Just one Cigarette and how Cigs&Crack cocaine are similar(both are free-basing)
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Just one Cigarette and how Cigs&Crack cocaine are similar(both are free-basing)
I read this summary by Joel Spitzer and thought it would be beneficial for us to read. I posted this in the daily check in but this is a much better place for it. Thanks!
"it is hard for many people to grasp the concept of how just one little puff can result in a full-blown relapse. It just doesn't seem logical to some people. But to everyone who asks him or herself whether or not he or she can maybe smoke "just" one, think about what advice you would give to a family member or friend who you cared very much about and you knew was a recovering or heroin or cocaine addict and was for the first time in months or years was considering to try recreational use. Imagine your shock and horror, especially if you were with him or her when he or she was in the grips of the addiction, ruining almost every aspect of life and maybe even almost losing his or her life.
Would you say to him or her, "Well, maybe you are better now, maybe its worth finding out if you could handle just one?" Would you feel the need to do a little research in current journals to see if maybe one is an option, maybe even delve into a few neurological journals to see if the scientists now have a better grip on neurotransmitter pathways that could explain why addiction happens and then maybe say, "Well they are starting to understand a little more of how addiction works and maybe soon they can alter your brain physiology, so if you relapse it may be no big deal, a cure is around the corner, maybe only years away? Or would you cut through the rationalization and say, "If you do it you are going to be back where you were when you first had to quit?" You are going to mess up your life and everyone around you.
The odds are you would go the latter route. You would be horrified and take a firm stand that he or she shouldn't do it; it would be stupid and even worse, suicidal. Well there is no difference between this scenario and the concept of maybe I can have just one now.
Well there is actually one difference. It is not medically or physically based, but rather societal. Our societies have not been taught about nicotine addiction. People have been taught about addiction and other drugs. Even though nicotine is more addictive than most any other addictive substance, and maybe even the most addictive of all, people still don't grasp how any administration of the substance can cause a relapse, even though they are taught this about most other addictive drugs. How often you will hear someone ask you when they find out you have quit the question, "You mean you haven't even had one?" This is such a ludicrous comment, and yet so common. Or how many times have you seen literature put out by medical organizations advising a recovering addict to not let a slip put them back to using? The message has been clear and consistent with other drugs, the message being don't slip.
Everyone here has been exposed to this discrepancy, not just since you quit, but also for years and decades while you still smoked. You now have to alter a way of thinking that is part of our culture, no matter what culture you are from. The pervasive attitude of the society around you is wrong.
The society may accept the danger of smoking but they do not yet grasp the concept of the addiction. You have to be smarter and more informed than the society around you, maybe even your health care provider. It is asking a lot of an individual to think different than the society as a whole, but it has to be done in regards to smoking.
The consequence of not becoming fanatical against a puff is too serious to just dismiss. It will be the loss of your quit, and that can easily translate to loss of your health and eventually loss of your life. You have to be vigilant at all times, to keep reminding yourself that you are a recovering addict.
There may be no signs of the addiction; thoughts of cigarettes may have become rare events now and maybe even non-existent. But even at this stage of the game, there is a silent addiction still there that can take you down with full force for making one miscalculation; thinking that maybe you are different.
You are no different than any other drug addict, whether it be from alcohol, cocaine, heroin, etc. You are an addict for life, but as long as you get the drug out of your system and never administer it again, you will never be set into the downward spiral that the drug sets into motion to its users. In regards to smoking, that spiral is loss of your Freedom, your health and your life, which means you can lose everything.
To keep what you've got, always remember to stay smoke free you must never take another puff!
Joel"
from whyquit.com free advice, Freedom from Nicotine's Key Topics Index
'Crack' nicotine in cigarettes varies widely
NewScientist.com news service
Some cigarettes have a "kick" containing 35 times more "freebase" nicotine - the most addictive form - than others, researchers have found. The findings could help rate the addictiveness of different brands, they say.
"Free-base" nicotine is a particularly potent form of the naturally-occurring tobacco drug because it is in an extremely volatile, uncombined form. This means it can be much more rapidly absorbed by the lungs and brain than nicotine derivatives such as nornicotine or its salts.
The new study is the first into the amount of "free-base" nicotine contained in common brands of cigarettes and found wide-ranging differences. The researchers at Oregon Health and Science University used a laboratory smoking device and a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer to collect and analyse smoke from 11 brands of cigarettes. The study measured the first three puffs of smoke from each cigarette.
"Measurements ranged from about one per cent free-base nicotine in the first few puffs to 36 per cent for a specialty US brand," says lead researcher James Pankow. "One type of Marlboro, the leading US brand of king-sized filter cigarettes, contained about 10 per cent free-base nicotine."
Crack cocaine
Previous research has shown that a drug's addictiveness is influenced by the speed at which it is delivered to the brain and absorbed into and from the blood stream.
"The study shows that the modern cigarette does to nicotine what crack does to cocaine," says addiction expert Jack Henningfield, at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The notorious addictiveness of smoking crack results from the vapourised cocaine reaching the brain almost immediately.
Ian Jones, a nicotine expert at Bath University, UK, adds: "Free-base nicotine is the most damaging form because it is the optimal configuration for binding to the nicotine receptors in the brain, heart and rest of the body. If the binding efficiency is increased, it means the concentration of nicotine at the receptors is higher and so it is very addictive."
"The first few puffs are the most important in terms of addiction, because nicotine reaches the brain within seconds," Jones told New Scientist
Ammonia and urea
The amount of freebase nicotine in cigarette smoke increases as the alkalinity, or pH, increases. This factor can be influenced by the use of certain additives.
"It is likely that ingredients such as ammonia and urea account for this addiction-enhancing effect. But you can also adjust the chemistry of the smoke by adjusting the blend. Some types of tobacco give a more basic blend," Pankow told New Scientist.
"There was tremendous amount of documentation revealed during litigation in the US of manipulation of the freebase levels and the FDA certainly believed there was manipulation of cigarette chemistry," he adds.
"What is clear is that the modern cigarette is a highly engineered nicotine delivery device and it's not just a matter of tobacco rolled-up in a piece of paper," Pankow says. "Even the so-called 'additive-free' cigarettes are highly engineered."
Journal reference: Journal of Chemical Research in Toxicology (DOI: DOI: 10.1021/tx0340596)
"it is hard for many people to grasp the concept of how just one little puff can result in a full-blown relapse. It just doesn't seem logical to some people. But to everyone who asks him or herself whether or not he or she can maybe smoke "just" one, think about what advice you would give to a family member or friend who you cared very much about and you knew was a recovering or heroin or cocaine addict and was for the first time in months or years was considering to try recreational use. Imagine your shock and horror, especially if you were with him or her when he or she was in the grips of the addiction, ruining almost every aspect of life and maybe even almost losing his or her life.
Would you say to him or her, "Well, maybe you are better now, maybe its worth finding out if you could handle just one?" Would you feel the need to do a little research in current journals to see if maybe one is an option, maybe even delve into a few neurological journals to see if the scientists now have a better grip on neurotransmitter pathways that could explain why addiction happens and then maybe say, "Well they are starting to understand a little more of how addiction works and maybe soon they can alter your brain physiology, so if you relapse it may be no big deal, a cure is around the corner, maybe only years away? Or would you cut through the rationalization and say, "If you do it you are going to be back where you were when you first had to quit?" You are going to mess up your life and everyone around you.
The odds are you would go the latter route. You would be horrified and take a firm stand that he or she shouldn't do it; it would be stupid and even worse, suicidal. Well there is no difference between this scenario and the concept of maybe I can have just one now.
Well there is actually one difference. It is not medically or physically based, but rather societal. Our societies have not been taught about nicotine addiction. People have been taught about addiction and other drugs. Even though nicotine is more addictive than most any other addictive substance, and maybe even the most addictive of all, people still don't grasp how any administration of the substance can cause a relapse, even though they are taught this about most other addictive drugs. How often you will hear someone ask you when they find out you have quit the question, "You mean you haven't even had one?" This is such a ludicrous comment, and yet so common. Or how many times have you seen literature put out by medical organizations advising a recovering addict to not let a slip put them back to using? The message has been clear and consistent with other drugs, the message being don't slip.
Everyone here has been exposed to this discrepancy, not just since you quit, but also for years and decades while you still smoked. You now have to alter a way of thinking that is part of our culture, no matter what culture you are from. The pervasive attitude of the society around you is wrong.
The society may accept the danger of smoking but they do not yet grasp the concept of the addiction. You have to be smarter and more informed than the society around you, maybe even your health care provider. It is asking a lot of an individual to think different than the society as a whole, but it has to be done in regards to smoking.
The consequence of not becoming fanatical against a puff is too serious to just dismiss. It will be the loss of your quit, and that can easily translate to loss of your health and eventually loss of your life. You have to be vigilant at all times, to keep reminding yourself that you are a recovering addict.
There may be no signs of the addiction; thoughts of cigarettes may have become rare events now and maybe even non-existent. But even at this stage of the game, there is a silent addiction still there that can take you down with full force for making one miscalculation; thinking that maybe you are different.
You are no different than any other drug addict, whether it be from alcohol, cocaine, heroin, etc. You are an addict for life, but as long as you get the drug out of your system and never administer it again, you will never be set into the downward spiral that the drug sets into motion to its users. In regards to smoking, that spiral is loss of your Freedom, your health and your life, which means you can lose everything.
To keep what you've got, always remember to stay smoke free you must never take another puff!
Joel"
from whyquit.com free advice, Freedom from Nicotine's Key Topics Index
'Crack' nicotine in cigarettes varies widely
NewScientist.com news service
Some cigarettes have a "kick" containing 35 times more "freebase" nicotine - the most addictive form - than others, researchers have found. The findings could help rate the addictiveness of different brands, they say.
"Free-base" nicotine is a particularly potent form of the naturally-occurring tobacco drug because it is in an extremely volatile, uncombined form. This means it can be much more rapidly absorbed by the lungs and brain than nicotine derivatives such as nornicotine or its salts.
The new study is the first into the amount of "free-base" nicotine contained in common brands of cigarettes and found wide-ranging differences. The researchers at Oregon Health and Science University used a laboratory smoking device and a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer to collect and analyse smoke from 11 brands of cigarettes. The study measured the first three puffs of smoke from each cigarette.
"Measurements ranged from about one per cent free-base nicotine in the first few puffs to 36 per cent for a specialty US brand," says lead researcher James Pankow. "One type of Marlboro, the leading US brand of king-sized filter cigarettes, contained about 10 per cent free-base nicotine."
Crack cocaine
Previous research has shown that a drug's addictiveness is influenced by the speed at which it is delivered to the brain and absorbed into and from the blood stream.
"The study shows that the modern cigarette does to nicotine what crack does to cocaine," says addiction expert Jack Henningfield, at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. The notorious addictiveness of smoking crack results from the vapourised cocaine reaching the brain almost immediately.
Ian Jones, a nicotine expert at Bath University, UK, adds: "Free-base nicotine is the most damaging form because it is the optimal configuration for binding to the nicotine receptors in the brain, heart and rest of the body. If the binding efficiency is increased, it means the concentration of nicotine at the receptors is higher and so it is very addictive."
"The first few puffs are the most important in terms of addiction, because nicotine reaches the brain within seconds," Jones told New Scientist
Ammonia and urea
The amount of freebase nicotine in cigarette smoke increases as the alkalinity, or pH, increases. This factor can be influenced by the use of certain additives.
"It is likely that ingredients such as ammonia and urea account for this addiction-enhancing effect. But you can also adjust the chemistry of the smoke by adjusting the blend. Some types of tobacco give a more basic blend," Pankow told New Scientist.
"There was tremendous amount of documentation revealed during litigation in the US of manipulation of the freebase levels and the FDA certainly believed there was manipulation of cigarette chemistry," he adds.
"What is clear is that the modern cigarette is a highly engineered nicotine delivery device and it's not just a matter of tobacco rolled-up in a piece of paper," Pankow says. "Even the so-called 'additive-free' cigarettes are highly engineered."
Journal reference: Journal of Chemical Research in Toxicology (DOI: DOI: 10.1021/tx0340596)
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posts: 453
QUOTE: " Myth: Smoking cessation will impede successful alcohol use outcomes.
• The majority of research indicates that smoking cessation is unlikely
to compromise alcohol use outcomes (cf. Fogg and Borody 2001).
• Participation in smoking cessation efforts while engaged in other
substance abuse treatment has been associated with a 25 percent
greater likelihood of long-term abstinence from alcohol and other
drugs (Prochaska et al. 2004).
• Data indirectly suggest that continued smoking increases the risk of
alcohol relapse among alcohol-dependent smokers (Taylor et al. 2000). "
• The majority of research indicates that smoking cessation is unlikely
to compromise alcohol use outcomes (cf. Fogg and Borody 2001).
• Participation in smoking cessation efforts while engaged in other
substance abuse treatment has been associated with a 25 percent
greater likelihood of long-term abstinence from alcohol and other
drugs (Prochaska et al. 2004).
• Data indirectly suggest that continued smoking increases the risk of
alcohol relapse among alcohol-dependent smokers (Taylor et al. 2000). "
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I really didnt read this whole article. But I can say that I relapsed on everything last week. I am not smoking cigarettes. I did smoke once and that was it. Back to business. But I could never in my wildest dreams take just one hit of crack and thats it.
Maybe for some people just one puff would have them right back smoking like they were before. but not everyone. And to compare crack to nicotine is flippin crazy to me.
There is no comparrison in my book.
Maybe for some people just one puff would have them right back smoking like they were before. but not everyone. And to compare crack to nicotine is flippin crazy to me.
There is no comparrison in my book.
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Join Date: Nov 2006
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Posts: 453
Originally Posted by chiynita 
I really didnt read this whole article. But I can say that I relapsed on everything last week. I am not smoking cigarettes. I did smoke once and that was it. Back to business. But I could never in my wildest dreams take just one hit of crack and thats it.
Maybe for some people just one puff would have them right back smoking like they were before. but not everyone. And to compare crack to nicotine is flippin crazy to me.
There is no comparrison in my book.
Maybe for some people just one puff would have them right back smoking like they were before. but not everyone. And to compare crack to nicotine is flippin crazy to me.
There is no comparrison in my book.
The bottom line is that Cigarettes are free basing nicotine.
Crack is free-basing cocaine.
There both free basing and they are both very very addictive and they are both very very deadly. So they are similar in at least those respects.
Now granted generally most people will have there lives fall apart much faster when free basing cocaine as opposed to free basing nicotine. But at the end of the day they will both kill you (Crack will probably just kill you faster, but even that is no guarantee)
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