Comparing tobacco cigarette dependence with other drug dependencies. Greater or equal 'difficulty quitting' and 'urges to use,' but less 'pleasure' from cigarettes

Abstract

About 1000 persons seeking treatment for alcohol or drug dependence were asked, relative to cigarettes, about the difficulty of quitting the use of the substance for which they were seeking treatment, the strength of their strongest urges to use, and the pleasure they derived from use. Fifty-seven percent said that cigarettes would be harder to quit using than their problem substance. These ratings were related to the level of cigarette dependence and the perceived difficulty of quitting the use of the problem substance. The alcohol-dependent persons were about four times more likely than the drug-dependent persons to say that their strongest urges for cigarettes were at least as great as their strongest urges for their problem substance. Cigarettes were generally rated as less pleasurable than alcohol or other drugs. Thus, experiential experts on dependence judge cigarette dependence as at least as "addictive" as other drug use, but not as pleasurable, indicating important similarities and differences between cigarette dependence and other forms of dependence on psychoactive substances.

Repeated stress alters the ability of nicotine to activate the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis

“…1983; Seyler et al . 1986), which may correlate with the finding that most smokers report that smoking is pleasurable (Kozlowski et al . 1989).…”

The integration of tobacco dependence treatment and tobacco-free standards into residential addictions treatment in New Jersey

“…Perceived barriers to quitting smoking among residential clients have included concerns about experiencing withdrawal and intolerable urges to smoke, concerns about the effects on sobriety, and perceptions that cigarettes help them cope with stress (Asher et al, 2003). More than half of addictions clients who smoke state that it would be as hard or harder for them to give up their tobacco, as it would be for them to give up the substance for which they were primarily seeking treatment (Foulds & Doverty, 2003;Kozlowski et al, 1989). Staff in addictions-treatment settings has often received little or no training in treating tobacco dependence and many are smokers themselves.…”

Can Reduced Smoking Be a Way for Smokers Not Interested in Quitting to Actually Quit?

“…alcohol or heroin. However, that does not make the suffering from tobacco abstinence any less problematic for the smoker [6]. …”