To answer this question, let’s consider exactly what an addiction is. Addictions involve the compulsive use of substances that affect your mood. The more you use an addictive substance, the more you want to continue using it, and the more physically dependent on it you become. You continue to use the substance despite its known harmful effects. Quitting the use of the substance becomes extremely difficult. If you quit, you frequently suffer relapses. It’s important to understand that this description applies to cocaine, heroin, alcohol-and cigarettes.

You may not want to think about smoking this way. In comparison to heroin and cocaine, you might say, smoking seems relatively mild! That’s true. Cigarettes do not cause the powerful chemical “high” of other psychoactive drugs. They do not negatively affect your ability to work or drive a car. Yet, there is no doubt that cigarettes produce a deep dependence. This dependence can only be called an addiction.

The distinction between a habit and an addiction is important. A habit implies an innocuous though persistent and sometimes both-ersome activity that you can control. With an addiction, however, you find it extremely difficult to stop using a substance, even if you’ d like to.

Think for a moment about how powerful addictive substances can be. What is it that drives an alcoholic to drink, even at the cost of his or her marriage, work, health, and selfesteem? What is it that compels a successful executive to risk his position, livelihood, and freedom for a line of cocaine? What is it that motivates a previously honest person to steal in order to pay for an expensive heroin habit? And, what is it that drives a sensible, intelligent person who would otherwise avoid risky situations to smoke cigarettes despite the well-publicized health dangers? These are the mysteries of addiction.

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