E-Cigarettes Are Addictive

Did you know that during the early interactions between European explorers and settlers and Native American tribes, tobacco was one of the first things from the new world that the Natives traded to the Europeans?

An even more interesting historical fact is that the Native Americans warned the Europeans that once they started smoking tobacco, they would not be able to quit. They knew of the addictive nature of smoking even back then.

Today, countless millions worldwide find themselves addicted to the tobacco plant, or more specifically, to nicotine, the substance from the tobacco plant responsible for its addictive properties. Nicotine, no matter the form of ingestion, is highly addictive.

In this article, we will focus on describing why e-cigarettes are addictive. First, however, we’ll take a deeper look at nicotine itself as a substance.

Nicotine: What Is It?

Nicotine is a chemical that is naturally produced by the family of plants known as nightshade, most commonly by the tobacco plant. It is an alkaloid chemical, with stimulant and anxiolytic properties, seeing widespread use for recreational purposes worldwide.

Currently, nicotine is being ingested recreationally in a plethora of ways, some of which being through the smoking of cigarettes and other tobacco products, chewing tobacco, nicotine patches and e-cigarette or vape product use.

An interesting fact about nicotine is that it has, in the past, seen use as an insecticide in agricultural applications. This is due to its toxic properties, which make it great as an insect repellent and killer.

Nicotine is also highly addictive, with nicotine addiction manifesting itself through physical and psychological dependence, an increased level of tolerance to the substance, desensitization to its effects over time (which in turn gives the users the urge to ingest more of the substance to achieve the same effects), among others.

When a person who has developed physical and psychological dependence, or addiction, to nicotine suddenly stops using the substance, this leads to what is known as nicotine withdrawal. Nicotine withdrawal is the main thing that stops people who are trying to quit from doing so successfully.

Some of the most common symptoms associated with going through withdrawal from nicotine include a generally depressed emotional mood, increased levels of anxiety and stress, a higher predisposition to being irritated mentally and/or emotionally by upsetting environmental factors (for example, higher chances of getting angry at situations one might not normally be angered by), episodes of insomnia and a general inability to concentrate properly.

Nicotine addiction involves three main behavioral patterns, including drug-reinforced behavior, relapse upon becoming abstinent from the substance, and compulsive ingestion of the substance.

While it is sometimes used medically, for example in the aiding of smokers to quit smoking cigarettes, nicotine on its own still has negative side effects. While using nicotine patches and other such tools to wean off of smoking cigarettes is certainly considered safer than smoking, nicotine on its own can still cause a plethora of issues, such as cardiovascular problems which may lead to strokes or heart attacks.

This is because nicotine tends to accelerate the heart rate, as well as narrow the blood vessels and increase blood pressure, which can lead to the development of blood clots and ultimately these blood clots can completely or mostly block the flow of blood in the body from reaching vital organs like the brain or heart.

Nicotine is also seriously discouraged in the case of pregnancies, as it has been proven to lead to birth defects and malformation in the babies of mothers who smoke or otherwise ingest this chemical during their pregnancy.

Now that we’ve taken a look at what nicotine is and what it does, let’s talk about how e-cigarettes are addictive.

E-Cigarettes Are Addictive

While generally considered a safe alternative to cigarette smoking, e-cigarette use has itself been linked to a concerning number of debilitating health conditions in recent studies, and new research keeps coming out and pointing out more and more risks that we didn’t know about almost every time.

E-cigarettes contain nicotine, generally speaking, which is the same substance in tobacco that is responsible for people being addicted to the habit of smoking. There is generally zero difference between a nicotine addict who smokes and a nicotine addict who vapes, at least when it comes to comparing their addictions to the substance, save for the way of administering the substance to themselves that they use.

E-cigarettes may also contain other harmful substances a lot of the time, including but not limited to formaldehyde (a highly toxic and carcinogenic chemical, very frequently used in the embalming of corpses by funeral homes and trophy hunters), antifreeze (the same stuff that is placed in your car’s coolant system), heavy metals including nickel, lead and chromium (which are toxic, especially when inhaled) and many other substances that we know little to nothing about currently.

In addition to the harmful substances mentioned above, ultrafine particles of solid material may also be present in the aerosol produced by e-cigarettes. These particles are incredibly small, yet still solid, and can be inhaled deeply into the lungs, causing irritation and tissue scarring in the lungs and airways.

In fact, a whole new respiratory health condition, known as EVALI (or e-cigarette and vape associated lung injury) has been linked solely to vaping or e-cigarette use, and it has been deadly in a concerning number of cases. This alone should already be proof that e-cigarette use is not as safe of an alternative to smoking as it was previously believed.

Conclusion

Due to nicotine’s addictive nature as a chemical, it does not matter through which means the substance is ingested, as it will still lead to addiction, or sustain the already existing addiction to nicotine in the case where it is already present.

Coupled with the risks associated with nicotine consumption, as well as the other risks associated with e-cigarette use, it is important to note that e-cigarettes are not only addictive, but also dangerous to human health, and potentially deadly even.

I hope that this article has shed some light on the issue of why e-cigarettes are addictive, and has given you the motivation needed to quit and achieve a healthier life. I wish you the best.