Cigarettes: Are They Really Addictive?

So the other day I saw a picture of Melanie Griffith (currently acting in one of the worst series ever: Twins) lighting a cigarette for her 17 year old daughter. Talk about bad parenting! And it got me thinking: why is it that people insist on smoking even though they are well aware that it’s harmful to their health? Why don’t they care that their secondhand smoking may be causing others harm? If the idea of death by cancer or even the likelihood of eventually needing a hole in the neck can’t stop these people, what in the world can? Are they addicted to cigarettes or is it all in their heads?

I believe that our beliefs affect what goes on in our lives and what becomes of us. Like superstitions, for example. You are only affected by them and they are more likely to come true, if you believe them to be true.

For many years it’s been shoved down our throats that cigarettes are addictive. Because of this, people believe it is the truth. People have come to accept it. It has been locked into our belief systems that the nicotine in cigarettes causes it to be addictive. It appears we’ve all been brainwashed!

Our thoughts are more powerful than we realize. If we really believe cigarettes aren’t addictive, then cigarettes aren’t addictive. By believing nicotine to be an addictive substance, in a sense we’ve programmed it to be just that. My point is: it’s our fault that cigarettes are addictive!

This reminds me of the placebo effect. A person is given some Tylenol instead of the drug meant to cure their disease but because they believe the drug will heal them, it does. Their strong belief programmed the drug to heal them. And this is the same with cigarettes minus the healing (or who knows? maybe if we believe it, cigarettes can be healing- thanks to the placebo effect! Wouldn’t that be interesting?)

So if people reject that cigarettes are addictive, they can’t get addicted to it. They won’t feel the need to do it so much. They won’t feel withdrawal from not smoking. This would eventually lead to less cases of smoking-relating diseases because people will be smoking less. There will be no use for patches or gum that hardly ever work. (when they do I bet it’s the placebo effect). But most of all, cigarette companies won’t be making so much money!

So in response to my own question, yes, cigarettes are addictive… if you want them to be.

Cigarettes: are they really deadly? I’m kidding. Of course they are… Or are they?