Dr. Neubaurer's latest post to catch my eye is Is All Substance Abuse the Same?.
He reports on a lecture he attended that compared various types of substance abuse to smoking.
A really interesting data point was that nicotine itself is not the dangerous substance involved with smoking, and in fact may have benefits. The other interesting different between smoking and other common substance abuse habits is that one doesn't become "intoxicated" from smoking, as one does via alcohol or drugs. So, it's only with the knowledge about the link between smoking and physical health problems that smoking was seen to have a downside at all.
What's worse about smoking?
-A much higher incidence of dependence arising from trying smoking vs. other drugs.
-Its status as a legal substance makes it much more widely available (as is alcohol suppose.)
Now, I wonder what would happen if someone came up with a nicotine delivery system that didn't bring the health problems associated with tar and carbon monoxide. Would we discover there were, in fact, other problems that nicotine causes?