A Public Service Announcement

[Rabbit1251]

Smoking is like alcohol addiction. You never really quit. You're always just one drink, one cigarette, from getting back on the stuff. They are not like other addictions. We who do not share them cannot understand what you are going through with their withdrawal. But we can appreciate it. I suffer from Chronic Fatigue which is a mental disability. I have had to take some heap big head medicines in a search for treatment. Some of them left me with very unpleasant withdrawals. It was nothing like what I imagine smokers have to go through to quit as I never wanted to touch the stuff again afterwards. Right now I am using Amphetamines and have been on Steroids under a doctor's care. They are nothing compared to some of the stuff that I've been on.

 

I would like it to be understood that I did not start this thread to be some holy crusader against cigarettes. I posted this for Charlie. If it only stops one person from starting or one person to quit, to avoid the fate befallen my brother it would be worth it. I almost didn't post this as I feared the backlash from smokers. But I would have felt a coward for not posting and I didn't want to live with that thought.

 

 

The Rabbit

[greentea101]

 

 

That is - until I read a scientific article about a test being done using a long time junkie as a -voluntary- test person. Injected with nicotine instead os his usual heroin he experienced a high as never before.

 

It doesn't give you any high. I never used any substances, but smoking isn't like injecting or taking a sniff. It doesn't make you feel like being king of the castle. And yet it's an addiction. If required I can go for a lot of hours without lighting one. The craving's there, but the bodily discomfort isn't. Having a smoke never gave me a high, nor anyone I know. It's just a habit and I would like to see the details of that study and what was involved besides nicotine that gave that guy the feeling.

 

 

Nicotine is a dopaminergic drug, like meth and cocaine. The high isn't as intense as meth and cocaine, but it's definitely there (at least in the beginning, it fades as time passes and the brain develops resistance), and the withdrawal symptoms can be very unpleasant. The thing is, different people may have different responses to the drug. I knew a person who only smoked "socially" during the weekend, and never touched cigarettes the rest of the time. I don't know why, but he didn't seem to be affected. There can also be a psychological addiction (as is often the case), but that's a separate issue. Generally speaking, smoking is more than just a habit or a psychological issue, with chemical dependence being a big part of the problem in most cases.

 

Withdrawal symptoms can vary, with some people (like myself) intensely experiencing a number of symptoms, while others experiencing barely anything at all. It can even vary with time for the same person (if you relapse, the second time you quit may not be as easy as the first time).

 

Speaking from experience, scaring people to stop smoking doesn't work, but cautioning them to not start does, so I'm with the OP on this one. If you're not smoking, don't start, you're not missing anything. Nicotine is a horrific drug, with 1% reward and 99% punishment.

Edited December 2, 2016 by greentea101

[cossayos]

 

 

Withdrawal symptoms can vary, with some people (like myself) intensely experiencing a number of symptoms, while others experiencing barely anything at all. It can even vary with time for the same person (if you relapse, the second time you quit may not be as easy as the first time).

 

 

 

 

I have little to no physical symptoms when going without a smoke for 8 to ten hours. Even longer, at that. In my case it's mainly psychological. The cravings.

[SirTwist]

I know people who hadn't smoked, drank, or anything like that, at all, and have cancer. Want to know the real cause of lung cancer? It's not cigarettes, or tobacco, it is the radiation we are sucking into our lungs. Remember the air burst tests that were done up through the late '60's? All that radiation is still in the air. The worst, if you grow, dry, etc. your own tobacco can do to you is give you a pleasing smoke. No cancer, nothing. Smoke a cigarette from a store, you are inviting potential health problems because the government has added so much to tobacco as to make it addictive and unhealthy. Go on, believe the lies that schools now teach, and the ads that are out there that lie to you. This is one reason I hate commercials, they lie, straight out.

 

As to the Fallout world, I have yet to see cancer. And a super mutant smoking? That would be neat to see. Light up a big fat stoogie, and comment that it's a good smoke.

 

p.s. Only those who can't control their addictions have problems with anything, from smoking, to drinking, to drugs. And as an fyi, marijuana is illegal because the government can NOT add anything to it to change it's "addictive" properties. The only addictive property in marijuana is the good feeling you get while smoking it. That's all. Otherwise, it's more habit forming than addictive. And a habit, while tough to beat, is an easy thing compared to an addiction. And the worst thing to come off of, believe it or not, is caffeine. I know, someone is going to say heroin, someone is going to say alcohol, some some other stuff. Caffeine is the worst to come off of, compared to even heroin. Let's see here, it is in most soft drinks, tea, coffee, chocolate, and a number of other things. You could drink things like Sprite, etc. that doesn't have caffeine in it, and decaf is not the same as no caffeine. There are some teas that have no caffeine to them. You will have to read labels. Not to mention the chemical, and metabolic changes you have to make on withdrawing from caffeine. Headaches, nausea, and other things crop up. So, before someone says this is worse, that is worse, you have it wrong, it's caffeine. It's in a lot of stuff. So, getting off of it is a challenge. I did it, for a while, and it sucked. I had to slowly ween myself off of everything that had caffeine in it, rather than cold turkey it. That, right there, is dangerous. Quitting cold turkey. That can affect so much, and quickly too. My advice, if you want somethings to be addicted to, caffeine is a good choice, and so are games, and modding them. And remember marijuana is not addictive, it is habit forming. There is a huge difference there. Smoking tobacco can be addictive, depending on what you smoke.

[Rabbit1251]

I know people who hadn't smoked, drank, or anything like that, at all, and have cancer. Want to know the real cause of lung cancer? It's not cigarettes, or tobacco, it is the radiation we are sucking into our lungs. Remember the air burst tests that were done up through the late '60's? All that radiation is still in the air. The worst, if you grow, dry, etc. your own tobacco can do to you is give you a pleasing smoke. No cancer, nothing. Smoke a cigarette from a store, you are inviting potential health problems because the government has added so much to tobacco as to make it addictive and unhealthy. Go on, believe the lies that schools now teach, and the ads that are out there that lie to you. This is one reason I hate commercials, they lie, straight out.

 

As to the Fallout world, I have yet to see cancer. And a super mutant smoking? That would be neat to see. Light up a big fat stoogie, and comment that it's a good smoke.

 

p.s. Only those who can't control their addictions have problems with anything, from smoking, to drinking, to drugs. And as an fyi, marijuana is illegal because the government can NOT add anything to it to change it's "addictive" properties. The only addictive property in marijuana is the good feeling you get while smoking it. That's all. Otherwise, it's more habit forming than addictive. And a habit, while tough to beat, is an easy thing compared to an addiction. And the worst thing to come off of, believe it or not, is caffeine. I know, someone is going to say heroin, someone is going to say alcohol, some some other stuff. Caffeine is the worst to come off of, compared to even heroin. Let's see here, it is in most soft drinks, tea, coffee, chocolate, and a number of other things. You could drink things like Sprite, etc. that doesn't have caffeine in it, and decaf is not the same as no caffeine. There are some teas that have no caffeine to them. You will have to read labels. Not to mention the chemical, and metabolic changes you have to make on withdrawing from caffeine. Headaches, nausea, and other things crop up. So, before someone says this is worse, that is worse, you have it wrong, it's caffeine. It's in a lot of stuff. So, getting off of it is a challenge. I did it, for a while, and it sucked. I had to slowly ween myself off of everything that had caffeine in it, rather than cold turkey it. That, right there, is dangerous. Quitting cold turkey. That can affect so much, and quickly too. My advice, if you want somethings to be addicted to, caffeine is a good choice, and so are games, and modding them. And remember marijuana is not addictive, it is habit forming. There is a huge difference there. Smoking tobacco can be addictive, depending on what you smoke.

 

What colour is the sky in the world that you live in, Sir Twist?

 

 

The Rabbit

[Numbnumb]

I started smoking when I was sixteen. I quit about twenty years ago and this time I was successful. Thank God! I have never looked back. On symptom that confused me at first was the lightheaded feeling I got until I figured out it that I was getting more oxygen in my lungs. There was another side effect. My sense of smell got extremely sensitive and could smell someone smoking a football field away. My sense of taste improved dramatically as well.

If you wish to quit smoking remember this. You will make every stupid, cockamamie excuse in the book to light up but, whatever you do, do NOT give in. The first eight weeks are hellish but the aftermath of success is well worth the hell and hassell.

Good luck and success to those who quit.

[SirTwist]

The sky is clear. It is light refracting through oxygen atoms in the air that we perceive it as one color or another, depending upon whether we have a filter for colors. That filter is called color blindness, and some people can't "see" blue, so they may see a different color. I hope that answers your question, Rabbit 51. And actually, right now, the sky is a rather dark grey, as the light is being filtered through clouds, which diffuse the light even further, and turn it to a grey color.

 

Expounding upon my previous statements, the rise of cancer in the human population can be directly linked to nuclear air burst tests, and to the application, through a spray, of harmful toxic poisons that were released on the population. From the late 1920's, with first radio being made available to more and more of the population, to television in the 1950's and even now, we were told that, first, cigarettes, and even tobacco was good for you. After the rise of lung cancer, both in the smoking, and non-smoking, population, that it was tobacco that was the cause. This is why you see the stupid ads that say that smoking kills. It kills because of the toxins and poisons that the government adds to tobacco to make it more addictive, and deadly, to the people. However, it is not tobacco that causes cancer. For that, you have to read the real reason, which is the beginning of the current paragraph.