Smoking bad for you? Why do people believe smoking isn't bad for you?

[Ivan Seeking]

Your link claims to show a study by Henningfield, but I found the abstract from the Henningfield study and he clearly states

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119360087/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

The complete quote

Is nicotine more addictive than cocaine? That claim is increasingly in vogue, often supported by data showing the high likelihood of progression to daily tobacco use following experimentation and the high percentage of cigarette smokers, compared with cocaine users who appear addicted. In the context of criteria for addiction or dependence presented by the World Health Organization, the American Psychiatric Association, and the US Surgeon General, we consider several lines of evidence, including patterns of use, mortality, physical dependence potential, and pharmacologic addiction liability measures. Within each line of evidence, we compare nicotine with cocaine. We conclude that on the current evidence nicotine cannot be considered more addicting than cocaine. Both are highly addicting drugs for which patterns of use and the development of dependence are strongly influenced by factors such as availability, price, social pressures, and regulations, as well as certain pharmacologic characteristics.

So it appears to be a hot topic and dependent in part on the definition of addiction.

Your link claims that Henningfield ranked nicotine as number 1 in addiction and cocaine number 3. That appears to be contrary to the actual study.

I'm not sure what to think. The link that I provided gives five ratings for each drug, not one. Is the Lancet graph an average value? It also becomes clear that the meaning of addiction is part of the problem. Do you have a link for the complete paper that goes with the graph? It is not clear that we are comparing apples to apples.

In the link that I provided, they define dependence

Dependence -- The difficulty in quitting, or staying off the drug, the number of users who eventually become dependent

Nicotine gets a rating of 1 here. I don't see that necessarily contradicts the other statements made if those include the severity of withdrawals, and other considerations as a measure. According to the link I provided, Henningfield give alcohol the highest rating - 1 - for withdrawals, which is defined as:

The severity of withdrawal symptoms produced by stopping the use of the drug

A reformed alcoholic once told me that alcohol withdrawals are the only ones that can kill you. That probably comes from AA, which I have not found to be reliable, but I thought the claim was interesting. Does anyone know if this is true?

missing nicotine is like not having a candy bar when you want one in comparison.

No doubt that the other drugs have much stronger withdrawals, but it is also true that many x-smokers will tell you that the desire for nicotine never goes away. I know people who haven't smoked for twenty years or more who still crave cigarettes at times.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

A reformed alcoholic once told me that alcohol withdrawals are the only ones that can kill you. That probably comes from AA, which I have not found to be reliable, but I thought the claim was interesting. Does anyone know if this is true?

I have been to some AA meetings and I would not necessarily trust their information either. They are quite crusader-esque in their views on alcohol. They seem to generally be nice people though.
As for the 'factoid' I am unsure if it is the only drug where the withdrawals can kill you.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-symptoms-of-alcohol-withdrawal.htm
Here you go. DTs can apparently kill you due to seizures and irregularities in heart beat and rythme. I'm sure that there are similar withdrawal symptoms for other drugs as well.

No doubt that the other drugs have much stronger withdrawals, but it is also true that many x-smokers will tell you that the desire for nicotine never goes away. I know people who haven't smoked for twenty years or more who still crave cigarettes at times.

I have heard the same for other drugs such as meth and even marijuana. But while users of drugs like meth, cocaine, crack, heroin, ect will go to incredibly self destructive lengths to get more of their drug of choice I have never heard of people doing similar with cigarettes. Many drug addicts become thieves, muggers, and prostitutes to help feed their addiction. They do these things primarily because addict to most hard drugs becomes a lifestyle. Addicts usually do little other than what ever is necessary to get their next fix and if going to work and waiting for their next pay check is going to take too long then screw work they'll go steal the money. Some women have apparently even gone to such lengths as selling their own children to get more crack. When you consider these things cigarettes are nothing in comparison.

 

[SpaceTiger]

I think the vast majority of smokers know that it's bad for them and potentially life-threatening and I think most of them care, too... they just don't care enough to fight an addiction as strong as tobacco.

Truth is, I don't feel bad for the smokers so much as I do the people in their lives that get hurt by their decision. I can name at least three instances of people I know who suffered through the torment of having a loved one die slowly due to a terminal disease. In each case the disease was caused by smoking. The biggest lie that smokers tell themselves is that nobody else could get hurt by their decision.

That said, there's little point in trying to convince relative strangers to stop smoking. The only people I would even consider trying that with are family members and very close friends.