• Son_of_dad@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Well what’s wrong with nicotine? In itself it’s not worse than booze. It’s all the other crap they add that makes it so terrible

    • JoeBigelow@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      Hi from the depths of a nicotine addiction and struggling to quit. Its a worthless chemical that gets more expensive everyday and my brain SCREAMS at me for a fix if I try to go more than even a few hours. At least heroin gets you high.

      • HikingVet@lemmy.sdf.org
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        1 year ago

        And even when you break free for the most part the chemical which is classified as a poison will make you crave it years later.

      • MisterFrog@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Stay strong on your recovery friend 💪

        Thank you for your comment, this is always my biggest beef with those defending nicotine (smoking/vaping).

        It’s like, WHAT DO YOU EVEN GAIN FROM IT?

        • abraxas@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          WHAT DO YOU EVEN GAIN FROM IT

          Smokers/vapers report a balanced pick-me-up with reduced stress and a sense of calm. If you ignore the massive health hazard and addictiveness and just pay attention to the effects, it seems like the best possible non-intoxicant. There’s a reason why indigenous people used it regularly and it was almost immediately an export crop when discovered.

          Positive Effects

          Nicotine createsTrusted Source a temporary feeling of well-being and relaxation, and increases heart rate and the amount of oxygen the heart uses. As nicotine enters the body, it causes a surge of endorphins, which are chemicals that help to relieve stress and pain and improve mood… Nicotine may also temporarily improve concentration and memory

          Honestly, a wonder-drug. Minus the whole “highly addictive and smokers die a horrible and painful death” part.

          Honestly, if it weren’t addictive, I’d probably consider vaping. But I have enough addiction with caffeine in my life.

        • random65837@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Google is your friend, lot of positives with Nictotine, Nicotine and Cigarettes aren’t locked together.

      • random65837@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Far from a “Worthless chemical”, mainly because it literally isn’t, it’s a naturally occurring plant substance. That has a lot of benefits behind it when not abused, there are Altzheimers drugs being developed based on Nicotine because of it’s Nootropic ability and can keep people lucid.

        You’re doing what most do and conflating Nicotine with Smoking. They’re not the same thing. Nicotine promotes alertness, relaxation, helps indirectly with weight loss from appetite suppression, athletic performance etc. The laundry list of negative from cigarettes don’t negate that.

        • JoeBigelow@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          I’m still very addicted to nicotine cessation products, despite a large drop in strength. I quit smoking months ago. Thanks

          • random65837@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            I dont’ doubt that, but you’re coming from smoking, which is very different than those using it otherwise as far as dependence. In your case, the nicotine lets you work on breaking the oral habit of continuing to smoke, but ultimately at some point you’ll still have to fight the nicotine addiction, but the smoking addiction will be gone. Most that just use the gum never get addicted to it. They should definitely make fractional doses for making that easier, but realistically chopping one in half and mixing it with another like flavored gum accomplishes that.

            But to my point, cigarettes and smoking aside, Nicotine does have benefits either way. I use it as an addon to my preworkout as caffeine does zero for my energy. Been doing it for years, I can stop whenever I want, have a bunch of times, but haven’t found a cure for the energy end, and I like that stimulant feel. I’ve actually gone last week without any of it, mainly for money, but miss the bump, not sure if I’ll go back or not, wallet says not to. If the generic gum didn’t suck I’d just do that, but since Nicorette actually tastes like real gum… I dunno. My fahter in law who seems to be getting the possible start of Altheimers stays on top of shit with it, without it he’s a forgetful mess that constantly zones out.

      • I Cast Fist@programming.dev
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        1 year ago

        I suspect your struggle comes mostly from the habits, rather than the chemicals involved? I’ve known a number of cigar addicts that managed to quit, they often said that the hardest part was avoiding it after an activity, like a cigar after a cup of coffe, a cigar after a meal, etc. Being allowed cigar breaks during work also encourages use, since it’s a “free pause”

        • JoeBigelow@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          You don’t have any fucking idea what your talking about. I stopped smoking cigarettes 2 months ago and switched to tobacco free pouches. I have been tapering down from 6 mg to 4 to now 2. And here’s a good tip, especially when talking about addiction. You don’t get a say in anyone else’s experience amd diminishing another persons struggle makes you look like a real jackass, especially considering you have no experience of your own. I can tell because if you did you wouldn’t be spouting this bullshit

        • abraxas@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          That’s really not the case. Nicotine is highly physically addictive. “Habits” are involved in the way the mind links itself to the addictive substances and the effect of consuming them. My wife quit smoking 15 years ago, and walking in the woods still gives her near-uncontrollable urges to light a cigarette. Because she and I camped a couple time the first year of our relationship and she smoked a cigarette on a hiking trail. That’s not habit-related. Having a cigarette was a more formative and powerful influencing memory to her than basically anything else in her life.

          Being allowed cigar breaks during work also encourages use, since it’s a “free pause”

          That’s just anti-smoker bullshit. Honestly, if you work at a job where you need to smoke to get a break, you should be finding another job anyway. Let’s just stick to hating the drug instead of the smokers.

    • Goblin_Mode@ttrpg.network
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      1 year ago

      I mean I’m no expert but I do have some knowledge on the subject.

      The difference is how you injest it. Our stomachs are much more resilient than our lungs. Your stomach is, for all intents and purposes, a sac of acid that dissolves mostly anything you put in it, your lungs on the other hand literally only do 1 thing all day and it’s breathe air. There are different qualities of air of course, and microparticles in it that could cause harm, but on the whole it’s more or less all the same.

      Its like dumping garbage into a sink vs. a paper bag. The sink will get disgusting, and you may end up with a clogged drain, messed up pipes, or worse. But at the end of the day if you just clean the mess and don’t do it too often it will probably be fine. The paper bag on the other hand is gonna get Soggy, gross, and start falling apart in your hands. You can dry it out but it will never quite be the same…

      • abraxas@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        There are different qualities of air of course, and microparticles in it that could cause harm, but on the whole it’s more or less all the same.

        Absolutely, and that’s the problem. The same argument you just posed could also be used against intentionally smelling flowers, or sticking your nose over a pot of boiling broth to smell that chicken deliciousness.

        We don’t know that vaped nicotine is more harmful than most things we breathe. In fact, I’d say there are non-drug things people do that we already know to be worse than vaping. Ever go camping? The smoke from that fire is worse than vaping, worse than almost any substance you might want to smoke.

        So the question is how bad vaping (the action, not the drug) is. Is it as bad as sniffing a rose, as bad as lighting a scented candle? As bad as incense? As bad as a campfire? If, as many suspect, it’s near the beginning of that scale, then the only critique we can rightly have is towards the substance vaped. If it’s near the end of the scale, we kinda need some research to support that claim.

        Its like dumping garbage into a sink vs. a paper bag

        As of yet, the medical and scientific community have not found solid evidence that it’s “like…garbage” at all if you don’t like it on fire.

        Which is where things get complicated. Because it MIGHT be terrible for you. Or it might not be bad at all.