this post was submitted on 01 Oct 2024
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I'm not gonna downvote because I think your experience is valid. That being said, I think it is a little dismissive. Many people in this thread likely have direct issues with specific addictions, and many people likely have been around death or serious harm because of it.
Chemicals like nicotine have a direct addictive effect on your brain, whether or not you personally can overcome that or not doesn't make much of a difference over that fact that it isn't even about personalities or willpower in every case. Nicotine in particular digs very deep, altering brain development, changing the perception of pain, and controlling dopamine levels. Nicotine also has direct effects on the limbic system, and overall effects of the entire nervous system.
This isn't some issue of people being stupid or weak, nicotine is one of the most addictive (chemically) substances known to man, and a common delivery method is to freebase and concentrate it. It is constantly being developed in laboratories to be as addictive as possible, and there is a 1 trillion (and growing) dollar industry that is financially incentivised to get it into your hands.
1 in 8 people in the world smoke or otherwise consume tobacco products, that's almost the same amount of people that drive cars.