Quote Originally Posted by Gelatinous Cube View Post
I, honestly, have never personally been able to tell the difference. I'm not addicted to the chemicals in cigarettes, but I am addicted to the activity. I break up my day in terms of smoke breaks, and I really wouldn't know what to do if I deviated from that pattern. But maybe that's just the chemical reaction being rationalized by my mind?

Speaking as someone with a lot of wierd habits (and many of them bad) it can be very difficult to tell the difference between obsessive or compulsive behaviour and an actual chemical addiction. I just try to look at it as all being part of the same addictive urge, which makes it easier to do everything in rationed moderation. But that, in itself, is probably a compulsion. Tricky right?
Whenever I find out that a friend of mine used to/or still smokes cigarettes, I ask them why. "Why did you pick it up in the first place?"

I got a mixture of results.

"Because it seemed cool."

"I just wanted to try it."

"I needed it to calm my nerves."

Out of those three, the third one is the most dangerous. Because not only are you physically addicted, but you have brought yourself to believe that you need it. It is easier to stop an addiction if a person has no reason for being addicted, except for the fact that they are. People that answered with the 3rd response have justified their addiction, which is, in a way, defending it.

I used to smoke weed casually. Maybe once every month and a half. I wasn't addicted at all. I could function fine without it.