Nicotine: Pure Evil or Brain Fuel?

[5150sick]

http://smartdrugsmarts.com/episode-146-nicotine/


This one starts off great with good information but then out of nowhere these supposedly "smart" people go on to add that nicotine instead of smoking cigarettes as a way to get nicotine is more addictive that caffeine and even hardcore street drugs:

"But that’s not the only consideration. The potential for addiction (“addiction liability” in official jargon) of caffeine and nicotine are hugely different. Only about 15-20% of people will become physiologically addicted to caffeine.

Nicotine is much more addictive: about 80-85% of people will become addicted to nicotine. For comparison, that number is 50-60% for ******. So yeah, you probably will become addicted to nicotine if you take it regularly. Anyone who’s tried to quit smoking knows just how addictive nicotine is."

The reality of the situation is about 80-85% of people will become addicted to SMOKING.
Scientists have actually found nicotine without tobacco to be very mildly addictive at around the same 15-20% rate of caffeine.

Let's be honest, how many people have you met that became helplessly addicted to nicotine gum?

There is a reason that this just doesn't happen because I have heard numerous stories of non smoking college kids chewing nicotine gum on the regular to help them study and they never went on to become nicotine "addicts".


Then we land here on even more bullshit:

Vascular Constriction
The benefits of nicotine are short-term, but the downsides are long-term. Regular use of nicotine causes your blood vessels to constrict, causing heart problems.

As we know from the bullshit "Vaping is as bad as Smoking" headlines that were plastered everywhere across the UK about 3 weeks ago:

http://www.senseaboutscience.org/fo...-vaping-is-as-bad-for-the-heart-as-cigarettes

Professor Peter Hajek, director of the Tobacco Dependence Research Unit at the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine at Queen Mary University London, said:

“The study is reporting on a well-known short-term effect of nicotine - stiffening of arteries - that accompanies all types of stimulation. The same effect is generated by watching a thriller or a football match or sitting an exam. Drinking a cup of coffee actually produces a larger response of much longer duration. The key heart health risks of smoking are not caused by nicotine but by other chemicals in tobacco smoke that are not present in e-cigarette vapour.”


Honestly, Tobacco Control "experts" along with these "smart" dummies have no fucking clue about the heath effects of nicotine without cigarette smoke because they spent 30 years demonizing nicotine as a way to get people to quit smoking.

Now that they realize that a good 15% of the population is not going to quit using nicotine no matter how much they lie about it they are stuck playing catch up and wasting funding doing studies that could have already been done at the turn of the century - 5150

 

[celticluvr]

I haven't read anything but the title (yet), so that is what I'm responding to first. It is Pure Evil in the eyes of the government because it helps you concentrate, therefore, think more. Gooberment wants us to think less.

Okay, now to read this post to make less of an ass of myself.



Edited to add, okay... I'm in the 15-20% addicted to caffeine... but what is weird is I'm not addicted to nicotine, never have been, I've only used nicotine as a way to reduce stress.

Interesting article... I'll have to study it more in depth later.

 

[KDodds]

Gooberment wants us to think less.

And drink more Brawndo!

 

[Jimi D]

Let's be honest, how many people have you met that became helplessly addicted to nicotine gum?

One of my long term lumber customers was for over 10 years. He did stop smoking, but couldn't get off the gum. He was so happy to tell me that he finally did last year.

 

[5150sick]

And drink more Brawndo!

Brawndo's got what plants crave. it's got electrolytes!

 

[5150sick]

One of my long term lumber customers was for over 10 years. He did stop smoking, but couldn't get off the gum. He was so happy to tell me that he finally did last year.

Right, but I meant a never smoker doesn't get addicted to nicotine gum even if they use it regularly for months or years.

My father quit smoking and chewed the nicotine gum which cost him more than cigarettes did in the late 80's and he was on the gum for 8 years.

 

[Jimi D]

Right, but I meant a never smoker doesn't get addicted to nicotine gum even if they use it regularly for months or years.

My father quit smoking and chewed the nicotine gum which cost him more than cigarettes did in the late 80's and he was on the gum for 8 years.

True. But, vaping is addictive as long as it contains nicotine. The brain doesn't know the difference, if its gum, cigs, or vaping. I can't go an hour without nicotine in my body. I don't blame my addiction to the cigarettes. I blame it on the nicotine.

 

[AndriaD]

I find it hard to go an hour without vaping, though I use just 3.5mg nicotine. It's nothing to do with the chemicals -- it's the behavior! I'm used to being able to vape at will, don't even have to run outside as i did with smoking, so now, in a store, I find it very difficult to do without -- because I'm not accustomed to doing without it.

Andria

 

[KDodds]

I can, literally, go hours without vaping. When you think about it, that's when you're like, "oh, where's my Choc de Menthe." Otherwise, I'm gtg without it in reach. For instance, today, I took my Pico and DIY Cannoli to do weekly food shopping, which takes about an hour and a half. No problem. As a smoker, I'd be looking for reasons to bolt after an hour. It's a 5 minute drive home, so had a few puffs, then got the groceries in and put away and then made dinner and ate. Before I knew it, 2-3 hours had passed without even thinking about it or physically craving it. AND, I still use a little nicotine (DIY is mg mostly, bought are all 3mg mostly, but some are less).

 

[Jimi D]

I find it hard to go an hour without vaping, though I use just 3.5mg nicotine. It's nothing to do with the chemicals -- it's the behavior! I'm used to being able to vape at will, don't even have to run outside as i did with smoking, so now, in a store, I find it very difficult to do without -- because I'm not accustomed to doing without it.

Andria

It's not the behavior for me really. I quit smoking for 2 years with snus. Then I went to vaping, because the govt removed online sales with Swedish Snus. The only reason why I started vaping, was to get my nic fix. Funny how people differ. Vaping is even harder to kick because it tastes too fucking good ! LOL

 

[Jimi D]

I can, literally, go hours without vaping. When you think about it, that's when you're like, "oh, where's my Choc de Menthe." Otherwise, I'm gtg without it in reach. For instance, today, I took my Pico and DIY Cannoli to do weekly food shopping, which takes about an hour and a half. No problem. As a smoker, I'd be looking for reasons to bolt after an hour. It's a 5 minute drive home, so had a few puffs, then got the groceries in and put away and then made dinner and ate. Before I knew it, 2-3 hours had passed without even thinking about it or physically craving it. AND, I still use a little nicotine (DIY is mg mostly, bought are all 3mg mostly, but some are less).

My problem is I haven't weened down since I've started on 36 mg. I vaped maybe 2 to 3 ml a day. Today I vape 3 mg, and vape 40-60 ml a day

 

[AndriaD]

It's not the behavior for me really. I quit smoking for 2 years with snus. Then I went to vaping, because the govt removed online sales with Swedish Snus. The only reason why I started vaping, was to get my nic fix. Funny how people differ. Vaping is even harder to kick because it tastes too fucking good ! LOL

I think probably 90% of my smoking addiction was behavior -- the other 10% were the MAOIs. I've been off WTA since March, and have zero cravings now... but yesterday, we went out to a mall, which of course is always a long tedious business, there's just so many people and so much damn walking. On the way out, we decided to stop in at a Sears Outlet, to see the fantabulous deals on their scratch-and-dent appliances -- I crave a smooth-top stove and a dbl-door-w-bottom-freezer refrigerator! But I finally had to insist on leaving, partly because I was thirsty as hell, and also, really wanted a vape! It was just over an hour, I think. But the MtL sensation, that's the thing I always craved, when I tried quitting cold turkey or with the patch, and the reason why vaping worked so well for me, as a substitute -- and the reason why I'll never go from MtL to DtL vaping -- it wouldn't satisfy me.

Andria

 

[Jimi D]

I think probably 90% of my smoking addiction was behavior -- the other 10% were the MAOIs. I've been off WTA since March, and have zero cravings now... but yesterday, we went out to a mall, which of course is always a long tedious business, there's just so many people and so much damn walking. On the way out, we decided to stop in at a Sears Outlet, to see the fantabulous deals on their scratch-and-dent appliances -- I crave a smooth-top stove and a dbl-door-w-bottom-freezer refrigerator! But I finally had to insist on leaving, partly because I was thirsty as hell, and also, really wanted a vape! It was just over an hour, I think. But the MtL sensation, that's the thing I always craved, when I tried quitting cold turkey or with the patch, and the reason why vaping worked so well for me, as a substitute -- and the reason why I'll never go from MtL to DtL vaping -- it wouldn't satisfy me.

Andria

I get plenty satisfaction with direct lung. It's a different animal. It's hard to explain. Kinda like tickled lungs, especially when its smooth.

 

[skt239]

And drink more Brawndo!

It's the thirst annihilater

 

[KDodds]

I get plenty satisfaction with direct lung. It's a different animal. It's hard to explain. Kinda like tickled lungs, especially when its smooth.

For me, when smoking and trying to explain it to a non-smoker, I'd say, "You know how your belly feels hungry? Well, it's like that. When I want a cigarette, my lungs actually feel hungry." DTL definitely scratches that itch better than MTL, but MTL catches throat hit better. When I was a smoker, I'd kill a cigarette to the butt in only a couple of minutes, literally. Sometimes, I would actually DTL a cigarette if my lungs felt really hungry.

 

[AndriaD]

For me, when smoking and trying to explain it to a non-smoker, I'd say, "You know how your belly feels hungry? Well, it's like that. When I want a cigarette, my lungs actually feel hungry." DTL definitely scratches that itch better than MTL, but MTL catches throat hit better. When I was a smoker, I'd kill a cigarette to the butt in only a couple of minutes, literally. Sometimes, I would actually DTL a cigarette if my lungs felt really hungry.

I think I kinda remember that feeling, from before I developed asthma -- after I'd been smoking for about 10 yrs. Quitting was out of the question, but I had to considerably modify *how* I smoked -- no deep inhales permitted, and I kinda had to learn that, the way that vapers have to learn how to vape. By modifying how I smoked, and going to progressively lighter and lighter cigarettes, I was able to continue smoking for almost 30 yrs after that diagnosis -- and frankly my asthma was in better shape when I smoked, than it is now. But maybe that was just because it was such an accustomed thing, my lungs were used to it. My asthma is improving now, but very, very slowly.

Andria

 

[5150sick]

Yes, but what we have here are personal experiences from a bunch of ex smokers.
I like to see how a never smoker feels about the addictive properties of nicotine in vaping.

 

[5150sick]

http://www.ecigarette-politics.com/the-great-nicotine-myth.html

http://www.ecigarette-politics.com/is-nicotine-addictive.html

 

[inspects]

I like to see how a never smoker feels about the addictive properties of nicotine in vaping.


There are none.

 

[KDodds]

I like to see how a never smoker feels about the addictive properties of nicotine in vaping.


There are none.

I wouldn't say there are none, I know a few never smokers who are vapers. But, they all vape 0mg and always have.

 

[AndriaD]

From what I have read, it's the interaction between: nicotine + MAOIs + very very fast uptake to the brain, that is actually responsibble for the extreme addctiveness of smoking cigarettes. Those who've NEVER smoked, don't ever have that addiction form, because only smoking tobacco delivers both the MAOIs plus the near-immediate uptake.

So if someone uses nicotine in some other form, such as vaping or gum or patches, they *might* after a considerable period of use form a dependency, such as that which forms from consuming caffeine -- abrupt cessation would cause some slight-to-moderate discomfort, but NOTHING like the withdrawal experienced by abrupt cessation of smoking.

Andria

 

[Rossum]

Only about 15-20% of people will become physiologically addicted to caffeine.

I don't believe that for a minute. Coming between me and my coffee would entail the risk of serious injury.

 

[inspects]

I wouldn't say there are none, I know a few never smokers who are vapers. But, they all vape 0mg and always have.

The conversation has nothing to do with 0-mg juice.

 

[KDodds]

The conversation has nothing to do with 0-mg juice.

Didn't say it did, only pointed out that there are plenty of never smoker vapers.