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Sorry I noticed the reply only now. A similar thing to what you said about smoking in Serbia is observed with alcohol: Within a society, the earlier someone ge

Sorry I noticed the reply only now. A similar thing to what you said about smoking in Serbia is observed with alcohol: Within a society, the earlier someone gets into contact with alcohol, the poorer the outcomes. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2741422/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2741422/ However there are societies where even children are given alcohol (like Italy) and where alcohol related disorders are much less frequent than in societies which strictly limit alcohol to adults. In that case, probably social norms which help prevent such disorders have a larger effect than the drinking age. However such would be difficult to imagine for smoking.

throwaway290 2y ago
> there are societies where even children are given alcohol (like Italy) and where alcohol related disorders are much less frequent than in societies which strictly limit alcohol to adults. True. Like in Russia normally a child drinking any alcohol is super bad and unacceptable. Many places don't sell alcohol after certain time of day. And people in russia drink less in total than in many european countries. But they do "risky drinking pattern". I knew a British guy who can start before noon and drink till night while maintaining sanity. he is strategic, drinks weak ass beer etc. And yes he had a "drinking problem". But a russian with the same problem would get shitfaced and completely out of control by mid afternoon... and I hope you don't meet him on the street, if he doesn't like how you walk he can murder you and not remember it in the morning. I'm not joking. > However such would be difficult to imagine for smoking. So I'm not totally sure it's too different. While smoking is bad I think it can be a disorder or associated with a disorder (call it "risky smoking pattern") however it can also be a mostly neutral habit. Less stress, less harm. Also, a thing I've recently read > People with Schizophrenia appear to have a high rate of self-medication with nicotine; the therapeutic effect likely occurs through dopamine modulation by nicotinic acetylcholine receptors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dopamine_hypothesis_of_schizophrenia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dopamine_hypothesis_of_schizop... If schizotypy is a spectrum and many people are somewhere on it then nicotine can make someone feel saner. (Of course smoking is probably not the best way of getting nicotine)

throwaway290 2y ago

> there are societies where even children are given alcohol (like Italy) and where alcohol related disorders are much less frequent than in societies which strictly limit alcohol to adults. True. Like in Russia normally a child drinking any alcohol is super bad and unacceptable. Many places don't sell alcohol after certain time of day. And people in russia drink less in total than in many european countries. But they do "risky drinking pattern". I knew a British guy who can start before noon and drink till night while maintaining sanity. he is strategic, drinks weak ass beer etc. And yes he had a "drinking problem". But a russian with the same problem would get shitfaced and completely out of control by mid afternoon... and I hope you don't meet him on the street, if he doesn't like how you walk he can murder you and not remember it in the morning. I'm not joking. > However such would be difficult to imagine for smoking. So I'm not totally sure it's too different. While smoking is bad I think it can be a disorder or associated with a disorder (call it "risky smoking pattern") however it can also be a mostly neutral habit. Less stress, less harm. Also, a thing I've recently read > People with Schizophrenia appear to have a high rate of self-medication with nicotine; the therapeutic effect likely occurs through dopamine modulation by nicotinic acetylcholine receptors https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dopamine_hypothesis_of_schizophrenia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dopamine_hypothesis_of_schizop... If schizotypy is a spectrum and many people are somewhere on it then nicotine can make someone feel saner. (Of course smoking is probably not the best way of getting nicotine)