Nicotine addiction scientists say anything about smoking - true or not
Jump to full article: Psychology Today, 2010-02-05
Author: Stanton Peele
Intro: My views on nicotine addiction don't fit any known template. Except my own. And, oh, the facts. And to show how mainstream, how core, my views are, I‘ll refer in this post to only U.S. Government publications for data.
I. 1964 Surgeon General's Report - Smoking Not Addictive
My views on nicotine addiction don't fit any known template. Except my own. And, oh, the facts. And to show how mainstream, how core, my views are, I‘ll refer in this post to only U.S. Government publications for data.
I. 1964 Surgeon General's Report - Smoking Not Addictive . . .
II. 1988 SGR Nicotine Addiction - Addiction Changes!
A quarter century later, the people who brought you Smoking and Health were forced to come back with - dum-de-dum - Nicotine Addiction. It took these distinguished pharmacologists 600+ pages to explain that they were wrong in 1964 - smoking WAS addictive. . . .
But research has proven it's untrue that continuing smokers are more addicted than quitters. People can quit addictions at any point. And, even after decades of heavy marketing of smoking cessation aids, most smokers disregard the ads and still quit on their own.
The National Cancer Institute released a 2002 compendium report, Those Who Continue To Smoke, about smokers who hadn't quit since everyone learned that smoking causes cancer. NONE OF THE RESEARCHERS FOUND THAT CONTINUING SMOKERS WERE MORE ADDICTED. In fact, older smokers who were more dependent were more likely to quit! Why? Let's think. As you age, being a heavy smoker makes you reflect more on your mortality and you are more anxious to live.
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