To all those who smoke (ed) or drink (unk) (alcohol), I have always wanted to know how the addiction felt. It may sound stupid, but I've always been curious. I have friends and family who I've asked, but they really can't describe it well enough.

I'm not trying to open a AA meeting, or trying to get smokers to quit. But if it gets to that, it wouldn't be such a bad thing.

A teacher of mine would pack his desk with spearmint lifesavers, he would go through one whole pack a period, no B.S. He would munch on them like they were chips, he said that it helped him get through the day until he could go out and smoke.

People always say I'm trying to quit, so I say just quit. They say it's not that easy, why? How bad can it get? I've lost a couple of family members and I’m sure many of you also have to lung cancer or smoke or alcohol related deaths. It’s a huge issue around the world, one that I would really like to understand more about.

Originally posted by thetruth05
People always say I'm trying to quit, so I say just quit. They say it's not that easy, why? How bad can it get? I've lost a couple of family members and I’m sure many of you also have to lung cancer or smoke or alcohol related deaths. It’s a huge issue around the world, one that I would really like to understand more about.

Have you ever been eating a meal and loving every bite yet you know you are full. You also know if you eat any more you are going to feel sick to your stomach but you keep eating anyway? If so, that is kind of like what it was like for me when I was a smoker.

I loved every puff. I looked forward to the end of every meal because that meant a cigarette. I stayed up late to have just one more and the first thing I did in the morning was light up. I smoked when I was happy, I smoked if I was sad. I smoked to relieve stress, I smoked to rev myself up. I smoked with my coffee, I smoked with my wine. It was a part of my whole life.

The nicotine hits your brain and actually changes the way you feel. That can happen with food, alcohol, drugs etc.

I could never imagine myself quitting. I had no desire to try to quit until one day I decided and that was it.

As for quitting, after smoking heavily for almost 30 years, I went on a drug called Zyban which was supposed to ease the withdrawl symptoms. I was prepared for a terrible reaction to quitting and also expected that it would take several attempts. I took the drug but decided after three weeks that I really didn't need it and I haven't smoked since. That was six years ago.

I have no idea why it was so easy to quit after all that time or why I have no urge to smoke again. I thought it would be hard...they tell you it will be hard. I think it is just an individual thing. Ready is ready, otherwise it will never work.

i've smoked for some time. i have quit for over a year at times. sometimes for a coupla weeks. i doubt i'll ever really quit, excpet when the price gets too high or i can't breathe. but i do grow some of my own. there is no guarentee you'll die "young" from smoking. they always give you the worst case scenario. there are people who have smoked into their 100's. even one french woman only quit because she couldn't see to light them anymore.

alcohol hasn't been a problem for me. only for seldom short periods of time. like my time in germany when i almost stayed drunk for 2 years. "i was in germany? really?"

i'll include other stuff. i'll never try coke, crack, meth, or anything like that. why speed myself up. coffee does a good enough job as it is.

i'll continue to smoke pot on occassion. it does not stop me from doing things. unlike most people i do not "vegetate" when "high". i want to do things. get it done. stay busy. i was never the sit in front of a t.v. on my ass and eat sort of guy while on pot.

not interested in acid. had magic mushrooms once in a low dose and it was interesting, but i'd never want to have a higher dose and "trip". i actually like to be in some control of what is going on around me, or to me.

i guess my main addiction is tobacco and always will be. i am addicted to it, and am ok with that. an addiction is a problem if you are fucking up your life, or the lives of others around you. and you are having serious complex personality problems with it. which effects how you deal with others around you in a bad way. if you are ok with fucking up yourself and you are not harming others around you, then there is no real problem.