Can smoking lead to alcoholism that would then cause the person to need substance abuse treatment?
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Smoking and alcohol consumption are indeed interrelated. A person's consumption of nicotine increases his craving for alcohol and alcohol boosts the effects of smoking. This explains why a lot of smokers happen to be drinkers too. Also, if the person is really dependent upon cigarettes and alcohol, then substance abuse treatment is definitely needed. However, the treatment of just alcoholism will not banish a person's smoking habit. It would be better to treat both conditions simultaneously.
I agree that they're interconnected ambiguously in many ways but I would have to say that alcohol probably promotes the use of nicotine more than nicotine addiction leading into a problem with alcohol.
I've never been a smoker. I could never really tolerate the buzz that well. I didn't like the feeling unless I was drunk which seemed to take the edge off the nicotine and the nicotine would make me feel more energetic when I was drunk. If I would have continued my drinking habit I very well may have picked up the nicotine as well.
No, they are not. I have been a smoker for over ten years now. Yes, I realize I need to quit, and am taking the steps, but that is besides the point. I can speak from personal experience that the two are not linked. Not a drop of alcohol has passed my lips since November. Not for any other reason than I do not like to drink. In my case, there is a link between drinking and smoking more often, i.e., when I drink, I smoke a lot, but the two do not necessarily have to coincide.
I have tried substance abuse therapy to quit smoking, and it did not work. It may work for someone else, though, it depends on the person.
Some AA meetings are as smoky as the bars that the people hung out in, so, no, treating alcoholism doesn't automatically treat nicotine addiction. Alcoholic drinkers aren't all tobacco users, either.
i'm a smoker and i hardly drink. when i do go out, all my non-smoker friends bum smokes off me. people who drink smoke. it just goes with the territory. i don't believe that smoking leads to alcoholism or drug abuse though even after reading those articles the first guy posted. i just know too many smokers that are clean of drugs and alcohol.
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