Drug Abuse

Question by ryuzog: Unique Questions on Smoking?
Just some non-common questions:

Does second-hand smoking give you a “high” effect? To me it just smells bad…

Does breathing a cigarette, or “smoking” it without actually lighting up have any effect? If so how much.

Can you “safely” smoke without inhaling into the lungs? Like to blow smoke rings using just the smoke in your mouth…It might be fun…beats having to sink to the bottom of a pool to blow bubble rings.

How is the composition of a cigarette determined? Some guy randomly chooses 4000 things that make you dizzy, dilutes them and mixes them together?

I read this article about how smoking occasionally is good for your health, just like how occasional red wine is. There is also an article that says the opposite (of smoking) and how occasional smoking…(according to the article, even 5 a month…cigs not packs) is just as bad. 5 a month is a big difference than the couple packs a day I hear some people smoke. So what’s true? IMO, “scientific studies” like the ones in the articles I read are based on too little evidence and are probably just random noise rationalized to be evidence.

Cigarettes are supposedly highly addicting. I’ve heard things like quitting nicotine is harder than heroin and that one cigarette can addict you or that addiction can start as a craving from once a week and blow up into packs a day. So how addictive are they? I’ve heard that of all the people who’ve done drugs like ectasy or heroin, only 1% become the “druggies” that are often portrayed of T.V. and D.A.R.E programs. I know you can cook a frog in slowly boiling water but I’d much prefer the truth. (Unless of course, nicotine tolerance is highly genetic which according to another thing I read, might be true. Then w/e, it becomes all too subjective.)

My only experience with “craving” is for food when I was experimenting with fasting so I can’t really grasp or imagine the concept of a long term craving. Maybe a game I played a few days back that was fun but I was busy…but that’s hardly an “addiction”. It’s more like at the current time I can’t think of anything better to do. So what defines addiction? Is it harder than not eating for 2-3 days? Harder than waking up a 6 in the morning for a morning run (it’s effing required for my university…) Harder than holding a maximum stretch for a minute or doing push ups until you collapse due to lack of ATP?

(On a side note, perhaps being bored inspires greater things. A long time ago(I think), only the rich could afford an education, and the rich were often scientists. Nowadays it’s assumed only people who “like” science become scientist and is considered a chore rather than an exotic mystical thing to understand, like alchohol.)

(another side note, why do people have to make beer bitter with hops? Doesn’t modern technology provide a better means for preservation? Also, do people really like beer or do people drink it because others do…even my mom says she still doesn’t like the taste. I’ve started to like coffee a bit though, thought it’s probably more the scent than the taste…Alcoholic beverages are an ancient tradition though so I suppose I’m the one who’s missing something…)

And how healthy is breathing in incense? It’s lit up all over the place for meditation so I’m assuming it has SOME sort of psychological effect.

And yes I want to try out a cigarette. The “increase in alertness, reaction, and memory” is alluring. Although I’ve grown up in a environment where smoking has a really negative stigma to it. Aside from school that is (non-tertiary) but back then I always viewed the masses as ignorant sheep. *

*not anymore of course, apparently I was “cynical” and perhaps “overly arrogant”. Reading “The catcher in the rye” made me feel like a copycat.

~Thanks for the answers
(unless there aren’t any… I always wonder why people thank in advance…like when they grab your calculator and at the same time ask “can I borrow this?”)
So incense isn’t good for you…rather counterproductive to meditation in my opinion.

I read a story once on some old guy believing occasional cigars and red wine to be the key to good health. For me it wasn’t a far stretch to believe.

After all, minute amounts of poison or venom will promote immunity towards it. And exercise is basically tearing your muscles and making your heart beat fast. Even though there is a correlation between heart rate and lifespan. (compare mouse to turtle)

Kind of like how you have to forge steel with fire or how white cloth is hard to keep white but black is easy to keep black, or w/e semi-applying analogy you can think of. (sometimes instead of immunity, you become allergic)

of course, malica’s description is rather foreboding, though I have read that the genetic tolerance for nicotine might be highly genetic.

as for smoke rings, i’ve found out, just shake incense up and down to create the same vortex.

Best answer:

Answer by Lori O
I’ll try to sum up what I can answer of those questions quickly. Smoking is more addictive than weed, and possibly the harder stuff too. I don’t think that 1% is very accurate. The only person I know that has tried the stuff is addicted beyond addicted. Inhaling second hand smoke is just bad for your health. There is no benefit. There is no way to “safely” smoke. The craving is strong. It’s an urge that won’t go away. A nagging that is constantly there. I have a friend who has tried to quit 6 times. She goes for about a week and then can’t take it anymore and starts smoking again. It is a waste of money, too. If you want the alertness and whatnot, try taking an herbal supplement or an energy drink or some vitamins. Sorry for the questions I couldn’t answer!

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