edski@mot.UUCP (Ed Skinner) (09/18/85)
Do adults ever start smoking if they've never smoked before?
I recently quit (two months "clean" after twenty-five years of smoking)
and I can think of no adults who've started who weren't already hooked! If you
make it thru the teen years without becoming addicted, you never will.
Please note that I don't count anyone who hasn't smoked "for a long time"
and then starts again - Nicotene addiction is permanent: It doesn't matter if
the addiction is physical, or psychological, or anything else. It's real, and
it lasts forever. Even if you quit, you're still an addict.
Kids and teenagers start, adults quit: There's a lesson here.
--
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ihnp4!allegra!seismo!terak!mot!edski
Ed Skinner, Motorola, 2900 S Diablo Way, Tempe Az 85282, (602)438-3064rwh@aesat.UUCP (Russ Herman) (09/18/85)
Either nicotine is not addictive (in the strict sense), or not all cigarette
smokers are nicotine addicts. I offer my own behavior in evidence, as follows.
20 years ago I was a cigarette smoker, 1-1/2 packs a day. I quit after six
months; just stopped enjoying them. Now I smoke a pipe in two kinds of
situations: at work (5 days a week), and if I'm at my in-laws (about once a
month, on a weekend). Now since I only smoke a pipe, and regularly go 48
hours at a stretch without it, I don't believe I can be classified as
nicotine addicted. Now, here's the kicker. Once or twice a year, I forget
to bring my pipe to my in-laws. When that happens, I will bum a cigarette
off of my brother-in-law. I will smoke it, with inhaling. Yet I have no
craving whatsoever to return to regular cigarette smoking as a result.
Except for opiates and perhaps alcohol, it seems as though the term "addiction"
is used far too loosely. I lean toward toward the "addictive personalty"
notions more than toward the addictive substances/behaviors.
--
______ Russ Herman
/ \ {allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!aesat!rwh
@( ? ? )@
( || ) The opinions above are strictly personal, and
( \__/ ) do not reflect those of my employer (or even
\____/ possibly myself an hour from now.)elron@ihuxl.UUCP (Gary F. York) (09/20/85)
> Do adults ever start smoking if they've never smoked before? > and I can think of no adults who've started who weren't already hooked! If you > make it thru the teen years without becoming addicted, you never will. > > Kids and teenagers start, adults quit: There's a lesson here. > ihnp4!allegra!seismo!terak!mot!edski > Ed Skinner, Motorola, 2900 S Diablo Way, Tempe Az 85282, (602)438-3064 Perhaps there is a lesson somewhere but I'm not sure you have it. I started smoking, lightly, at 21 -- maybe two or three packs a week. I began smoking because I rather thought I might enjoy it. In fact I did enjoy it as long as I did not inhale. Since my motivation was sheer enjoyment rather than peer status I felt no particular need to "learn" to inhale. Though I quit once at 27 to please a girl friend, I began again after our relationship ended. Since, I have avoided dating girls who don't smoke. I still enjoy it. Gary F. York (312) 979-0981 ix 1b455 Bell Labs Naperville, Il.
sharon@wdl1.UUCP (09/26/85)
Some adults do start smoking. I smoked in college during finals occasionally, but was never hooked. Then, I took up the habit and it became an addiction at age 28. Fortunately, I managed to quit ten years later, and will celebrate my two year anniversary on November 5. Before I quit, I did a great deal of reading on the subject and interviewed both smokers and ex-smokers; indeed, it is very rare to find someone who started smoking as an adult, but I did it. Congratulations on your success.
andrew@orca.UUCP (Andrew Klossner) (09/26/85)
> Either nicotine is not addictive (in the strict sense), or not all cigarette > smokers are nicotine addicts. I offer my own behavior in evidence, as follows. > > 20 years ago I was a cigarette smoker, 1-1/2 packs a day. I quit after six > months; just stopped enjoying them. Now I smoke a pipe in two kinds of > situations: at work (5 days a week), and if I'm at my in-laws (about once a > month, on a weekend). Now since I only smoke a pipe, and regularly go 48 > hours at a stretch without it, I don't believe I can be classified as > nicotine addicted. Now, here's the kicker. Once or twice a year, I forget > to bring my pipe to my in-laws. When that happens, I will bum a cigarette > off of my brother-in-law. I will smoke it, with inhaling. Yet I have no > craving whatsoever to return to regular cigarette smoking as a result. > > Except for opiates and perhaps alcohol, it seems as though the term "addiction" > is used far too loosely. I lean toward toward the "addictive personalty" > notions more than toward the addictive substances/behaviors. You're kidding yourself. Yours is a description of a physical addiction. Substituting a pipe for a cigarette doesn't cut off your supply of nicotine. -=- Andrew Klossner (decvax!tektronix!tekecs!andrew) [UUCP] (tekecs!andrew.tektronix@csnet-relay) [ARPA]
sdyer@bbncc5.UUCP (Steve Dyer) (09/30/85)
>> Except for opiates and perhaps alcohol, it seems as though the term >> "addiction" is used far too loosely. I lean toward toward the "addictive >> personalty" notions more than toward the addictive substances/behaviors. > > You're kidding yourself. Yours is a description of a physical > addiction. Substituting a pipe for a cigarette doesn't cut off your > supply of nicotine. Although Carter Bullard and I have clashed before on these grounds on the definition of "addictive", there is incontrovertible evidence for "drug-seeking behavior" in tobacco addiction, much of which can be assuaged by administration of nicotine, as for example, in the form of chewing gum, a recently approved aid for quitting smoking. Now, there is a wide variation in individual sensitivity and tolerance to nicotine administration and any cravings (if any) which develop upon its absence. Pipe smoking without inhaling ordinarily delivers less nicotine than cigarette smoking, though pipe smoking has its own dangers (cancer of lips, tongue, etc.) You just sound like someone who has a mild dependence, stemming from the lower dose of nicotine and your own constitution. -- /Steve Dyer {harvard,seismo}!bbnccv!bbncc5!sdyer sdyer@bbncc5.ARPA