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Anti-tobacco extremists believe the ends justify the means. They'll happily give people dangerous psychoactive drugs or get them hooked on nicotine replacement

Anti-tobacco extremists believe the ends justify the means. They'll happily give people dangerous psychoactive drugs or get them hooked on nicotine replacement therapy if it means advancing their agenda. I quit smoking a couple years back and I was baffled by the lack of quality information I could find online. It's 90% propaganda, thanks to the anti-smoking warriors. Most of it pushes these quit-smoking drugs or just different forms of nicotine intake (which is the very drug you're supposed to be trying to quit in the first place). You'd think we would have collectively learned something from the abysmal failure of things like the DARE program and abstinence-only education. Facts work better than scare tactics and propaganda.

matthewmacleod 8y ago
Most of it pushes these quit-smoking drugs or just different forms of nicotine intake (which is the very drug you're supposed to be trying to quit in the first place). Hell no. Nobody really gives a shit if you consume nicotine or not. We should just avoid doing so in the form of a horribly dangerous delivery system.
- standardUser 8y ago
  People who are addicted to nicotine care very, very much if they have or do not have nicotine. You seem to be talking about yourself. I'm talking about people suffering from the addiction.
  - drngdds 8y ago
    Definitely, but being addicted to something that will make you chronically ill and kill you is much worse than being addicted to something that won't.
ams6110 8y ago
The drug approach is pushed by the pharma industry of course, exploiting the natural appeal of the idea that one can just take a pill to fix a problem that is as complicated as addiction. Doctors prescribe these because they (probably rightly) believe not that the drugs are harmless, but that the side effects of the drug are less harmful than the direct effects of continuing to smoke. Really quitting takes either a major motivating scare like a cancer diagnosis (for some people even that isn't enough) or a very determined decision to stop.
SilasX 8y ago
>Most of it pushes these quit-smoking drugs or just different forms of nicotine intake (which is the very drug you're supposed to be trying to quit in the first place). Wait, what? I thought nicotine itself was pretty harmless, and that most of the harm from smoking comes from all the other junk you suck into your lungs? Wikipedia seems to agree: >The health effects of long-term nicotine use are unknown. The general medical position is that nicotine itself poses few health risks, except among certain vulnerable groups, such as youth. Nicotine use as a tool for quitting smoking has a good safety history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotine
- standardUser 8y ago
  Nicotine is viciously addictive. I don't see how anyone could consider one of the most addictive substances, and its associated withdrawal symptoms, to be "harmless". And yes, nicotine replacement therapy has a decent track record compared to other methods, which should not be surprising since you don't have to actual break the addiction. You just maintain the same addiction with a different delivery system. Interestingly, vaping itself is just another nicotine delivery system, but one that the anti-smoking zealots decided to demonize, unlike the various inhalers, patches and gums they push.
  - dageshi 8y ago
    Nicotine addictiveness seems to vary based on consumption method, I say that as someone who smokes cigars but doesn't inhale (common practice among cigar smokers), I don't find cigars addictive in the least.
    - Konnstann 8y ago
      how do you smoke without inhaling the smoke? Genuinely curious, I thought the whole point was to inhale the smoke, otherwise you don't get any flavor.
      - kgwgk 8y ago
hannasanarion 8y ago
> Anti-tobacco extremists believe the ends justify the means. They'll happily give people dangerous psychoactive drugs or get them hooked on nicotine replacement therapy if it means advancing their agenda. Their "agenda" of not dying of lung cancer? It sounds like you're vindictive towards people who don't appreciate smokers pumping our air full of carcinogens. Nobody cares whether or how you get your high. The only reason anyone gives a shit about smoking is because we're tired of choking on ash and tar whenever a smoker walks by. You may think it's tolerable, but you're also the one inhaling through a filter: we have to breathe the shit that comes out the other end.
- pessimizer 8y ago
  In this case, it's about vaping, which has nothing to do with lung cancer or your fear that you will smell a cigarette while walking next to a street filled with burning gasoline.
  - hannasanarion 8y ago
    This particular sub-thread is about smoking, not vaping. My parent comment was complaining that most of the anti-smoking treatments still contained nicotine. Thus demonstrating that they missed the whole point of anti-smoking treatments.
mrtweetyhack 8y ago
Failure of the DARE program? It worked for me. Take responsibility for your own actions, nobody put a gun to your head. Also, what is your solution? I don't see one.

matthewmacleod 8y ago

Most of it pushes these quit-smoking drugs or just different forms of nicotine intake (which is the very drug you're supposed to be trying to quit in the first place). Hell no. Nobody really gives a shit if you consume nicotine or not. We should just avoid doing so in the form of a horribly dangerous delivery system.

standardUser 8y ago
People who are addicted to nicotine care very, very much if they have or do not have nicotine. You seem to be talking about yourself. I'm talking about people suffering from the addiction.
- drngdds 8y ago
  Definitely, but being addicted to something that will make you chronically ill and kill you is much worse than being addicted to something that won't.

ams6110 8y ago

The drug approach is pushed by the pharma industry of course, exploiting the natural appeal of the idea that one can just take a pill to fix a problem that is as complicated as addiction. Doctors prescribe these because they (probably rightly) believe not that the drugs are harmless, but that the side effects of the drug are less harmful than the direct effects of continuing to smoke. Really quitting takes either a major motivating scare like a cancer diagnosis (for some people even that isn't enough) or a very determined decision to stop.

SilasX 8y ago

>Most of it pushes these quit-smoking drugs or just different forms of nicotine intake (which is the very drug you're supposed to be trying to quit in the first place). Wait, what? I thought nicotine itself was pretty harmless, and that most of the harm from smoking comes from all the other junk you suck into your lungs? Wikipedia seems to agree: >The health effects of long-term nicotine use are unknown. The general medical position is that nicotine itself poses few health risks, except among certain vulnerable groups, such as youth. Nicotine use as a tool for quitting smoking has a good safety history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotine

standardUser 8y ago
Nicotine is viciously addictive. I don't see how anyone could consider one of the most addictive substances, and its associated withdrawal symptoms, to be "harmless". And yes, nicotine replacement therapy has a decent track record compared to other methods, which should not be surprising since you don't have to actual break the addiction. You just maintain the same addiction with a different delivery system. Interestingly, vaping itself is just another nicotine delivery system, but one that the anti-smoking zealots decided to demonize, unlike the various inhalers, patches and gums they push.
- dageshi 8y ago
  Nicotine addictiveness seems to vary based on consumption method, I say that as someone who smokes cigars but doesn't inhale (common practice among cigar smokers), I don't find cigars addictive in the least.
  - Konnstann 8y ago
    how do you smoke without inhaling the smoke? Genuinely curious, I thought the whole point was to inhale the smoke, otherwise you don't get any flavor.
    - kgwgk 8y ago

hannasanarion 8y ago

> Anti-tobacco extremists believe the ends justify the means. They'll happily give people dangerous psychoactive drugs or get them hooked on nicotine replacement therapy if it means advancing their agenda. Their "agenda" of not dying of lung cancer? It sounds like you're vindictive towards people who don't appreciate smokers pumping our air full of carcinogens. Nobody cares whether or how you get your high. The only reason anyone gives a shit about smoking is because we're tired of choking on ash and tar whenever a smoker walks by. You may think it's tolerable, but you're also the one inhaling through a filter: we have to breathe the shit that comes out the other end.

pessimizer 8y ago
In this case, it's about vaping, which has nothing to do with lung cancer or your fear that you will smell a cigarette while walking next to a street filled with burning gasoline.
- hannasanarion 8y ago
  This particular sub-thread is about smoking, not vaping. My parent comment was complaining that most of the anti-smoking treatments still contained nicotine. Thus demonstrating that they missed the whole point of anti-smoking treatments.

mrtweetyhack 8y ago

Failure of the DARE program? It worked for me. Take responsibility for your own actions, nobody put a gun to your head. Also, what is your solution? I don't see one.