addictions - Jezebel

posts about #addictions more →
Up In Smoke
The Great Texting Debate
Who Hasn't Gotten Drunk and Bought a Wood-Mite-Infested Folk-Art Mermaid?
Right Now Is About When I Shoot People Who Tell Me They're Worried About Their "Caffeine Addictions"
Maybe So-Called Sex Addicts Should Enroll In 12-Step Programs

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embarcadero13
05/11/09

In reply to Up In Smoke
Isn't there anyone else who is, at least, mildly suspicious of studies based on race and genetics? Statistics are always used against people of color in some ways, especially since the person doing the study usually looks nothing like the subjects.
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EKane
05/11/09

@embarcadero13: I am. When people of color start producing studies about other people of color I'll give them more credit. I have trouble believing studies because they have historically been used to justify racism.
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badmutha
05/11/09

In reply to Up In Smoke
I think there are as many physical reasons for addiction as there are mental ones. I have had a bad time trying to quit, and you can trace the veins in my legs through my near translucent skin. Smoking is a nasty habit and I want to stop!!
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MakeFetch
05/11/09

In reply to Up In Smoke
I swear some mornings, reading Jezebel is like reading all those pamphlets in the doctor's office.

Okay, I get it...I'm black and apparently can't escape poor health.
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meg9
05/11/09

@MakeFetch: MakeFetch, this made me laugh :) we're also raising what is it now? 80 % of our kids out of wedlock, and will probably not have proper medical care for cancers that are treatable when detected early.

I'm REALLY not getting the "melanin/nicotine addiction connection" wouldn't this mean that people who are tanning like crazy would be more at risk for nicotine addiction too?? Would light skin blacks be less at risk than dark skin blacks? Medical studies never make sense to me.
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EKane
05/11/09

@meg9: "Would light skin blacks be less at risk than dark skin blacks? Medical studies never make sense to me."

I didn't think of that. I wonder how Medical studies would explain that.
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bananaballs
05/11/09

In reply to Up In Smoke
So...what's my excuse? :(
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J.D.Regent
05/11/09

In reply to Up In Smoke
So, does this mean that smoking cigarettes while slathered in baby oil on the beach drinking wine coolers really will send me to an early grave like my mom says?
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bluebears
05/11/09

@J.D.Regent: I want to go there.
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J.D.Regent
05/11/09

@bluebears: Seriously, what's 15 years more of life worth if that life is spent with pale skin and no vices?
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badmutha
05/11/09

@J.D.Regent: Sounds like the good old days to me.
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Grim Reaper of the Forest
05/11/09

In reply to Up In Smoke
I'm hoping that most scientific studies no longer assume that results that come from white males are applicable to the population as a whole.
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ellaesther
05/11/09

In reply to Up In Smoke
GAH!! That picture! Oy, am I the only one who feels seriously nauseous just looking at butts? Ergh.

Sorry, that's not addressing the issue, which is actually very interesting/horrifying, in part because I seem to recall reading that the marketing of tobacco products in the Black community is particularly aggressive.

But I sort of can't get over the picture. I'll just squint.
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Plum-Pie
05/11/09

@ellaesther: Aren't economically developing countries the expanding market for tobacco too?
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J.D.Regent
05/11/09

@Plum-Pie: yes. apparently the ciggie companies have decided that Asian children are the new wave of smokers.
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ellaesther
05/11/09

@Plum-Pie: @J.D.Regent: It's the theory of poor-people luxury, if you will. You can't afford a car, or a decent home, and lord knows you can't get what those people in that movie have -- but you've got a few extra coins in your pocket right now, and damn it! You deserve a little luxury of your own! How about his insanely unhealthy snack food, or possibly this insanely addictive drug in a socially-acceptable package? It works right here in the developed world, too....

If I think about it too much, it makes me furious, and more nauseous than the picture of cigarette butts.
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lalaland13
05/11/09

In reply to Up In Smoke
I am pretty pale, but also eat for comfort. If I started smoking for comfort, I would probably be dead in about 10 years.

I do, however, enjoy taking my stepdad's cigars, putting one between my teeth and going "Wa wa wa!" I had to explain to him that I was The Penguin from Batman, though.
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AtomiClash: humanitarian misanthrope
05/11/09

@lalaland13: This is another reason they need to get on cancer-free cigarettes. Seriously, scientists, if you can't cure cancer, at least make my smokes non-carcinogenic because I love them so very very much. they keep me sane.
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misspell
05/11/09

In reply to Up In Smoke
What?! It's even harder than it was for me? I can't imagine that. Holy shit.
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colormeroutine
05/11/09

In reply to Up In Smoke
I guess this explains why I can pick up and put down cigarettes with no difficulty at all.

I'm so f-ing pale I glow in the dark
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AtomiClash: humanitarian misanthrope
05/11/09

@colormeroutine: hahaha I was thinking the same thing. All the same, I really want a cigarette after reading this. Power of suggestion wins again!
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Samanthrax
05/11/09

@colormeroutine: Same here, though I usually attributed my ability to do that because I find the idea of a cigarette in the morning vomit-inducing.
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birminghamdrunk
05/11/09

@Samanthrax is Sarcastic: same here. just seeing other people smoking in the morning makes me want to gag.
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badmutha
05/11/09

@Samanthrax is Sarcastic: Oh WORD. If I smell smoke in the morning I get nauseated.
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Jack_Burton
05/11/09

@colormeroutine: Give it time. I was like that many years ago. Nicotine makes significant changes in your neurological ecology over time.

Each time I've quit, it's become more difficult.
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Interrobanging
05/11/09

In reply to Up In Smoke
I'm a social smoker and I always wonder how someone could become full time addicted to these things. I mean now a days they're just too damn expensive but, it's making me second guess even my social smoking now, knowing that I have an increased risk of dependence.
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Beat Girl
05/11/09

@Interrobanging: Pound for pound nicotine is more addictive than heroin. Says a full time addicted smoker.
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sarah.of.a.lesser.god (aka Mrs. BrutallyHonestHobbit)
05/11/09

@Interrobanging: I have an incredibly addictive personality but smoking was so easy for me to stay non-addicted to even though I smoked on and off from ages 13 to 19. Maybe it's because i knew my grandfather died of lung cancer.
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sarah.of.a.lesser.god (aka Mrs. BrutallyHonestHobbit)
05/11/09

@sarah.of.a.lesser.god (aka Mrs. BrutallyHonestHobbit): That said, it took my father 15 years to quit.
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NefariousNewt
05/11/09

@Interrobanging: I used to be a social smoker in college -- I generally used a cigarette to arrest hunger pangs, since nicotine is a major appetite killer. I never got addicted, but then again I build up tolerance to things rapidly, so I'm not sure I could ever really get hooked. Unlike alcohol, which I can handle, but provides the double-edged sword of being to willing to "handle it," to the point of being a stinking drunk.
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birminghamdrunk
05/11/09

@Interrobanging: also a more so social smoker- however, i've made weird rules for myself, as to avoid smoking too much, to (in my mind) stave off an eventual addiction. i know this is actually just BS and probably a weird semi-OCD tick that i have, but it seems to work for me.

i a) don't smoke at work- 8-5. b) don't smoke in cars c) don't smoke more than about 3-tops5 cigarettes a day, unless i'm on a real bender, and have been drinking heavily for an extended amount of time.

i do think that actual nicotine addiction has certain ties to your genes- i believe i've read somewhere that certain folks, depending on your nicotine receptors, can be more easily pulled into an addiction than others. i have no idea how this works, or if it's true, but it would make sense in my mind. i've been a social smoker for about 7 years, and can go at least 2-3 days without one, and do so on a regular. the most i've ever gone is a week, and i believe at that point i almost completely lost interest. i can't even remember what made me smoke after that.

my dad is a compulsive smoker though. if he could smoke continuously, without ceasing, throughout the day he would.
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margareita metermaid
05/11/09

@birminghamdrunk: @Interrobanging: Oh you cuties! I did those things for years, too...now look at me. Smoking as I read this, bags under my eyes, and cartons of American Spirits in the closet. ;)
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Jack_Burton
05/11/09

@Beat Girl: Supposedly, the source of that statement is a US Army/VA study of returning soldiers from Vietnam: it polled soldiers on their opium and smoking habits pre and postwar.

As I recall, distinct groups were identified as: new smokers, new smokers using IV heroin, new smokers smoking opium, and nonsmokers using IV heroin, nonsmokers smoking opium.

The group that had the smallest rate of shedding opiate addiction was the tobacco-and-opium smokers (highest mortality also). Then then tobacco smokers (no opium), opium smokers (no tobacco), then smoking IV heroin users, and lastly, nonsmoking IV heroin users.

I wish I had time to look for it, fascinating stuff...
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onydchic
05/11/09

In reply to Up In Smoke
We've just got the raw end haven't we? If science is right, you're kinda screwed as a woman, but even moreso as a black one. *sigh*
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Triana Orpheus
05/11/09

@onydchic: We all have to die sometime. I'm trying to spend less time worrying about my when and how and just make due with the life I'm living right now.
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MizJenkins
05/11/09

@onydchic: Update: Pretty Much Everything Is Harder For African-Americans. White People Still Touchy About Acknowledging This. Film at 11.
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margareita metermaid
05/11/09

@MizJenkins: Heh! FYI, I love when I see your name on a comment thread. I instantly scroll to see what you've said. You're one of my faves!
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CaptainBruisin
05/11/09

In reply to Up In Smoke
It's weird how you say the PC term "African American" right before you say "whites".
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save jinger
05/11/09

@CaptainBruisin: To be fair, those are the terms used in the article.
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Zombies make the heart grow fonder
05/11/09

@CaptainBruisin: Ironically, Black is the new PC term again. The real African Americans, that actually just came from Africa (instead the "African Americans" who of course you know, have lived her for numerous generations and are as American as anyone else) felt it was demeaning.
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SmallbutMighty
05/11/09

@CaptainBruisin: are there white people that get offended by the term "white people"?
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tscheese
05/11/09

@CaptainBruisin: I don't mind being called "white", because if there's a skin shade that's basically #FFFFFF I have it, but I wonder at the term "African-American" if there's a genetic component involved. Plenty of people of African heritage are not American, of course, and if this study is true, many people other than African-Americans will have difficulty quitting smoking.

I don't know if I'm splitting hairs at this point or not - I mean, I get what's being said here.
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CurtCole
05/11/09

@SmallbutMighty: Only ones that are offended by most everything.
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Fridge Hussy : Is finally heading back to uni!
05/11/09

@CaptainBruisin: Here in Oz, a fuckton of people have a charming habit of referring to all non-"visibly-ethnic" people as "Australians," to the exclusion of all others.
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hortense
05/11/09

@CaptainBruisin: This is a total threadjack. Let's get back to the post, please.
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misspell
05/11/09

@Zombies make the heart grow fonder: That makes sense, but how would it work for someone like me, classically termed "Asian American"? I'm not from Asia, but there are lots of Americans that have just moved from Asia. It's endlessly complicated.

And I didn't know "white" wasn't PC. What, we're saying "European American" now?
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Zombies make the heart grow fonder
05/11/09

@hortense: My apologies, Hortense.
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Vivien Smith-Smythe-Smith
05/11/09

@SmallbutMighty: I don't get offended, but I prefer the term Pakeha (originally meant something akin to 'foreigner', but now used to refer to New Zealanders of European descent), as it's more particular to my culture and ethnicity than it is my skin colour (plus, although the majority of my ancestors were European in origin, a lot/most of them weren't actually 'white').
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Vivien Smith-Smythe-Smith
05/11/09

@hortense: Wait, just read this. Sorry, Hortense!
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Gretchen is a new kitten mom!
02/23/09

In reply to The Great Texting Debate
I'm a MS/HS teacher and cell phones are a huge problem with this age group. I can understand why a parent would want their MS student to have a cell - our school has never had a public phone and if they are returning from an activity it is an easy way for them to let you know when to pick them up.

Where we've had problems is convincing students to keep the phones in their lockers. We've had to go to a policy that states if you are seen with a phone it will be taken away and you get it back at the end of the school day. The second time the phone is taken (in a semester), the student has to call their parents and the parent has to COME IN to personally pick up the phone. That usually takes care of the problem. Once a parent has to make a trip to the school to pick up a phone the student usually gets a good swift parental kick in the rear. We do have a few hard-core cases where the phone is taken 5, 6 and even 7 times in a semester.

I have seen students texting each other after school when they could have walked 20 feet and faced the person for a real conversation. This happens much more than you would think. I realize that texting is the new version of note-passing, but I'm also seeing too many students who are making a choice to converse in this fashion instead of having a conversation and that bothers me.
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Liz11685
02/23/09

In reply to The Great Texting Debate
My boyfriends cousin is so addicted to texting, she made her parents buy her a new phone at 8pm on a Saturday night. Her sister is surgically attached at the had to her cell as well. I'm always waiting for their parents to be like "Phones away!" but they never do...
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