07 Smokers: Why They Smoke
Description
This article is from the Smokers FAQ, by jdawson@netcom.com (Joe Dawson) with numerous contributions by others.
07 Smokers: Why They Smoke
Until the 1980s the term "addiction" was rarely used to describe tobacco
smoking even in the Surgeon Generals' Reports themselves. In the 1988
Surgeon General's Report, C. Everett Koop espoused a redefinition of
addiction that would include tobacco. This redefinition, turning smokers
into "nicotine addicts", has made it easier to gain support for such
political measures as "saving the children" through raising cigarette
taxes.
Tobacco is unusual as a "drug" in that many smokers smoke in ways that
reduce their actual exposure to nicotine. They'll smoke without inhaling,
smoke "light" cigarettes, or smoke only after meals or when drinking.
Up to a quarter of the smoking population defies the "increased regular
use" addiction marker and smokes lightly, occasionally or without inhaling.
~~From: jdawson@netcom.com (Joe Dawson)~~
What the smoker enjoys is the whole experience: the routine of
handling the pack and the cigarette, lighting up, gazing into the
flame, the oral satisfaction of drawing, the taste and the smell.
Eating and drinking are synergistic with smoking: they each enhance
the taste of the smoke, and smoking enhances the contemplation of the
food and drink. Likewise with sex. Nicotine plays a part, but a small
one. That's why nicotine patches and chewing gum aren't very effective
when it comes to quitting. Smoking is a way of life. Of COURSE it's
hard to give up.
~~From: dambik@fnalo.fnal.gov (Ed Dambik)~~
I'd always thought the definition of addiction was supposed to
rely on three separate criteria:
(1) The substance is a reinforcer, i.e., a subject will work for it.
(2) More and more of the substance is needed for the same effect.
(3) Removal of the substance will cause physical (not mental) symptoms.
While tobacco satisfies the first criteria, the second is more
problematic in that not all smokers increase their usage. The third
does not apply to tobacco since fever, vomiting, etc. do not accompany
withdrawal. By calling smoking an addiction, the definition has been
changed to exclude the third criterion and weaken the second. Using
this modified criteria to call smoking addictive does indeed create a
new definition which *is* primarily social since Gameboy, dancing,
watching TV, religion, and various other activities now fulfill the
definition of being addictive.
The term addiction is commonly used as a pejorative label for
unapproved habits. This is not new. Substituting a social definition
for the scientific one, however, is.
~~From: david.maclean@freddy.supernet.ab.ca (David Maclean)~~
Cocaine only became `addictive' after we changed the definition of
addiction from extreme physical effects upon cessation of the
substance, to include intense psychological cravings upon cessation.
Although there is some physical discomfort, most of the discussion on
cocaine `addiction' has centered on the `addicts' intense drive to
recapture his experience from the drug. Physical withdrawal from
cocaine is nowhere near as intense as that of the opiates.
But once you include psychological effects, then just about anything
you care to name becomes an addiction - the heavy gambler becomes the
gambling addict, obese people become food addicts, heavy drinkers
become alcohol addicts, and people who smoke become nicotine addicts.
And once you label someone as an `addict', it justifies intervention,
for their own good of course. It's an addiction, it must be stamped
out. Politically, the reasoning on nicotine addiction is as follows:
:: addiction > person doesn't understand what s/he is doing >
person is a victim > intercede on the victims behalf::
This line of reasoning includes nothing in it as to whether or not
the person wants to be `helped'.
Therefore, it is my contention that attempts at describing smoking as
`nicotine addiction' are nothing more than political attempts at
exerting control over those people who are doing something the critic
doesn't want them to do, cannot understand why they do, and didn't
give permission to do.
~~From: laszlo@alpha1.csd.uwm.edu (Tyson F Nuss)~~
I am more an aficionado than an addict, though I don't deny that I
am somewhat of the latter. American Spirit natural tobaccos have a
slogan, "Smoke less and enjoy it more," which I wholeheartedly agree
with. I exercise self-control, trying to smoke only when I can truly
*savor* the experience, preferably seated, with a good cup of coffee.
Smoking is a whole experience that's impossible to describe to an
incognocenti. The complex and diverse flavours, the actions, the sensual
feel of drawing in and expelling those silky, steely tendrils, watching
the crackle of the ember, the craggy ash, the drift and curl of the smoke...
Smoking, for me, is a purely reflective and relaxing act of luxurious
indulgence, and often a sort of meditation. I can take a break, sit down
and relax, and do something which demands my attention and gives
me pause to think and reflect and just revel in *being*. I can take a
fifteen-minute break from this hectic world without feeling idle, or
spacing-out, or getting bored, and when I'm done, I'm refreshed and
feel like I've done something constructive for my well-being.
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