you can do it while driving, don't need a friend around, and can only get in trouble for having them if you're under 18 years old.
All of the above mentioned things make people feel physically and mentally better when used. Now, there are a few people out there who really need a powerful high or buzz, and wont settle for something as small as a nicotine rush. But for the rest of the world, that's exactly what they need - quick, easy, legal, & once the cig is out you can do anything you want.
Smokers are everywhere, and nicotine is very easy to get a hold of. I think THAT'S the reason it's so hard to quit, not because of the drug itself. And, no offense, but comparing heroin to nicotine is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. A heroin addiction is about 100,000x worse than a nicotine addiction. If you take heroin ONCE, there is a 3% chance that your withdraw symptoms will become so severe you will die if not hospitalized in time. The expression "Cold Turkey" actually comes from heroin, because when you try to quit you get huge goosebumps and sweat profusely, and your skin resembles that of a cold dead turkey.
Don't get me wrong, I'm sure nicotine withdraw blows, but I think a lot of the "cravings" are psychological, not physical, effects. You associate the smell and taste of cigs with a rush, so when you smell smoke on other people, like Pavlov's salivating dogs, your body expects a high. When you don't deliver, the contrast between how your mind thinks your body should feel versus how your body actually does feel creates the craving. Compared to how you feel on a nicotine high, your sober body feels slugish or weak or drained.
Does this sound logical to any of you smokers out there, or am I seriously underestimating the vice of nicotine?
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