smoking different from drinking?

[looking for peace]

I was just talking to my son about the show "Intervention". It's one of my favorite shows. He pointed out to me that of all of the hundreds of episodes not one was an intervention for strictly smoking pot (he recently was caught with evidence of pot smoking, and I think is still trying to defend himself)

Why is that??? At least in the show there is rehab and intervention available for just about every other addiction, including shopping, sex and gambling. How is smoking pot different, or am I just ill informed?

For that matter, why is regular cigarette smoking treated differently than drinking? Why no rehab, no "AA" meetings etc? There is a physical addiction as well as a mental one to smoking nicotine. If anyone has every read Allen Carr's books on the easy way to stop smoking or drinking, the philosophy is the same for both addictions. I'm just pondering the whole thing.

[eight days a week]

smoking different from drinking?

Interesting subject!

I don't know the show you're talking about - but all the examples you mention are legal, were illegal drugs and behaviours also tackled?

I thought there's plenty of information available about how pot is psychologically addictive?

And people do go to AA and NA for ciggie smoking - at least round here. I've met sex, nicotine and even shopping addicts at AA meetings!

[Doggygirl]

smoking different from drinking?

Peace, my husband smoked pot for years and somehow convinced himself it's not addictive. I think he really believed that until he needed to stop for 6 weeks in order to pass a blood test.

Like alcohol, (and unlike nicotine) I don't think everyone gets severely addicted. But my husband was sure addicted.

I think there is quite an urban legend out there that pot is not addictive. Maybe that's why they haven't done episodes on Intervention? At any rate, as far as your son goes, I hope he doesn't rely on a TV program to tell him what is what in life! (there was never an episode about cow breeding on Little House On the Prairie but that doesn't mean cows don't breed....OK bad bad girl I am!!)

Anyway...I have quit both AL and nicotine and for me, there have been similarities and differences. As one example, both were difficult in the early phases but for me, the first 3 months without Nic was WAY WAY harder than AL. (if that's even possible to imagine!!) But now, I really don't have irrational thoughts about nicotine, such as "maybe I could smoke just one." I feel like I am very grounded in my knowledge that it's addictive, and just one would put me right back to smoking and I don't want to go there.

I don't want to go there with AL either. And I rationally know that just one drink will take me back to my addiction - been there done that. BUT....for some nutty reason, the insane thought that maybe I could have just one STILL comes to my mind sometimes, and in a way that I might actually believe it if I don't stay close to my recovery programs.

I don't know why that difference exists for me, but it does.

All the best to you!

DG

[looking for peace]

smoking different from drinking?

"Intervention" is a show where various addicts are confronted and eventually go to treatment. Some make it, some don't. Actually most people on the show are either alcoholics or illegal drug users. I just mentioned shopping, sex and gambling because I've seen an intervention for each one of those addictions as well as the "big ones". I'm just wondering why not nicotine or pot?

Also, what I meant by "AA" for smoking was why isn't there a specific "smokers anonymous" for people wishing to quit smoking. Even though I've never been to AA, I get the impression there's alot of cigarette smoking going on (perhaps a substitute, or drinking and smoking go hand in hand?)

Anyway, just wanted to clarify.

[eight days a week]

smoking different from drinking?

Thanks for that looking for peace!

My only comment I guess I can make is that while nicotine addicts are welcome at AA or NA (Narcotics Anonymous) meetings - at least the ones I've been to around here - there's not the social stigma attached to smoking. Most of the people smokers know will know of their addiction, whereas drug, alcohol and other addictions are generally kept secret, so smokers don't need anonymous meetings per se. Here in England they do have support groups for smokers.

And yes, haha, most people at AA and NA meetings I went to smoked cigarettes. Drinking and smoking do go hand in hand. Quite apart from addicts often (usually?) having multiple addictions, I believe some scientific studies have shown that nicotine and alcohol together increase the pleasure of both.

As an aside, most of the staff at alcohol detox and rehabs I've been to smoked too - strange eh?!

[brittzak]

smoking different from drinking?

I personally don't see any difference in pot and alcohol. You are still damaging yourself. Whether you are addicted or not it isn't healthy. It stinks, it can cause lung cancer....no different than smoking a cig to me and you get tipsy like if you had drank alcohol. Not to mention, it is illegal. If you get caught with it you will be prosecuted in most areas. I think society goes through phases of what is socially acceptible.

[momof3]

smoking different from drinking?

I was in a recovery program a few years back. There were lots of pot smokers who were recovering from addiction. There are studies out there that show that marijuana abuse causes changes in the brain that are similar to alcohol.

[Cinders]

smoking different from drinking?

On cigarrettes: Darn, I am one addicted cigarette smoker. I choose to work on my alcoholism first. Why? Because it is the one thing in my life that can end someone else's life very suddenly. I do not want to go there. I know someone who has and it is not pretty.

But, ciggies are so freaking addictive. I recall back in the 70s or 80s Phil Donahue (okay, I am really old.. don't say "who is Phil Donahue" please..) had Rita Coolidge on his show. At the time, she was married to Kris Kristofferson (sp?,) who quit cigarettes, booze and heroin cold turkey. He said that cigarettes were the hardest to give up.

I can see why. Not only are we addicted physically, we are addicted to the whole lifestyle of smoking. Smoking when we wake up, smoking when on the phone, smoking when driving, smoking when taking your dog outside, smoking when on the computer, smoking when .... It is a lifestyle. Not just an addiction. Quitting cigarettes means changing almost everything you do. I am amazed at those who quit. We have many here who quit. I applaud them. (DG, Starty, Oney, many, many others..)

Alcohol is a different kind of addiction. It is a physical one for those of us who got that far. It is also a mental addiction, "I drank because..." but it is not a lifestyle change in that many of us did no drink for every single thing we did. Even I don't do that when I drink and I am a 24/7 drinker. (Not now but was.)

Hubby wants me to quit smoking, too. He really does not want to have to take care of the old lady at the Casino with the oxygen tank on her walker. I don't blame him.

Unfortunately, I am struggling with both addictions. Thank God I am not struggling with heroin or pills, just alcohol and cigarettes.

I applaud those who have quit smoking and I applaud those who have a lot of sober time under their belts, (be it alcohol, or alcohol and other stuff.)

Now, on to Pot:

I had a kid in rehab who was there for pot.

I recall in my teens, I smoked a lot of "weed." Lots. Every day. I gave that up when hubby went into the army. I figured it would be bad to get busted and ruin his career.

I did not give up drinking.

Is pot addictive? I don't think so in a physical way.

Hubby points out that anything we take that lets us circumvent what is going on in life is bad. i.e. We need to learn to deal with the sh@t that happens. If we use something, whether it be pot, alcohol, heroin, whatever, to circumvent our bodies and brains from dealing with it, then it is a bad substance and to be avoided.

However, he often says, "I don't suffer stress, I am a carrier."

I agree with the @sshole!! :H:H

But, he does have words of wisdom and I love the @sshole a lot. Amazingly, he still loves me despite being the alcoholic from hell.

Love,
Cindi

[eight days a week]

smoking different from drinking?

Cinders you make a lot of great points I am just off to bed, far too late, but can't help but reply to a few of your points.

Cinders;800248 wrote:
...I recall back in the 70s or 80s Phil Donahue (okay, I am really old.. don't say "who is Phil Donahue" please..) had Rita Coolidge on his show. At the time, she was married to Kris Kristofferson (sp?,) who quit cigarettes, booze and heroin cold turkey. He said that cigarettes were the hardest to give up.
I think that depends very much on the individual.

Cinders;800248 wrote: I can see why. Not only are we addicted physically, we are addicted to the whole lifestyle of smoking. Smoking when we wake up, smoking when on the phone, smoking when driving, smoking when taking your dog outside, smoking when on the computer, smoking when .... It is a lifestyle. Not just an addiction. Quitting cigarettes means changing almost everything you do.
I don't see any difference, myself, between the way you describe smoking and drinking. In fact, it applies to me more for booze than ciggies!

Cinders;800248 wrote: Unfortunately, I am struggling with both addictions. Thank God I am not struggling with heroin or pills, just alcohol and cigarettes.

I went through a public detox with mostly heroin users (it's political in the UK - drugs make more headlines due to the associated crime, so the public health service is more geared up to treating drug users than alcoholics, the shame of it). And the heroin users were deeply sorry for us alcoholics!

Why? Because alcohol affects far more organs in the body, arguably doing far more damage, and also affects far more parts of the brain that make it harder to quit long-term. Sure, the withdrawal from heroin is physically very nasty indeed, but it's less dangerous actually, I understand, than cold turkey from alcohol.

They also pitied us because alcohol is everywhere in life - we're constantly surrounded by it. Once heroin users change their situation and delete all their contacts from their phone they may never come across it again. Alcohol? We have to watch TV ads every night full of the stuff!

Cinders;800248 wrote: I applaud those who have quit smoking and I applaud those who have a lot of sober time under their belts, (be it alcohol, or alcohol and other stuff.)

Hear hear!!

Sorry just to pick you up on a few things when you make so many other good points, but as someone who's got to know heroin users very well through public treatment programs that lump us alcoholics in with them all together (when our needs are quite different) I had to chip in with what I've learnt.

Hope you understand

[Lavande]

smoking different from drinking?

Hi peace,

Just wanted to add my .02!
Last year on March 26 I quit drinking. I quit smoking May 19!
As of right now I have no desire to drink again - Yay for me! But I still think about smoking several times per hour all day long! What a mental pain in the a$$! I am 100% sure that one smoke will have me addicted all over again & I don't want to go there.
There is a great support group that I've been with called Quitnet. It's a lot like this one.

We all smoked pot back in the early 70's - who didn't? I only know of 1 or 2 people that still bother with it. The rest of us had no problem walking away from it when we finally 'grew up'!!

I guess addiction is different for everyone!

[craving]

smoking different from drinking?

Lavande;800270 wrote: But I still think about smoking several times per hour all day long! What a mental pain in the a$$! I am 100% sure that one smoke will have me addicted all over again & I don't want to go there.

Bupropion has helped me a ton on that. It erased the nagging in my brain. I was even able to smoke moderately cigars - without falling back in the habit of smoking cigarettes!

Not smoking anymore - since 2006 :goodjob:

[beatle]

smoking different from drinking?

eight days a week;800261 wrote: I don't see any difference, myself, between the way you describe smoking and drinking. In fact, it applies to me more for booze than ciggies!

How do you do that, eight? (I mean split up the quotes and answer each part individually.)

Anyway, I agree with you about drinking -- for me, baclofen has dampened the need to drink considerably, but drinking is an ingrained part of my everyday life. Just like Cindi said about smoking -- drinking while at the computer, drinking while on the phone, drinking while doing almost any activity in my life. They are all associated, even without the need to drink.

I should also mention that a large part of my need to drink has been linked with my anxiety, and the physical manifestations of it. As baclofen has eased the anxiety, there is little left to justify drinking.

I haven't reached that magic "switch" point, but I do know I don't have to drink. I no longer have the physical need. It's all habit at this point, and I am working on quitting the habit, much like biting your nails.

[JimBeam911]

smoking different from drinking?

If I had to hazard a guess, it would be that people with serious drug problems have moved beyond substances like pot. Pot is a cheap, fairly benign (in my opinion) drug that just doesn't cut it for many people who want to experience significant highs, and as such, these kinds of drug users move on to stronger drugs. I'm not attempting to defend the oft-pronounced argument that pot is necessarily a 'gateway drug', but rather that the predictable, mellow high it provides becomes boring for many drug users after a while. The stronger drugs, on the other hand, are demonstrably highly and rapidly addictive, and thus it is no surprise that A&E's "Intervention" focuses on these kinds of users compared to the unremarkable lives of heavy pot smokers. For example, when I think of the heaviest pot smokers I know and imagine what it would be like if they were featured on "Intervention", the result would be highly comical. The episode would center around hard-working, productive citizens who enjoy getting high during lunch at work, watching pointless tv at night, and overdoing it with junk food due to the munchies. Admittedly, this may not seem like human flourishing, but it is a far cry from some of the people featured on "Intervention". In fact, if you take away actual marijuana smoking and just consider people who spend all their time eating and watching television, the life of a heavy pot smoker is essentially identical to that of a large body of the North American population! A similar thing can be said about nicotine. Despite the known health hazards, it is uncommon to see people ruining their day-to-day lives due to cigarette smoking. A&E's "Intervention" is fairly typical sensationalized tv, and as such needs to focus on the worst cases of addiction to captivate its audience.

[beatle]

smoking different from drinking?

well put, Jim!

[LVT25]

smoking different from drinking?

I think JimBeam hit the nail on the head as far as an answer to your question. I love to watch Intervention, my hubby hates it, I think because of the deception involved in getting the addicts to participate. I don't think many of them would humiliate themselves in the ways they do on camera if they knew what was going to happen. But they also wouldn't get help either. I've often wondered if they pay them.

That doesn't mean that smoking pot is ok--even though it has been done for decades.

I don't think Intervention would get many viewers for smoking addicts-too boring!