[innguest]

> alcohol very much is physically addictive

> nicotine on its own is not particularly addictive

No drug is addictive. This word "addictive" is a rhetorical strategy to shift the blame from people's genetic and psychological predispositions onto a substance that by itself is harmless.

I drink alcohol about once every two months. I'm not addicted to it. Therefore, alcohol is not "addictive". It only takes one counter-example to disprove that assertion.

I've also tried cigarettes in the past. Never got addicted. So it can't be that nicotine is "addictive".

Nothing is "addictive". People are either more prone to forming habits around certain substances and behaviors, or they aren't.

This is important because thinking that substances are to blame is what got them banned in the first place, and that is the wrong approach to the problem of treating people with strong habits around unhealthy substances. This point of view only harms those that need the most help. They cannot help that they have certain genes or that their brains are wired in a certain way.