Being a non smoker I always assumed the biggest draw of smoking was the addiction to the nicotine. How come the gum isn’t a bigger draw to younger kids?
Is it not the nicotine that smokers crave. I just thought of it because I was in Walmart with the self checkout and I saw a kid, purchase it. I know when you buy alcohol and things like that through the self checkout it flaggs the cashier to check your ID before you can procede.
Or does the gum not give enough “buzz” to be bothered with?
I would guess that, to kids, it’s not the nicotine that draws so much as the “Forbidden” aspect.
I have the impression that the gum would be similar to chewing tobacco, as the nicotine is absorbed through the mucous membranes of the mouth for both, but I’ve never chewed and don’t know what that effect is.
smoking gives an instant rush of nicotine. The chewing gum satisfies the cravings being slowly absorbed but you dont get that ahhh feeling.
Im not sure in the states, but are there some rules stopping kids buying the gum?
Plus, the gum is @%#@ expensive. At least where I live.
I think jayjay basically nailed it. Smoking for kids is about the image and about the naughtiness much more than about the buzz. Every time my friends and I sneaked a cigarette, it was basically about the adventure of doing something we weren’t supposed to. The dizziness of the nicotine buzz was a side-effect, not the real reason we were doing it.
In my experience, it wasn’t until later, when we started drinking and smoking weed, that the nicotine buzz became the reason to smoke cigarettes - it feels good to smoke a cigarette when you’re high/drunk/both. Still, though, neither myself nor anyone I know became a habitual smoker (with the exception of one close friend, who has quit anyway.)