Exploding cigarettes.

[John Williamson]

Nicotine is one of the most addictive psychoactive substances known, and smoking tobacco is *the* most effective method of delivering the drug to the body. In at least one study involving students, it has been shown to be even harder to give up nicotine than heroin.

Also, some people find it very easy to get addicted, and they can get addicted to alcohol, gambling, tobacco or even pain. Those of us lucky enough not to have this particular peculiarity in our brain chemistry can't possibly fully understand the attraction of being addicted to something.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

You can add shopping, sex and even eating to those. Probably a whole host more.

Main difference with nicotine is it doesn't tend to have the same consequences (apart from possibly on health) as most of the others.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Must be psychic. There was a bit on the news this evening about just that.

[John Williamson]

Someone with an "addictive personality" can get addicted to almost anything, and it's not the same thing for all of them. I was just giving some common examples. The effect is the same, with a poorly damped reinforcement of a reward loop in the brain making the person want to do the same thing over and over again.

Agreed, but most of the negative effects on health come from the other ingredients in the smoke. Carbon monoxide, tars and combustion by-products for a start.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Think it's rather more complicated than that.

Indeed. Which is why I'm in favour of these 'electronic' cigarettes. (for those who already smoke) They should be a good way of dispensing an instant 'hit' from nicotine with no side effects. And, of course, safe for others in the vicinity.

[Mike Barnes]

What I don't like is the fact that they're made to *look* like cigarettes. I haven't spend much time thinking about it but my gut instinct tells me that can't be a good thing.

[John Williamson]

Have we got space and time for quoting the entirety of the literature on the subject? Or just time for the simplified "Lies to students" version? Books have been written on addiction and the causes of it, and more than a couple of papers have been written on the biochemical pathways by which addiction occurs and is reinforced.

[The Medway Handyman]

Next it will be health warnings on bacon & sausages.

[stuart noble]

The trick is not to "give up", just try not to smoke today. I still have a stash of unopened tobacco in the drawer in case I start again.

I have a friend who, 20 years after giving up, took a glass of Ricard in a French cafe and suddenly had an uncontrollable urge to light up a Gauloise.

[The Natural Philosopher]

with alcohol you can drown in someone else's vomit.

[John Williamson]

Marketing. People are familiar with cigarettes and the pleasurable feeling of holding and sucking on them.

The shape is also convenient for the user, and optimises delivery of the drug by direct absorption through the mucosa.

[news]

OTOH I went to school in the '70s and on the notice board of the school was a test tube dribbling tar into a saucer - the caption was "the tar found in the lungs of an average smoker". This was enough to prevent me and several of my friends from ever even trying cigarettes.

I cant find the exact poster via google but it was similar to this one

[RJH]

I'm not sure that smokers 'like' to do anything of the sort. But I'd agree that many aspects of care parallel to treatment are often not costed. Particularly family and friend carers.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

The one I use looks nothing like a cigarette.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

If all that would work, how come smoking cannabis is so popular?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Snag is even the 'experts' disagree on the reasons for addiction - and even more so on treatments for it.

[dennis]

Virtually none of the care is in the NHS figures. It doesn't include unemployment benefits, disability benefits, care provided by councils, social service care, etc. About the only thing it includes is the cost of the heart bypasses, amputation costs, some drugs, some hospice care for the ones that die in agony .

[Bob Martin]

Nicotine is a habit, not an addiction.

[stuart noble]

On reflection I think you're right

[Dave Plowman (News)]

You need to learn about such things. Nicotine is more addictive than many class A drugs.