Brightsky

I've never been a smoker addicted to cigarettes but i know lots of people who are. It struck me the other day that if these people are trying to stop smoking and make it publicly known, they don't get fellow smokers offering them cigs and saying 'oh just have one!' ? Unlike people who are trying to give up alcohol , who often get pressured into drinking and 'just having one'. Also, someone who is addicted to alcohol isn't just a 'drinker' they're an 'alcoholic'. But someone addicted to nicotine is always just a 'smoker' not a 'smokeaholic' !? Hmm !

Natom

It's a weird situation isn't it. But I think it may be because smoking is becoming less acceptable. We have a smoking ban in my country that means you can't smoke in restaurants, pubs, bus-stops....pretty much any enclosed or semi-enclosed public space. I remember reading some statistics about smokers quitting and I believe the number has grown year on year for a substantial amount of time. A lot of people find smoking disgusting. It smells bad, it's super expensive and it severely damages your health.

Unfortunately we haven't quite got there with alcohol yet. We have wine festivals and beer festivals and alcohol is still promoted heavily by advertisers. I've been in a situation where I had to repeatedly tell someone I didn't want or need a drink (like 5 or 6 times). He looked at me like I'd just landed in a spacecraft.

Natom

MantaLady

The biggest cause of relapse for a smoker...is being offered a cigarette by another smoker. It happens, and it happens with other addictions. Oh one small piece of cake won’t hurt to someone with a food addiction and so on. Making alcoholism “special and different to other addictions” is addictive thinking at it’s best. xx

G00SEM00SE

snitch

Its the only drug in the world you have to justify NOT taking!

JamesSquire

I had friend ask me why I wasn't drinking. Just giving it a break, I said. In the end he stuck a beer in my hand and said, drink this!

I said, no to the beer but when you gave up smoking , we supported you but when I give up alcohol, I'm a leper.

Funny, a few weeks later I had an electrician out. Simple problem and he didn't charge me. I said, Thanks and I haven't even got a beer for you. He told me he didn't drink.

When I told him about the episode with my friend, he said "That's why I haven't got any friends"

Guener

One thing that got my attention when I was in rehab was the noticeable separation of those of us who were "in" for alcohol as compared to those who were there to get treatment for narcotics. Those who identified as alcoholics were often referred to as "old drunks" who didn't have the same kinds of problems as those who were in treatment for drugs. Mind you, this was not the opinion of the staff but rather internal viewpoints. There were a few young alcoholics but not many, though probably there were plenty of multi-faceted combinations, including nicotine for many. There was also a noticeable difference in the ages of the "pure" alcoholics against the other addicts, so that was a factor in the differences in thinking, too. It was tough to see so many youth severely caught up in a culture that surrounds using drugs while addicted, perhaps that "I'm invincible" aspect of being young.

Brightsky

Yes you're right alcohol is the only drug you have to justify not taking 😊 most people I know have relapsed because of something stressful happening in their life. Really difficult not to hit the bottle when **** happens.. Even though you know deep down that it doesn't solve anything .

Robbie64

Indeed. It not only doesn't solve anything, it tends to make things worse.

Robbie64

Yes, the amount of smokers in the UK is now down to 15% (2018 figures). Five years previously it was close to 20%, itself a low at the time. At one time it was over 50%.

I do think that for drinking there is a generational thing about people viewing non-drinkers as being like creatures from outer space. My generation (I'm in my mid 50s) would regularly drink every Friday and Saturday night and were of the generation where, because the pubs shut at 10.30pm, would cram as much alcohol down our throats which caused binge drinking and added to the amount of people who developed a serious problem with alcohol. However I have noticed that a number of 20 somethings often won't drink. It's not an entirely scientific study but I have noticed that in my local (which is a Wetherspoons) that many younger people are drinking soft drinks, usually while having a meal. And I don't think that particular generation (the so-called "millennials") have embraced a drinking culture like my generation did. You rarely see them in large groups in a pub on a weekend evening. Of my 5 nephews of that age three of them don't drink at all.

But yes, I've been in the same situation as yourself where I've had to repeatedly tell someone I didn't want an alcoholic drink and then I had one time where someone tried to sneak a vodka into the orange juice I was drinking (I learned after that to never go to the bathroom in a pub while leaving a soft drink on a table). In the latter case another person in the company I was in warned me that some alcohol had been poured into my glass. Thankfully I don't have problems like that any longer as the sort of person who thinks it's funny to sneak alcohol into a glass I've cut completely from my life.

WeThinkNot

I'm not a violent person by any means but I would have no problem throwing a hot right at the jaw of somebody who tried to pull a stunt like that.

Seeing a story like that strengthens my resolve to be militant in my sobriety. If somebody tries to offer me a drink once I can say no politely. I will not be polite a second time.

PurpleKnight

There's definitely a social acceptance against someone smoking cigarettes . . . but I feel that's because smoking is becoming socially unacceptable in many societies . . . and so the encouragement shown to someone quitting is simply in line with the societal decline or vilification of smoking . . . it is no longer allowed in public places like coffee shops, bars, buses, trains, public buildings here.

Whereas if you wanna go drink yourself into oblivion and fall out of a bar onto the street . . . no one will stop you . . . therein lies the difference . . . society will say nothing about having a drink 365 days a year . . . but light a cigarette up at the entrance to a hospital . . . you'll be told where to go by security.

Advertising is the clue also . . . it's illegal to advertise tobacco on TV here, whereas alcohol can sponsor a sports tournament . . . and don't get me started on gambling apps on TV . . .

. . . it's definitely a fair observation!!

Andante

The attitudes and rules regarding smoking in public places have evolved because secondhand smoke is offensive and has been proven to be harmful, not because of any inherent disparity in how society views nicotine addiction versus alcohol addiction.

trailmix

I doubt many non-drinkers find the smell of someone drinking - pleasant.

Secondhand smoke is visible. "Secondhand drinking" is not. The wives/husbands/children of the drinker are not sitting there being screamed at or ignored. They aren't left in the bar when the alcoholic disappears, nor are there any witnesses when they throw a punch through a wall or empty the family bank account.

So yes, it is how society views nicotine addiction vs alcohol addiction.

Evoo

Honestly, I’ve always found that if someone is uncomfortable with your sobriety (or even a person who “cuts back”) it’s because your doing so shines an unwelcome light on their own drinking habits.

People who don’t have an issue with alcohol could give a damn if others around them are drinking.

I know this because I used to be the person who challenged non-drinkers, said “they can’t be trusted” and would egg people to drink more. It’s weird to think back on now, but it’s probably because I found their sobriety (or even moderation) threatening. Really, anything that wasn’t a full embrace of my addiction seemed threatening.