Erm, I don't know about in the USA but in Britain there is a distinction between drugs: there is the legal one:
Nicotine(i'm ignoring medical drugs here..), Class B (illegal but not too serious) e.g.
cannabis and Class A (the deadly stuff) e.g.
heroin. Dunno 'bout you but that distinction is enough for me.
b.t.w. Your claim that most nicotine addicts can quit when they want to is not true, figures claim that more than 90% of serious attempts to stop smoking fail within a year. As for the dependance being primarily habit - I cannot prove/disprove that because I do not know how strong the habit dependance is but I do know that nicotine is highly addictive in the physiological sense, to quote a 1995 report:
"...Of primary importance to its addictive nature are findings that nicotine activates the brain circuitry that regulates feelings of pleasure, the so-called reward pathways. A key brain chemical involved in mediating the desire to consume drugs is the neurotransmitter dopamine, and research has shown that nicotine increases the levels of dopamine in the reward circuits. Nicotine's pharmacokinetic properties have been found also to enhance its abuse potential. Cigarette smoking produces a rapid distribution of nicotine to the brain, with drug levels peaking within 10 seconds of inhalation. The acute effects of nicotine dissipate in a few minutes, causing the smoker to continue dosing frequently throughout the day to maintain the drug's pleasurable effects and prevent withdrawal. "
And nicotine withdrawal symptoms include irritabilty, headaches and anxiety - hence the myth that cigarettes calm you down. They don't, they just remove the withdrawal symptoms which stress you out.
For more info see this 1998 report: http://www.nih.gov/news/pr/may98/nida-06.htm it is supported by the US government but it was funded by Novartis, Switzerland and knowing the swiss i doubt they are bothered about US propaganda
Tangent thinking is cool, but try to back it up with facts...
wharfinger, read
why i hate smokers. I have to praise you on the
colourful language you used in your node but you have me figured all wrong. I'm not trying to
purge the world of
evil, nor am I trying make smoking as bad as taking a class A drug. In this node I was counter arguing
65535's irrational statements claiming that
nicotine is completely harmless, if you disagree with the points that I made then you are a fool! As for your claim that I am 'scapegoating' well, maybe I am but as far as I am concerned smokers are an irritation that turns up more frequently than
dog turd on the pavement and if they are not prepared to fight their
addiction for the short time that they are in my company then they can go to hell!