Tuesday, August 25, 2009

The Law of Addiction

According to the World Health Organization, “In the 20th century, the tobacco epidemic killed 100 million people worldwide. During the 21st century, it could kill one billion.”116 Year after year, at least 70% of surveyed smokers say they want to stop,117 and 40% make an attempt of at least one day.

 There is no lack of desire or effort. Sadly, what they do not know is “how.” Key to breaking free and staying free is an understanding of the “Law of Addiction.” Whether users know it by name or simply understand the basic premise, failure to self-discover or to be taught this law is a horrible reason to die.
The “Law of Addiction” is not man-made law. It is as fundamental as the law of gravity and refusal to abide by it may result in serious injury or death. The Law is rather simple. It states, “Administration of a drug to an addict will cause reestablishment of chemical dependence upon the addictive substance.” Mastering it requires acceptance of three fundamental principles:
(1) that dependency upon using nicotine is true chemical addiction, captivating the same brain dopamine reward pathways as alcoholism, cocaine or heroin addiction;
(2) that once established we cannot cure or kill an addiction but only arrest it;
and (3) that once arrested, regardless of how long we have remained nicotine free, that just one hit of nicotine will create a high degree of probability of a full relapse.

Posted by cigarea at 13:08:14
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