Why is smoking an addiction?

Answer 1

Smoking becomes an addiction in multiple ways. Most people are aware that cigarettes and tobacco products contain nicotine which is an addictive stimulant; some studies have shown that nicotine is more addictive than heroin or cocaine.

Smoking becomes an addiction through multiple pathways in a persons life. Examples include:

• Smoking becomes associated with good times
• Smoking becomes associated with stressful times (coping mechanism)
• Smoking becomes associated with social events
• Smoking becomes associated with drinking (coffee, alcohol)
• Smoking becomes associated with different times of day (breakfast, lunch, dinner)
• Smoking becomes a physical addiction to nicotine

As you can see -- smoking becomes associated with many different events in a smoker's life. Beyond the fact that once a smoker's level of nicotine drops, they crave more nicotine, it is also connected with many different events in day-to-day life. This makes smoking a hard habit to break.