Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

On Smoking

annagat.substack.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 403 posts

Re: On Smoking

#131

Post by defaultname »

rkk3 wrote: post #122
defaultname wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Smoking is magnitudes more addictive than alcohol. Regardless, a lot of people do ask why anyone would drink alcohol, given that it offers up an enormous array of detrimental health effects, the possibility of addiction and social troubles (DUI, violence, etc), and as a mental "holiday" altered state is an incredibly poor mechanism. Alcohol hangs around because it was accessible in earlier eras. There will come a tim…

> Smoking is magnitudes more addictive than alcohol. No it is not magnitudes more addictive. Alcohol is extremely addictive, 1 in 12 Adults in the US has an alcohol problem [1] and withdrawal can literally kill you, unlike nicotine. 1. https://www.ncadd.org/about-addiction/alcohol

Your stats in absolutely no way counters my claim about addiction.

Almost everyone who smokes to any degree becomes addicted and a regular user. Tens (100 million+) of millions of Americans drink occasionally with no addiction.

Alcohol is a dangerous drug in every dimension, and I specifically said that. But their addiction profiles are dramatically different.

Re: On Smoking

#132

Post by mmcgaha »

murat131 wrote: post #3

The thing about smoking is that when you quit smoking you quit it every day. Imagine a light switch on the wall. You turn it off by quitting smoking and you can always go back at a desperate time for instance and turn it on. And some time later off again. Smoking your first cigarette implants that light switch on your mind and you can't make it go away. Since you know how it makes you feel good when the switch is on,…

I quit 20 years ago. I understand your analogy because if I were to smoke one, I would be an addict immediately (imagine sleeping with an old long-time ex). Where your story goes off the rails is that I am not addicted today; my desire is exactly zero. There was a time that I would dream of smoking, so I was still an addict then, but that time is long gone.

Re: On Smoking

#133

Post by l00sed »

namenotrequired wrote: post #100
TchoBeer wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alcohol is also addictive expensive and bad for you, and yet no one asks why anyone would drink alcohol

The addiction likelihood of alcohol is much smaller. Nowhere near tobacco's ~100%

Damn, this thread is making me itchy.

Re: On Smoking

#134

Post by rbg246 »

I read Allen Carr's easy way to give up smoking.

It was amazing, it opened my eyes to what my addiction actually was and I have never been addicted since reading that book.

Been twelve years addiction free.

Re: On Smoking

#135

Post by michaelmrose »

rkk3 wrote: post #122
defaultname wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Smoking is magnitudes more addictive than alcohol. Regardless, a lot of people do ask why anyone would drink alcohol, given that it offers up an enormous array of detrimental health effects, the possibility of addiction and social troubles (DUI, violence, etc), and as a mental "holiday" altered state is an incredibly poor mechanism. Alcohol hangs around because it was accessible in earlier eras. There will come a tim…

> Smoking is magnitudes more addictive than alcohol. No it is not magnitudes more addictive. Alcohol is extremely addictive, 1 in 12 Adults in the US has an alcohol problem [1] and withdrawal can literally kill you, unlike nicotine. 1. https://www.ncadd.org/about-addiction/alcohol

1 in 12 adults had met the criteria for abuse or dependence at some point. 1 in 12 aren't present drinking themselves to death and it is highly likely that this figure that has gone up substantially has more to do with our screwed up society and less with the properties of alcohol.

Notably 90% of Americans have drank alcohol at some point without becoming addicts which one can't be said of nicotine.

Re: On Smoking

#136

Post by coldtea »

notdang wrote: post #34
murat131 wrote: post #3

The thing about smoking is that when you quit smoking you quit it every day. Imagine a light switch on the wall. You turn it off by quitting smoking and you can always go back at a desperate time for instance and turn it on. And some time later off again. Smoking your first cigarette implants that light switch on your mind and you can't make it go away. Since you know how it makes you feel good when the switch is on,…

I smoked for many years, then one day just quit smoking, without any reason. Did not smoke for more than 10 years, until a major disaster hit my life and I started to heavily smoke again. So yes, it seems that there is a switch.

>So yes, it seems that there is a switch.

There wasn't any "switch" based on prior smoking the first time you took up smoking.

So, I'd say, smoking again just means it's not impossible to start again. But why would somebody think it is?

The concept of the "switch" doesn't add much.

Re: On Smoking

#137

Post by TchoBeer »

michaelmrose wrote: post #127
defaultname wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Smoking is magnitudes more addictive than alcohol. Regardless, a lot of people do ask why anyone would drink alcohol, given that it offers up an enormous array of detrimental health effects, the possibility of addiction and social troubles (DUI, violence, etc), and as a mental "holiday" altered state is an incredibly poor mechanism. Alcohol hangs around because it was accessible in earlier eras. There will come a tim…

Virtually everyone who smokes for any reasonable duration will become addicted and almost all do so enough to substantially effect their health and longevity whether they know it or not. Most of the people who consume alcohol do so casually and not to excess. Essentially the chance of dying in a given year due to alcohol if this were anything like a random chance is around 1 in 2000 whereas the chance of dying from s…

>Virtually everyone who smokes for any reasonable duration will become addicted and almost all do so enough to substantially effect their health and longevity whether they know it or not.

This sounds right enough, but can you cite your sources for it?

Re: On Smoking

#138

Post by TchoBeer »

strken wrote: post #120
defaultname wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Smoking is magnitudes more addictive than alcohol. Regardless, a lot of people do ask why anyone would drink alcohol, given that it offers up an enormous array of detrimental health effects, the possibility of addiction and social troubles (DUI, violence, etc), and as a mental "holiday" altered state is an incredibly poor mechanism. Alcohol hangs around because it was accessible in earlier eras. There will come a tim…

That's already been tried before, and it resulted in the US government deliberately poisoning people, widespread organised crime, and a lot of methanol poisoning. Turns out it's really hard to ban something you can make in a 20 gallon drum from yeast and sugar.

We wouldn't have to ban it any more than we had to ban cigarettes

Re: On Smoking

#139

Post by diob »

Smoking is the worst. I was subjected to chain smoking indoors while growing up. Can't help but intensely dislike the habit.

Re: On Smoking

#140

Post by RobertKerans »

vxNsr wrote: post #116
TchoBeer wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alcohol is also addictive expensive and bad for you, and yet no one asks why anyone would drink alcohol

Right but if someone did, there might be some good answers. Do you have any good answers for why someone takes up smoking?

It is quite simple: someone is offered a cigarette, and they accept. And they have some more, and it is pleasant and social and/or stress relieving (both in ritual and physically: warm smoke in the mouth and throat is pleasant, as is the slight buzz, as is the act). This will often happen at a young age (teens, early twenties), within social settings. And then the addiction and ritual are the thing, and that thing is extremely satisfying. If you do not and have never smoked, then this will seem stupid, and it is, that would be a completely fair assessment: it is unlikely that any smoker will recommend that you become a smoker. Note that many people who give up smoking will replace it with an equally pointless (albeit generally much, much healthier) addiction/crutch that gives a mild buzz and requires some ritual habits (running, for example).
Post reply on HN