davewilson33

i just heard the comment

"why cant you give up drinking i gave up smoking, they're both addictions arent they"

well my response was no, do your research!!

am i being ignorant i feel they are completely different??

Roosiedoll

Well, in my experience, as a smoker and a drinker...

Drinking got me my 1st and 2nd DUI, not smoking...

Drinking causes me to black out, not smoking....

Drinking has made me make quite a damn fool of myself at my own wedding, smoking did not...

Drinking really helped me realize that it was causing more bad in my life than good, smoking, eh, it's smells bad, costs a ton, will kill me in 20 years, but I'll quit sooner than later

ETA

No you aren't being ignorant. I vote don't listen to anyone who makes such global generalizations. Everyone is different.

I quit smoking 2 years ago and drinking 2 weeks ago. The experience of and path to quitting each one was very very different.

NewLife221

depends on who you ask i guess..

nicotine Is addictive otherwise the people who smoke that want to quit wouldnt have such a hard time quitting (like myself, been smoking since i was 13/14)

alcohol Is addictive otherwise the people who drink wouldnt have such a hard time quitting..

Marijuana Is addictive otherwise the people who smoke that want to quit wouldnt have such a hard time quitting

crack cocaine Is addictive otherwise the people who smoke/snort that want to quit wouldnt have such a hard time quitting

Heroin Is addictive otherwise the people who snort/shoot that want to quit wouldnt have such a hard time quitting

Prescription pills (i.e. Xanax, Vicodin, Oxycontin, ect.. add any others here >>____) are addictive otherwise the people who pop/snort that want to quit wouldnt have such a hard time quitting

get it??? everyone has a addiction..... just depends on your cup of tea! a addiction is a addiction. Period.

@ETA:::
your right, everyone is different.. but just because they have different paths dont make one a addiction and the other not a addiction!!!!

just my .02..... just like you's had yours.

have a nice day

BackToSquareOne

Smoking, obesity, lack of exercise, risky behaviors etc. will destroy your body. Alcoholism will disassemble your life piece by piece, it will destroy your body, mind and spirit. It will eventually sap all the real joy out of life and replace it with an emptiness that only more alcohol can fill.

Latte

I worry about my addictions and let others worry about theirs unless they ask for my help.

You cannot control what others do and say.

I keep my side of the street clean and really, we can talk until we're blue in the face but showing is the only way to really change our loved ones thinking.

nandm

I quit both at the same time. One was a health hazard, cigarettes, and the other a life hazard, alcohol.

Alcohol was destroying everything in my life those that loved and cared about me, my health, my job, my possessions, my sanity, etc... While cigarettes were only possibly destroying my lung tissue.

I did not choose to quit cigarettes when I quit alcohol it just worked out that way. When I took the alcohol away the cravings for cigarettes just went away for me. I guess I am fortunate as it is not that way for the majority of people. I was smoking 3 to 4 packs a day and sometimes more when I drank. I constantly had a cigarette in my hand but then again I constantly had a drink in my hand it seemed so the two were literally hand and hand for me.

Terminally Unique

Having been hooked on both cigarettes and alcohol, I can say that for me, quitting cigarettes was much easier. However, I believe it is easier to become re-addicted to nicotine than to alcohol, at least for me. I can quit cigarettes far more easily, but if I pick up again, forget it, within a few days I'll be smoking all the time, and within a week or two be physically dependent and back to my old levels. With alcohol, it would take much longer.

That said, there is a very strong correlation between alcoholism and smoking, and this has been known for at least 100 years. The two are intimately linked in many ways, and ninety percent of current and former alcoholics smoke, as anyone who has been to an AA meeting can attest. The notion that smoking bears no relevance to alcoholism is incorrect, and nicotine addiction is actually one of the top "warning signs" of alcoholism, since very few alcoholics do not smoke.

Boleo

When I gave up smoking, I simply white-knuckled it for a few weeks and the desire to smoke grew gradually smaller.

When I gave up drinking, I simply white-knuckled it for a few weeks and the desire to drink grew gradually BIGGER.

Same seat, different arena.

ru12

I think both alcohol abuse and smoking ruin lives. But smoking kills tons more people than alcohol does.

"More deaths are caused each year by tobacco use than by all deaths from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined.1,2"

CDC - Fact Sheet - Tobacco-Related Mortality - Smoking & Tobacco Use



Personally, smoking was easier to quit than alcohol.

ETA

I certainly know they are both addictions.

I'm just saying that each addiction and quitting process is different for everyone. I think AVRT might be on to something with the ease of re-addiction - at least for me anyway. I quit smoking for long periods of time and started up again over and over.

This is the first time quitting drinking for me and dear lord I pray it sticks.

Smoking damage was abstract and far off in the future while the damage my drinking did to me and those close to me was pretty instant.

Socially it's very acceptable to quit smoking but saying you have a problem with alcohol and have to quit - that's not always something that gets you respect. In that sense not-drinking is harder as the temptation is harder to avoid.

But again this is me and my situation. Both are addictions. Both cause great harm. Theoretically we should do neither.

My only point was that you can't compare the two in a global sense of "i quit smoking, you should be able to quit drinking" - that's silly.