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by mdoms 1850 days ago
I smoked for 10 years and quitting was difficult (but not THAT difficult - don't even get me started on the "it's harder than quitting heroin" nonsense). But now, 9 years since quitting, I don't even think about it anymore. It doesn't follow me around, I don't constantly fight the urge to smoke. I'm not "always" an addict. It's gone. It's in my past.
1 comments
qayxc 1850 days ago
> don't even get me started on the "it's harder than quitting heroin" nonsense)

Out of curiosity: did you try both to know that for fact?

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mdoms 1850 days ago
No, but if that was all there was to heroin I don't think we'd be seeing people destroying their families and literally throwing their lives away for it. Quitting smoking was a few weeks of feeling a bit shitty followed by a few months of constant cravings followed by almost forgetting you ever smoked.
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qayxc 1850 days ago
Ah, I see. I was thinking more about the neurological side, which seems to suggest that similar mechanisms apply in addiction and withdrawal between nicotine, heroin and cocaine. (see for example [1])

As far as sociological consequences go, there's of course no comparison for various reasons. I don't know the role withdrawal plays, though, which is why it would interesting to get some first hand account.

[1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18640919/

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