People are always commenting on how drug addicts, alcoholics etc, are weak because they have not conquered their addictions. Since nicotine is supposedly addictive, then that would make a person who smokes an addict of some sort right? Then are cigarette smokers weak?
2007-03-20 03:36:56 · 26 answers · asked by SweetPea 4 in Health ➔ Mental Health
Perhaps the people who comment that having an addiction is an indication that a person is weak,should take at look a their own addictions. I believe everyone has some sort of "addiction"...do you eat sugar?? If you answer yes...then you are addicted...and try getting over that.....the only difference with sugar is that it doesn't impair you, oh wait, it would if you were diabetic and passed out while driving because of too much sugar.
2007-03-20 03:43:00 · answer #1 · answered by cedarnsage 2 · 3⤊ 1⤋
No. Check out the 'Addiction' series currently running on HBO. Scientists are discovering that there are major differences between an addicts brain and a 'normal' brain. I'm a smoker and a former drug addict/abuser. I'm not weak. I've been through some stuff in my 42 years that would put most people in the mental ward.
2007-03-20 04:58:41 · answer #2 · answered by bugs280 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No, just stupid. I don't think drug addicts are weak, they did something stupid and got sucked in. There are chemicals that make you addicted to drug/cigarettes, thus making you stupid for starting to begin with! Though most might not have known the dangers of it, like me... but I still consider myself stupid for doing it(not everyone who smokes was educated in the risks before they started).
Sheer will power and sometimes "helpers" will help you quit. Most who smoke don't want to stop because of the mental addiction, they know it is bad and try to quit but fail because they don't truely want to give it up.
The only time that I have ever successfully quit was while I was pregnant... then I was stupid and started again after I had my baby , and seriously regret it! (as a side note I do not smoke around the child!)
It is out right a dumb thing to pick up, and I will be the first to tell you that I am stupid for doing it!
2007-03-20 03:53:47 · answer #3 · answered by ♥ PrincessLeia ♥ 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Addicts are not weak, in fact they have a great constitution, The AMA determined addiction as an illness way back in the '50's. So if a person had cancer (an illness or disease) would u call them weak? Addicts then by definition of the American Medical Asspciation are not weak but sick people suffering fron an addiction which is in there words a disease.
2007-03-20 03:49:57 · answer #4 · answered by luminous 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I quit smoking years ago but I don't consider myself "stronger" than anyone else. I couldn't have done it without the support of my family or without having a plan to gradually decrease my dependence on nicotine.
Even so, it was plenty hard once I got to the "cold turkey" point and, if my life had been more stressful at the time, I might not have made it.
I'm just glad I didn't take up something a lot more addictive.
2007-03-20 03:45:42 · answer #5 · answered by Mark S 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The bottom line is that we all make choices....I make the choice to stay at home every Wednesday night and watch my favorite television show...at this point, after so many Wednesdays of watching the show, I hate to miss an episode. This doesn't necessarily make me a weak person.
Someone else makes a choice to drink alcohol. Drinking alcohol doesn't make them weak, it's if they're drinking to escape from a problem in life that does. With any mood altering substance, if someone is consuming it as a release for something else, said person becomes addicted and wants to stop but can't, it doesn't necessarily mean they're weak, it means they've made a choice that they're going to have to suffer the consequences of later on down the road.
We all know that cigaretts, alcohol and drugs can be addicting....so you know you'll have to deal with that consequence before you make that choice....A strong person makes the decision not to put themselves in situations like that.
2007-03-20 03:43:04 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
Smoking is a terrible addiction. Why would a person choose to spend money on something that will probably eventually kill them? I know, I have been trying to quit for a very long time. I can pass up food before smoking, I'm weak. I wish they would just outlaw any form of tobacco, then this wouldn't happen to other people.
2007-03-20 03:41:47 · answer #7 · answered by MeanKitty 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Yea, I'm weak .... very weak ..... help me for I will be forever damned as a weak person because I smoke. OMG, I am sooooo weak. Such a weak person ..... 'cuse me whilst I go have my Marlboro
I love all these people who judge others. Little do they know, many smokers were never educated to the dangers of it when we first started. Some of us started long before the ads on TV were ever banned. We didn't know how unhealthy it was back then.
Don't judge another lest you're willing to be judged yourself ...... and I can assure you, deep down, you don't want to be judged as your faults are many!!
2007-03-20 03:46:49 · answer #8 · answered by mrnaturl1 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yep...I have smoked past 30 years and have seriously tried quitting three times...I get physically ill after 24-36 hrs with no cigarette. Nausea, terrible cramps and general malaise. I tried Nicotine gum once and just chewed and chewed and chewed...was still getting nicotine into my system so that was no answer! Even prayer has failed me so I have to guess that when the time is right HE will show me how to get over this ADDICTION!!! God bless
2007-03-20 03:42:04 · answer #9 · answered by gmabell 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Somewhat. It's an extreme test of will power. I've quit a couple of times and haven't smoked for years. I've grown a big distaste for it now. The smell and second hand smoke and such. You just basically have to tell yourself you're not smoking and be strong. The key is the person has to really want to quit. I think a lot of times the person isn't fully committed.
2007-03-20 03:40:19 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋