Positive effects of smoking cigarettes

In America, and I presume most of the world, there are heavy campaigns and propaganda against smoking tobacco and therefore, the negative effects of cigarettes are pretty obvious and well-known. Well my question is what, if any, are the positive effects of smoking that the government and anti-tobacco organizations don’t tell us. I mean, there’s got to be something more than the propaganda machine known as D.A.R.E. is telling our kids, right? Are there any scientific studies to back up the claims that smoking cigarettes relieves stress (besides by providing a nicotine fix to those addicted) or the claim that they help settle the stomach?

I’m curious as to whether smoking cigarettes in moderation (perhaps only one, or a few a week) would have ANY benefits compared to a regular (addicted) smoker’s benefits?

Thanks in advance for any help and info.

Eoin

Well, if you do it right, it makes you look like John Wayne.

The benefits of smoking tobacco are similar to that of lighting other weeds on fire and putting them in your mouth, none! Inhaling burning gas from toxic weeds has long been a pastime for the mentally challenged, and it actually invigorates the body.

Flaming detritus has always been a staple of the respiratory system, nicotene is a helpfull addition to the “family of inhalable goodness”.

There have been a few reports that smoking can prevent the onset of Parkinson’s disease and dementia. Of course another interpretation may be that smokers never live long enough to get them, both of them being largely geriatric diseases…

jjimm (pack a day)

too much is bad for you. Paging Doctor Tobacco

Yeah, you should start smoking when your a senior citizen. It’s good at removing the plaque that casues Alzhemier’s

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/2994304.stm

I believe that nicotine is a stimulant that may make you think more clearly and does depress apetite to a certain extent. AFAIK, that’s about it, but there are less harmful drugs that do those things, such as caffeine. Fewer smokers live long enough to get Alzheimer’s.

If you’re smoking outdoors in the summertime the smoke is good at keeping mosquitoes away from you.

But again there are safer alternatives.

Nicotine is a dopamine blocker. That makes it a useful drug in helping control some illnesses: Scientists Find Link for Smoking, Schizophrenia. This likely explains why the antidepressant Wellbutrin (AKA Zyban) decreases nicotine cravings.

Parkinson’s disease? Try selling that to heavy smoker Michael J. Fox.

I saw a show on TDC that pointed out how many people with Tourette’s smoked cigarettes. I can’t remember the number or percentage, but I think it was a lot.

Nobody knew why, but the show suspected it was self-medication. It seemed to help with the tics and such. Of course their meds were meant to do the same thing, but the Tourette’s people liked smoking anyway.

Surely you recognize the fallacious nature of your statement. Not only an argument by anecdote, but an appeal to celebrity. All in 10 words.

My great aunt was in a car accident where the seatbelt tore through her stomach lining. Does that mean seat belts are bad? Conversely, I have avoided an accident on my motorcycle because I was not wearing a helmet (which allowed me to see more of the periphery). Does that mean not wearing a helmet is good?

Let me say that I’m in no way claiming that cigarettes have an overall positive effect, even though I smoke. Just that any particular anecdote proves nothing.

So as not to hijack this, I did read somewhere recently that nicotine improves a person’s memory and that drug companies were attempting to produce a chemical analogue without nicotine’s detrimental effects. (Sorry, no citation.)

Kramer

It makes money for:

  1. Tobacco farmers, a nearly extinct breed in US.
  2. Cigarette companies.
  3. The dental and allied suppliers of whitening products.
  4. Advertising companies.

You shell out your hard earned (I hope) money for a product that benefits you zilch, nada, zip, etc. and causes cancer, loss of appetite, disgust from others, etc.

Why smoke?

Also:

  1. Mouthwash, gum, breath spray companies.
  2. Fire Departments.
  3. Lighter companies.
  4. Heart and lung and other medical specialists.

I guess smoking DOES benefit the economy.

dnooman, are you implying that there’s a specific mental defect that causes people to smoke, or are you just being a sanctimonious prick?

One strange effect , here in the UK at least ,is that some insurance companies that offer pension annuities will give a higher pension to smokers .The thinking behind this is that the smokers do not live so long and so the overall payment will be less than to a non smoker who might live for another ten years. So enjoy your higher pension while you can.

I heard on a TV show, whose name eludes me, that smoking would be a great deep breathing exercise; were it not for the nicotine and other miscellaneous debris.

Nicotine has a few uses. It may be beneficial in treating the symptoms of certain bowel diseases, like Ulcerative Colitis or Crohn’s Disease. Whether it slows the progression of these disease, or prevents their development, is not at all clear.

Nicotine may also be helpful to improve alertness in early dementia. But its effect is mild and the beneficial effects soon wear off as the disease progresses.

Nicotine is also found to be a calmative for many schizophrenics. Its exact mechanism of benefit, and its role in treatment remains to be determined.

So nicotine as a drug may have some appropriate uses. But delivering the drug to the system via smoking tobacco is the completely wrong delivery system for this medication. Delivering it in this manner creates a hundredfold more problems than the one or two diseases that nicotine is being deployed to help fight.

So, if you need nicotine for a bona fide medical disorder, get it via the patch, or gum, or nasal spray. Smoking tobacco to get nicotine’s “beneficial” effects is not an effective thing to do.

QtM, MD

To me that would seem to be one very real benefit.

Well, it does help repel Puritans, although there are other vices that work almost as well and are no doubt better for you.