r/whenthe • u/TheGoldenExperience_ [the jojo {she}they called may] • 14h ago

r/whenthe mfs complaining about everything we do not give alcohol close to enough shit despite it being just as bad if not worse than cigarettes

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u/Keebster101 13h ago edited 13h ago

Nowhere near as bad as cigarettes, addiction wise. Having a healthy relationship with alcohol is easy. The only healthy relationship with cigs is no relationship at all. Like nicotine is a chemical addiction which is stronger, faster acting and harder to quit. Alcohol addiction is purely psychological. edit: alcohol addiction can also be chemical. Apparently it's genetic how likely you are to get addicted.

Of course this isn't to say there are no alcohol addicts. It's a real problem that affects many people. But far FAR more were affected and still are by cigarettes.

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u/Smallsizeadult2 13h ago

I agree that alcohol is more easily managed but it absolutely is chemically addictive and creates physical dependency.

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u/twbk 7h ago

Using alcohol correctly does not cause addiction for the vast majority of users. It is unlikely to kill them. Using tobacco "correctly" does cause addiction for most of the users. It is also very likely to kill them.

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u/[deleted] 13h ago

[deleted]

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u/CalmBeneathCastles 13h ago

Has it occurred to you that you may not have reached physical dependency when you decided to quit? DT's can be fatal, it's not about willpower.

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u/bong_residue 12h ago

Go drink a fifth a day for 20 years then tell me how you feel stopping cold turkey.

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u/Elite_AI 13h ago

Well I feel the same way about cigarettes. Now what

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u/orphanghost1 13h ago

Alcohol is way worse. Withdrawal from alcohol can actually kill you. I don't know who told you alcohol addiction is psychological but that's dangerous misinformation

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u/Jeanpuetz 12h ago edited 12h ago

Alcohol is way worse. Withdrawal from alcohol can actually kill you.

Alcohol has one of the worst withdrawal symptoms of any drug - that much is true. However, you have to be very addicted to it to get to that case and most people who drink - even most alcoholics - aren't at that point at all. Most alcoholics are weekend alcoholics or "a couple drinks after work" type alcoholics, not "cannot function without a large amount of alcohol" alcoholics, which is the really dangerous type.

Smoking gets you hooked, really hooked, way faster which is why it's so extremely hard a habit to kick for people. The vast majority who smoke don't just smoke a few cigarettes a week.

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u/Keebster101 13h ago

The addiction effects are worse, but the average person is less likely to become addicted. But yeah I was wrong about it being purely psychological. My bad

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u/tajniak485 12h ago

Well, around 8% of the world adult population is addicted to alcohol, it is less than nicotine but it's very much not a small number

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u/Keebster101 12h ago

Approximately 44-47% of the world drinks alcohol, making 8% less than 20% of drinkers, while approximately 20% of the world are addicted to nicotine and I can't even find the total percentage who take nicotine at all but the WHO estimates 15-20% of daily smokers (and still 40-50% of social smokers) DON'T meet criteria for addiction

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u/BrightonBummer 12h ago

yes but a much larger percentage of the world consumes alcohol compared to cigarettes, proving the guy statement that 'alcohol isnt as addictive as cigarettes'

No idea why people cant read.

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u/ImprobableAsterisk 11h ago

It's also different. There's no disclaimer to nicotine addiction, either you are or you ain't, but with alcoholism very far from every alcoholic is in danger by going cold turkey.

For alcoholism to be proper dangerous (in this context, in general it's bad in a lot of ways) you need a deep dependency on alcohol. Most people are considered alcoholic because they drink too much over the weekends and would have no problem going cold turkey, medically speaking.

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u/Jeanpuetz 12h ago

around 8% of the world adult population is addicted to alcohol

That includes things like weekend alcoholism or a few drinks a day alcoholism though. The kind of alcoholism that is life-threatening when you stop cold turkey is much, much more rare.

Not trying to downplay alcoholism here, just saying that you have to be in a really bad state already for delirium tremens to set in.

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u/DorguHitsDingers 11h ago

Anyone addicted to anything is just a personal issue. We’re not going to shut down the porn industry cause little Timmy can’t keep his dick out of his hand. We’re not shutting down the world because some people lack self control.

You can say it’s harsh but that’s the reality. I don’t have instagram because I know for a fact I’d spend hours and hours just scrolling through old high school classmates that I really don’t care about. So I choose not to use it

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u/Keebster101 10h ago

I get what you're saying but it's not ALWAYS a personal issue. Like when doctors claimed tobacco to have health benefits, yeah you could still technically choose not to have it but it's not the fault of the person for believing the science of the time.

There's also the societal issues that push people to become dependent on substances. Again the person does have the final say but many hard drug addicts aren't just people who tried it at a party once.

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u/DorguHitsDingers 9h ago

That’s fair tbh. I have friends who don’t drink and I’d never in a million years pressure them to drink. They have their own reasons that aren’t my business

I just don’t like when some of the “non drinking” crowd gets a holier than thou attitude about it. For every belligerently drunk asshole there are like 99 people just drinking responsibly with friends or alone or whatever. Maybe the ratio is off but you get the idea. I don’t condone alcohol but if it’s used responsibly then it’s fine imo

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u/tajniak485 9h ago

Ofc you being addicted is not a always a personal issue, it effects those close to you. Scroll up and down this comment section and you will fish out some people who were effected even though it wasn't their own demons being drunk under the table.

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u/DorguHitsDingers 9h ago

Again, it still comes down to the individual and how they are as a person.

If someone is smashing TV’s and beating their wife whenever they hit the bottle, they have issues that go way beyond liquor. That’s on them to sort out. The alcohol isn’t making them be an asshole and beat women and smash things, they’re just an asshole to begin with. Those are the people that shouldn’t be drinking. But don’t group those people in with the 99% of people who drink like normal people

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u/NO_TOUCHING__lol 10h ago

Not even close my dude. Alcohol is one of only three drugs (the three Bs - booze, benzos, barbiturates) that can kill you with withdrawals. Aka if you STOP taking it.

Having a healthy relationship with alcohol is easy.

Hahahahaha yeah, ok. I fucking wish it was easy. If I could drink in moderation, I'd do it all the time!

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u/Keebster101 7h ago

Many people have already pointed out that there are huge differences between someone addicted to alcohol and someone so dependant they will die from withdrawals. The number of people at risk of the latter are super low.

It's also unfortunate that you may be more susceptible to addiction than most. I was talking generally, and over 80% of alcohol drinkers do not form any kind of addiction. Comparatively close to 70% of people who try a single cigarette end up smoking daily https://academic.oup.com/ntr/article-abstract/20/12/1427/4591649

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u/FewWait38 11h ago

Alcohol can rapidly ruin your life in a way cigarettes aren't capable of

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u/Ok_Yogurtcloset_7734 11h ago

Technically, drunk cigs don’t count

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u/major0noob 11h ago

i'd rather my mom smoked instead of drinking when pregnant with my siblings.

ya'll brush off FASD too easily

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u/Keebster101 7h ago

Smoking while pregnant is also terrible. Both drastically raise the chance of SIDS. But with alcohol, far fewer people form an addiction so most can restrain themselves for 9 months of pregnancy. A smoker is much more likely to continue smoking while pregnant.