Meth addicts nearly all seem to smoke cigarettes too...

[IGBT]

There seems to be a strong association between meth use and cigarette smoking which also adds significantly to cardio vascular risk i.e. heart attack / stroke and similar. Any thoughts on this??

 

[igor_kavinski]

The only association I can see is people who don't care enough about their health to research the harmful effects of smoking and meth use.

 

[bba-tcg]

But....do most cigarette smokers also use meth?

 

[marvdmartian]

I knew a heroin junkie, once upon a time. Told me once that the only thing he'd tried to quit, that came close to giving up heroin, was cigarettes. That being said, addictions come in many flavors. So it's not unusual, for a person who's addicted to one substance, to become addicted to another. Thus, why they always said that MJ was a "gateway drug".

 

[Torn Mind]

The Impact of Cigarette Smoking on Stimulant Addiction

Stimulant users smoke cigarettes at high rates however, little is known about the relationship between tobacco and stimulants.Our goal in this paper is to synthesize a growing literature on the role of cigarette smoking in stimulant addiction.Early nicotine ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

I guess the collective of researchers may look into it at some point.

 

[IGBT]

The Impact of Cigarette Smoking on Stimulant Addiction

Stimulant users smoke cigarettes at high rates however, little is known about the relationship between tobacco and stimulants.Our goal in this paper is to synthesize a growing literature on the role of cigarette smoking in stimulant addiction.Early nicotine ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

I guess the collective of researchers may look into it at some point.

"Currently in the United States, 2.4 million people ages 12 and up use cocaine and 1.1 million use other stimulants including 512,000 who use methamphetamine (1, 2). Compared to the general population, cocaine users report extremely high rates of cigarette smoking (~70–80% versus 22%) (3–8) and nicotine dependence (~50% versus 13%) (9). Methamphetamine users report even higher rates of smoking [87–92% (10–14)]. Little is known about the nature of this high co-morbidity or its implications for treatment outcomes." I had no idea it's this bad. I went with a friend to a counseling session for encouragement and support...and that's the first thing I noticed...all the attendees are chain smokers..massive health disaster in the making..

 

[fiveslate]

There seems to be a strong association between meth use and cigarette smoking which also adds significantly to cardio vascular risk i.e. heart attack / stroke and similar. Any thoughts on this??

Because cigarettes bang many of the same receptors as meth. Smoking while you're tweaked out is particularly satisfying. People who may self-medicate with speed may self-medicate with cigarettes. Also they're both indicators of inability to anticipate consequences.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Correlation does not equal causation?

 

[nakedfrog]

I knew a heroin junkie, once upon a time. Told me once that the only thing he'd tried to quit, that came close to giving up heroin, was cigarettes.

It's the only thing I've really been addicted to (well, besides sugar), and it's definitely a tough one.

That being said, addictions come in many flavors. So it's not unusual, for a person who's addicted to one substance, to become addicted to another. Thus, why they always said that MJ was a "gateway drug".

Yeah, I don't think that's why they said that about marijuana.

 

[IGBT]

Correlation does not equal causation?

a "cause and effect" study is underway...tobacco companies in a cold sweat yet again.

 

[bba-tcg]

...tobacco companies in a cold sweat yet again.

Only if one is suggesting that cigarette smoking leads to meth use. Which is preposterous on its face.

 

[pete6032]

It's the only thing I've really been addicted to (well, besides sugar), and it's definitely a tough one.

Heroin or cigarettes?

 

[IGBT]

Only if one is suggesting that cigarette smoking leads to meth use. Which is preposterous on its face.

Lets see where the research goes. Cause and effect analysis will be the determining factor.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Lets see where the research goes. Cause and effect analysis will be the determining factor.

it won’t link it IMO. There’s been millions of people who smoke cigarettes that don’t touch hard drug users. Many actions can be a “gateway drug” in terms of building mental addiction. Cigarettes arent encouraging people to use meth, and neither are tobacco companies.

 

[bba-tcg]

Lets see where the research goes. Cause and effect analysis will be the determining factor.

Yeah. Let's. Ive known many, many cigarette smokers. And just a few meth users. I've done the research for myself, clandestinely. Lol.

 

[Mai72]

What about energy drinks and meth use? I bet they do those as well.

 

[VirtualLarry]

What about energy drinks and meth use? I bet they do those as well.

My honest little-known opinion - Mt Dew contains actual methamphetamines. Hence the "boost" it seemingly gives you, as well as the fact that drinking it can cause "meth mouth". (It's a gov't conspiracy between them and PepsiCo, to enhance US blue-collar worker productivity!)

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I've never tried cocaine; never tried meth; never tried heroin or other opiates. But I LOVE getting stoned on cannabis, as I am doing at this moment.

I smoked cigarettes at a pack per day since I was 18 -- that's about 54 years and excludes the two years I quit beginning 2017. I have COPD. This year, my cousin died of lung cancer, and my best friend as well. My friend was married to an MD, and quit smoking about three years ago. He had surgery for melanoma, and then again for breast cancer. He had excellent health care, plus his wife. So I was surprised that he was diagnosed with stage-4 lung cancer in August, prescribed chemotherapy -- a 6cm x 9cm tumor. We were having an e-mail exchange in November, and I wondered why he hadn't written after the end of the month. He had the complications of the chemo; he had a stroke; he had COPD as do I. With the stroke, he went to the hospital ER, where he caught COVID (despite being vaccinated up the wazoo and yin-yang). I figure if it hadn't been for the ER with COVID, he might still be alive into 2023.

For the time being, I must have beat the reaper. I quit in October. The doctor makes sure that I have piles of Chantix. I started seeing a pulmonologist; had a pulmonary function test and a CT scan. My best blood-oxygen is 96%.

I haven't felt this good for years. I was also surprised, looking at the pulmonologist's notes from the Tuesday visit, that I'd only been taking half the prescribed amount of Wixela inhalant and half the prescribed Chantix for the last three months!

I had asked my departed friend, who had a PhD in Physics, why he retired when he did, and he had a pretty funny answer: "NASA cancelled my space-craft."

I'm looking back on this and asking -- for Jack and myself -- "how could we be so stupid?"

I think I'm going to walk up and then down the hill tonight. It's going to be an uncomfortable effort -- zonked or un-zonked. I don't smoke cannabis anymore: I vape it with an ARGO, take it as cough-syrup, eat the cherries-and-cream chocolate, or use a vaping pen. I'm a stoned, boned, macarone. I'm ripped, flipped, cripped, tripped and zipped.

But I don' wan' that good ol' Virginy tobaccy anymore.

I might even buy myself a hybrid bicycle . . . .

The worst of it? The pulmonologist put me on a scale Tuesday. I've worn a size 36-waist jeans since I was 30. The scale showed 199.7 lbs! A couple months ago, it was 185. There's only one reason for this, and there's only one thing I can do about it.

Where's my pedometer? . . . . .

 

[VirtualLarry]

The worst of it? The pulmonologist put me on a scale Tuesday. I've worn a size 36-waist jeans since I was 30. The scale showed 199.7 lbs! A couple months ago, it was 185. There's only one reason for this, and there's only one thing I can do about it.

Where's my pedometer? . . . . .

wow. I weigh nearly 500lbs, something around 480lbs last time I checked.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

wow. I weigh nearly 500lbs, something around 480lbs last time I checked.

I don't know what to say about that. You might not be kidding. Whatever happened to Gilbert Grape? I know there are people who weigh that much. If true, how are your ankles holding up?

 

[VirtualLarry]

I know there are people who weigh that much. If true, how are your ankles holding up?

I can't go for more than 3-5 minutes without having to sit down.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I can't go for more than 3-5 minutes without having to sit down.

Actually, if I sit at the computer for an hour, I've got to recline on the couch for another hour.

that being said, the Cherry Jubilee ice-cream I fixed for Moms' dinner was great. I'm just not sure I'm having that T-Bone and eggs for breakfast tomorrow. Maybe the shrimp basket. Originally -- I was planning to order both . . . . The food under life-without-cigarettes is truly wonderful!

 

[igor_kavinski]

wow. I weigh nearly 500lbs, something around 480lbs last time I checked.

Something as simple as just switching to fruits and salads exclusively, for about a month, may help you get used to letting your body burn off fat. People are afraid of coping with the loss of sensory pleasures in their taste buds and worry that they might die early if they reduce food intake. The opposite is true. It can feel pretty good taking a break from eating. Only the first two days may feel really bad. You can just sleep them off.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Something as simple as just switching to fruits and salads exclusively, for about a month, may help you get used to letting your body burn off fat. People are afraid of coping with the loss of sensory pleasures in their taste buds and worry that they might die early if they reduce food intake. The opposite is true. It can feel pretty good taking a break from eating. Only the first two days may feel really bad. You can just sleep them off.

Those people who got COVID, losing their sense of taste. And I think this can be a long-COVID symptom.

I always joke about this. Whether I lose my sense of taste, or the doctor tells me to eat only milk and crackers for the rest of my life, I'm going to the grocery store, then to the Interarms gun shop. I'll fix a big dinner, maybe a huge rib-eye roast or tomahawk steak, fried jumbo shrimp, baked potato with sour cream or bleu cheese, an arugula and tomato salad with feta chunks, a bottle of vintage cabernet . . . then rainbow sherbet. Then I'll swallow the Glock.

I mean . . . . without food, there's no life. Especially with a limp willie . . . .

"My life makes perfect sense. Lust and food and vio-lence." [Dire Straits]

And actually, the first stanza:
"Last time I was sober I felt really bad.
Worst hangover that I ever had.
It took six hamburgers . . . scotch all night.
And nicotine for breakfast just to set me right . . .

With the mention of the hamburgers, that song makes my mouth water . . . .

 

[igor_kavinski]

I mean . . . . without food, there's no life. Especially with a limp willie . . . .

I'm not saying give up everything forever. Just abstinence for a few weeks. Let the body clean some of the built up crud. Then enjoy few weeks of indulgence. Rinse. Repeat.