Are You a Cigarette Addict?

Some people insist that “tobacco junkie” is just an innocent euphemism which does not really imply degrading syndromes in those who fall into this category. However, tobacco addiction sometimes can be as irresistible and even deadly as other “hard” addictions. In fact, the total amount of people who are being killed annually by tobacco greatly exceeds the total number of deaths inflicted by addictions to other substances.

Until recently, the international medical community had a controversial attitude to nicotine being a physiologically addictive agent. For a substance to fall into the addictive drug category, it should exhibit a number of characteristics, one of which is the presence of noticeable withdrawal symptoms upon cessation. The syndrome of cigarette abstinence is presently well established and documented. Another criterion is the development of drug tolerance, when continuously increasing doses of the drug are required for the user to achieve the desirable “high”. Smokers are usual victims of nicotine tolerance, since over time they tend to desire more nicotine and eventually start smoking a pack or more a day. The third characteristic of the addictive substance is that it becomes an absolute necessity for the user, which often makes him develop certain forms of anti-social behaviour. Again, if the smoker is deprived from cigarettes, he may engage in deviate behaviour in order to satisfy his addition. All these criteria undoubtedly include tobacco into the list of psychologically and physically addictive drugs.

It is a well-documented fact that, during the Second World War, Nazi prisoners in concentration camps were trading away their scarce food in order to obtain tobacco. Even nowadays, people in some undeveloped countries would rather starve their children and barter food for cigarettes than live without tobacco.

When smokers decide to quit and admit themselves into rehabs - “junkie clinics”, they usually go through a very hard period, which sometimes involves grotesque and repulsive acts of searching for cigarette butts in garbage cans…

Tobacco is a heavy drug, and smoking is an act of addition. Not only that, but tobacco is also the biggest killer of the modern world! Everyone who has been smoking for a certain period of time is a nicotine junkie. Actually, even one puff can be capable of inducing or reinforcing a life-long cigarette addiction. Our advice if simple - never start smoking. If you already are a smoker - quit now, and never try another puff again!

Darlene Marlow