Addiction

It is really amusing that just after I briefly mention drug addiction in my last post, I confess that I am starting to feel an addiction to cigarettes. Of course, I was warned. Of course, I was told that Stress is never ending. If you give in to it by taking up one substance, you only take up another later. Of course, I thought this was short term. Of course, deep down I knew I could get addicted. Of course, I knew when I took my first whiff, was taking a risk.

The fact that there are 2.5 cigarette packets sitting in my drawer doesn't help.

Here are some interesting twists: My father is a 35-year-long chain smoker. I see the helplessness and severity of his addiction in his failing health. One of my friends has lost a close friend, who smoked cigarettes, to lung cancer. He is upset that he might have to lose me in the same way one day. One of my close friends now has significantly reduced lung capacity when he runs because he smoked for a year. Hell, I worked in Jefferson's Tobacco Cessation Program for Pulmonary Disease Department for three months and saw how cigarettes control people.

Where does this leave my responsibility and my health? Is this enough risk-taking that I choose to smoke despite seeing all these drastic effects in front of me? I am a risk-taker, yes, but I need a plan for this. I don't mind being an occasional smoker but I must draw a clear line between occasional and regular. I cannot let this go too far. Nip it in the bud.

Step 1: Throw a box of cigarettes in the trash. Done.

Step 2: Stop carrying a pack in your backpack. Done.

Step 3: Don't buy anymore packs. Will do.

What I don't understand is that why is Marijuana so much more of a controlled substance than Cigarettes and their nicotine, when so far, no disease risk factors have been discovered for Marijuana? I mean, the Surgeon General warns that cigarette smoking "causes Lung Cancer, Heart Disease, Emphysema, And May Complicate Pregnancy." But there are no such side-effects for Marijuana. If I remember correctly, your body even de-toxes of Marijuana faster than it does for Nicotine. Is it because cigarette's mental effects are more short-term and less dramatic in the sense that you don't get "high"? Or does the tobacco industry happen to have very good lobbyists?

Thank You For Smoking. Not.