Someone Has To Say It
Sep 17, 08- (by Bill)
- 22 responses
- Controversy Alley, Sober Salon
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Tobacco products are the only products legally sold in the United States that are known to be deadly when used as directed .
That being the case, how can anyone who is still using them claim to be in recovery from addiction? Who but an active addict would do that?
Addiction is addiction, and denial is denial. Get over it. I’m not saying we have to quit everything all at once, but if we’ve been off the sauce or drugs for more than a couple of years and are still smoking, we needn’t be bragging about how we’re recovered” addicts. We ain’t there yet.
And just in case you think I don’t know what it’s about — I smoked two packs a day for 30+ years.
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whew, harsh words. Have to chew on those for a bit. Yup, I guess I agree since i’m still struggling to keep clean from them, myself. I see and feel how deep my jonesing goes and realize there’s something so core in terms of how they have helped me avoid, stuff, and move away from my feelings and from sitting with pain and discomfort. However, you should be prepared for a violent reaction from this one!
Oh, and btw, we were just at the OASAS conference where the hot topic is on NY State’s new rules for addiction treatment professionals and centers: NO SMOKING. And that’s NY, people. You try telling ex-felons from the Bronx not to smoke in treatment from heroin addiction. A little controversy there.
In the fifteen years I’ve been singing this song, no one has come up with a cogent argument yet, but I’ve heard a lot of denial.
It took me three years, three months and 29 days after my last drink and drug. I don’t claim it’s easy, just necessary. And as far as controversy goes, I welcome it on this subject. I’ve seen too many friends succumb to the effects of smoking after being “clean” and sober for a long time. Anything that makes people think about it is OK with me.
However, I hasten to add that I do not now, and never have, recommended trying to quit smoking at the same time as getting clean, and I think the NY law and other similar ones simply show how little legislators know about addiction.
I do believe in smoking areas and not subjecting non-smokers to smoke who don’t like it, whether in treatment or out. Nonetheless, and all excuses aside, it’s a deadly addiction and we ain’t clean until we’re clean.
Thanks, Bill -
I needed that kick in my butt (no pun intended). Friday is my 58th birthday and although I’ve only smoked for 3 years (that a whole other dysfunction)as a gift to myself it is my desire to stop smoking. I’m going on a three day retreat, putting on a patch and gonna give it my best. It is just like any other addiction….I love it, I hate it, I wanna stop, I don’t wanna stop. I did it with drugs and alcohol and you are right on the money, my friend. This one wants to get me alone and kill me as directed.
You’re absolutely right–and that’s coming from a smoker. I do think it’s important to focus on the main addiction first, and then tackle the smoking. But, yes, smoking cigarettes means you’re still feeding the addict.
I’m really glad you said this. I’m not a smoker, but I lost my beloved grandfather to the addiction. His final three months were horrible and very much on my mind as I realized I needed help to quit my drinking. For most of his life he was defensive about his habit, saying it was his body to do what he wanted. But just before he died, he told me he wished he had realized sooner, before it was already too late, what his destroyed health was doing to those of us who loved him. He never meant to break our hearts, but his addiction didn’t let him see that was what those damn cigarettes were doing.
At one point I was the only woman out of 19 in our rehab house who was a non-smoker. It really does seem to go hand in hand with other addictions.
My-Wife-The-Shrink, also in recovery (but I have two more weeks ;), and I have talked about that a lot, and discussed it with people in treatment and in the rooms. Based simply on our observations and other people comments, it seems to be like this…
All of us successfully in recoveryl know that the next drink or drug has a good chance of being the beginning of the end. If we’re realistic about it, we can understand that with no problem. I know that if I take a drink, it indicates a state of mind that will likely lead to more drinking, and that’s in addition to triggering the physical addiction. I know that I escaped death by the skin of my teeth once, and that I might not be so lucky again, being 19 years older and the disease being the progressive critter that I know it to be from both personal and professional experience.
The thing about smoking and other forms of nicotine addiction is that it lacks that certainty. It is very likely that the next cigarette WON’T be the one that kills us.
That makes denial easy, until things start to go downhill. Given that nicotine is one of the most addictive substances known, it makes for a really difficult recovery. Frankly, I found it harder than stopping booze and drugs for *precisely* the reasons above.
But, after I quit, I stopped feeling like a fraud.
to be in recovery, by that definition, one would have to be an ascetic. No spending money for fun. No eating to feel better. No sex to change the way we feel.
While it is true that the next cigarette probably won’t be the one that kills, it is equally true that the next cigarette won’t be the one that feels fantastic, that makes me that perfect balance of dizzy, relaxed, and aware. The next cigarette isn’t going to be the one that clears my mind, puts me in control of my surroundings, or take away my anxiety.
Just like with alcohol and with crystal meth, the next cigarette only succeeds in making me crave another cigarette. But there I am. And thinking about putting down the cigarettes only succeeds in making me smoke twice as much.
Are there cigarettes in Iceland?
I don’t recall having defined recovery, but merely stating that as long as one coddles one’s addiction to a deadly, mood-altering drug,that ain’t it.
Don’t understand the reference to Iceland, but if it bears on the asceticism remark, it’s clear that you’ve never been there.
I think a reference to Egypt and its river would be more appropriate.
I guess the book actually says Greenland, doesn’t it.
Yet while I don’t “coddle” my addiction to cigarettes, I don’t beat myself up about it either. The first 164 is clear on that point. If the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous had bought into the question “how can anyone who is still using them claim to be in recovery from addiction” many would never have gotten sober.
“One of our friends is a heavy smoker and coffee drinker. There was no doubt he over-indulged. Seeing this, and meaning to be helpful, his wife commenced to admonish him about it. He admitted he was overdosing these things, but frankly said that he was not ready to stop. His wife is one of those persons who really feels there is something rather sinful about these commodities, so she nagged, and her intolerance finally threw him into a fit of anger. He got drunk. Of course our friend was wrong-dead wrong. He had to painfully admit that and mend his spiritual fences. Though he is now a most effective member of Alcoholics Anonymous, he still smokes and drinks coffee, but neither his wife nor anyone else stands in judgment. She sees she was wrong to make a burning issue out of such a matter when his more serious ailments were being rapidly cured. We have three little mottoes which are apropos. Here they are: First Things First Live and Let Live Easy Does It.”*
That passage was likely written about AA’s founder, Bill Wilson. “It seems beyond comprehension, but the evidence is inescapable. The man who pioneered the approach to addictive illness that has helped millions free themselves from alcoholism and a myriad of other addictive problems -including smoking- literally smoked himself to death.”** To suggest that Bill W. couldn’t claim recovery from addiction is, at best, ridiculous.
Many people recovering from serious addictive disease smoke cigarettes and drink coffee. To suggest that those people, who may medically be described as caffeine and nicotine dependent, are not in recovery ignores the scientific evidence that these very things may actually contribute to their ability to not drink alcohol and use other drugs; a phenomena that is documented in a study published July in “Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research.”** The study concluded that “a greater proportion of AA participants drink coffee and smoke cigarettes in larger per capita amounts than observed in general U.S. populations. The effects of these products as described by AA participants suggest significant stimulation and negative affect reduction.”
I’m not saying my smoking doesn’t harm others, but it doesn’t harm others in the ways my other addictions did. I’m also clear that FOR ME, continuing to smoke cigarettes will hinder my spiritual path. But who am I to say that people who use the drugs caffeine and nicotine but who don’t drink alcohol or use other addictive drugs should not claim recovery from addiction -especially in light of the experience of millions of recovering addicts and alcoholics and the observations of the scientific community?
If you make that assertion, if you really want to step out of the denial you’re talking about and put your money where your (rather judging) mouth is, then I think you really need to start talking about your sobriety date as being the last day you smoked a cigarette.
* Big Book-Ch. 9: The Family Afterward P135.html
** Bill W.: A Biography of Alcoholics Anonymous Cofounder Bill Wilson,
Hartigan, F., Macmillan, 2001
***Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2008 Jul 24. Reich MS, Dietrich MS, Reid Finlayson AJ, Fischer EF, Martin PR.
“Tobacco products are the only products legally sold in the United States that are known to be deadly when used as directed .”
not to be an ass, but where on the pack are you directed to use cigarettes?
this isn’t a case of “lather, rinse, repeat…”
i recognize that cigarettes were a glaring crutch for me when pulling myself off the various and sundry other drugs i habitually used. for that reason, i am grateful to them. they provided the necessary edge to distance myself from other bad habits. they are evil, but without the transition they provided, i may well never have taken those first steps toward recovery.
and NOW, i’m choosing to quit smoking. 10 days down. it’s a natural progression to continue to improve oneself. but to project what you’ve found that works for you onto others… ranks up there with evangelicism.
Feeling a touch defensive, are we?
that was the point, wasn’t it? an equal and opposite reaction to offense.
guess my goal in quitting smoking each time i’ve tried, including this one, was to never look down on anyone who struggled with a similar vice.
your blog strikes me as doing that, despite the good point. besides, most folks i know say they are ‘in recovery’ not ‘recovered’.
but then, chomping furiously on my gum and NOT smoking, you have simply aggravated my addict.
if someone loses 100 lbs and is still overweight have they done nothing?
if someone regains 50% of their ability to walk, have they accomplished nothing?
if a habitual fast food consumer, cuts back to one fast food meal a month, is that not healthier?
i think it’s fair to acknowledge and encourage folks for EVERY step they take toward living a healthier lifetsyle.
hands down.
[...] about whether or not a person is really in recovery if they’re still using nicotine, on TheSecondRoad.org. Many people agreed with me, but some were absolutely vehement in their defense of smoking [...]
You should probably re-read my rebuttal. I never defended smoking. In fact I admitted that it is something for me to work toward letting go of. But smoking is on the scale of “character defect”, rather than spiritually bankrupt. Smoking is a rather nasty, habitual behavior; not a “seemingly hopeless state of mind and body”.
The only thing that really troubles me is my selfish, prideful insistence on being “right” here. Not exactly the picture of spiritual fitness I’m aiming for.
I could be wrong about this. I’m not. But I could be.
You should probably re-read my rebuttal. I never defended smoking. In fact I admitted that it is something for me to work toward letting go of. But smoking is on the scale of “character defect”, rather than spiritually bankrupt. Smoking is a rather nasty, habitual behavior; not a “seemingly hopeless state of mind and body”.
The only thing that really troubles me is my selfish, prideful insistence on being “right” here. Not exactly the picture of spiritual fitness I’m aiming for.
I could be wrong about this. I’m not, at least for me. But I could be.
Wow, interesting discussion.
As a runner, you can probably guess that I’ve never smoked. I also work in healthcare and see smoking’s deadly effects way too often. Smoking is a nasty, deadly habit. I think the point you make is good intentioned, Bill, but I agree with Chris and laura–a bit too judgmental.
I have many friends in recovery who have quit smoking, and many who haven’t. I do not think any of them are more or less recovered based on their smoking habit. As Chris so nicely delineated, there is a clear distinction between a nasty, habitual behavior (even an addictive one) and a “seemingly hopeless state of mind and body.”
I chew my fingernails, habitually–perhaps even addictively, as the behavior does calm and soothe me. It is an ugly, nasty, socially unacceptable behavior that could kill me if I put the wrong germ into my mouth. However, this nasty, ugly behavior does not mean I am not recovered from alcoholism.
Practicing the twelve steps in all my affairs–abstaining from alcohol, honesty, non-judgmentalness, willingness, and spiritual fitness–those are the things that keep me recovered. And I can practice all of those things with all five fingers (or a cigarette) in my mouth.
I was recently at The Association for Addiction Professional’s (NAADAC) annual confernece as a keynote speaker. It was wonderful and they really focused on tobacco use as an addiction. I quit smoking a year after I got sober. I wish my rehab would have been smoke-free so I would have had a safe place to detox from nicotine as it was the hardest detox of all. The one speaker at the conference said that in his years of working at a detox program…he often times would see people in the dead of winter, in Minnesota, freezing and shivering every hour to have a smoke. He said, “If that isn’t the very definition of addiction being played out right there, I don’t know what is.” How true!
I am either in recovery from all my addictions, or I’m aren’t. Those are facts. It’s reality. It doesn’t have to be done all at once, but (see first sentence).
In fairness, I should say that I have a number of addictive issues I’m still working on. I probably always will be. Some are going slowly. On the other hand, I admit them when appropriate, and don’t make excuses for them.
You know, the reason this blog spoke to me was precisely for it’s no bullshit tone.
The idea that cigarette addiction is lesser than other substances is only because of its social image, which has been manipulated by lobbyists and corporations. The glorification of cigarettes has steadily slipped away over the years. Now marijuanna seems less evil than being a smoker.
It’s true. Smoking is an addiction. If someone calls themselves an addict for a substance like alcohol, which has control over them–it’s only just to admit they are addicted to tobacco. There should be white chips for tobacco. It’s a drug, it’s poisonous, it stunts your growth, rewires your brain, harms others, money is spent on it, and even when one knows it isn’t in their best interest to have it, they still smoke. I’ve been the person with a chest cold, smoking outside in 20 degree weather. I see poor, homeless people scrounging up change to buy smokes–over a healthy meal.
I doubt many people in the rooms would accept that meth was my drug of choice and so I had to quit it, but I still drink socially without problem. Tobacco should not be accepted. It is an addiction.