Why is Smoking and Chewing Tobacco Addictive
January 11th, 2008 Posted in Nicotine Withdrawal | No Comments »In the United States alone, more people stop using cocaine and heroin combined than those who successfully stop smoking and chewing tobacco in the long-term. There are several reasons for this: (1) smoking and chewing tobacco contains nicotine, possibly the most addictive substance known, (2) nicotine cessation causes extremely unpleasant and intense withdrawal symptoms that usually linger for three to seven
days, and (3) cigarette smoking, cigar smoking, pipe tobacco and chewing tobacco have an extraordinarily strong psychological addiction. For all these reasons, using tobacco products develops nicotine addiction and withdrawal symptoms that cause a very high relapse rate. Yet this addiction can be forever conquered by a variety of smoking cessation programs and medical aids.Nicotine, the substance in tobacco that causes addiction and withdrawal symptoms, is derived from the leaves of the tobacco plant.
Tobacco products of all kinds have been used for centuries among Native Americans in ceremonial rituals. When tobacco smoking was introduced to European colonists in the American mainland, Central America and the islands of the Caribbean, tobacco became the major crop exported to all parts of Europe. Smoking tobacco was a custom among the British aristocracy of the 1600’s and 1700’s, being “in vogue.” Today, however, smoking cigarettes, cigars and chewing tobacco (once called “snuff”) is an unpopular habit because of what is now known about the additive nature of nicotine and the various types of cancer associated with nicotine addiction and other poisonous substances in tobacco.
help that can, with your willpower, help you to become smoke-free?
Are You ‘Covered’?
