Are there any positive effects to smoking cigarettes?
Smoking and Parkinson’s Disease:
Nicotine has shown to be a beneficial drug in treating quite a few conditions. Smoking, however, isn’t a very good way to ingest a medicine, as along with the benefits of the nicotine, you’re also being exposed to some not so beneficial carcinogens.
Some of the conditions in which nicotine may have a positive effect may be found here.
Coolness. One must not forget the “secondhand coolness” a non-smoker can aquire from hanging out near a smoker. 
You’ll die before your 401K runs out.
The tax revenue from the legal sales of tobacco.
There is one hotly debated possible benefit to smoking: adolescents and adults with ADD or ADHD who smoke are alleged to find that it improves their concentration and behavior. I read of this as a report from ADD adults saying that they found that smoking improved concentration and made behavioral self-management easier back in the early 1990s, and can find very little on it on the Internet; this article is perhaps the closest thing to acceptable. EBM turned up no results.
FWIW, I relayed the information from the article I had read to a friend, the mother of the young man I consider my “son,” whose youngest son (eight years younger than “my son”) was ADHD, and on Ritalin with deplorable results. He had begun experimenting with smoking, stealing her cigarettes, mine, and my son’s. We agreed to turn a blind eye to his experimentation and see if it helped – it did, significantly; she weaned him from Ritalin and gave him permission to smoke provided that he managed his behavior and kept his grades up. He’s now a relatively stable young adult, who continues to smoke, without the disturbed behavior patterns of his childhood and early adolescence.
One swallow does not make a summer – but I can give that as one anecdotal example.
The sole positive effect is to line the pockets of representatives who vote for tobacco support payments. When this bribery is outlawed, by better control of soft, hard, and underthetable contributions, we will all be richer and live longer.
One of the unintended (or maybe intended) consequence of drug war and vice rhetoric, is that nuances are lost, causes are conflated and critical thinking goes out the door.
In Polycarp’s example, arguably the benefit to his son, was due to nicotine, which is a stimulant. Smoking is a process of administration. You can smoke tobacco, heroin, crack, pot…etc. Effects of smoking one substance are, in general, not applicable to smoking another. Harm may be caused by a method of administration, rather than the substance itself. One ought to be mindful of such nuances.
So, if I literally interpret the question: “what are the positive effects of smoking?”, the answer is quite different than the colloquial connotation: “what are the positive effects accrued by cigarette consumers?”
Polycarp and others, you might want to look into NicStic, a smoke-free “cigarette” recently approved in Europe:
don’t forget stimulation of the local economy by supporting your local cornerstore market / gas-station.
But I like smoking.
That is, before I quit.
God, I want a cigarette.
As a former smoker myself, I find Scandinavian snus does well to quell my nicotine urges and supplies me with yummy tobacco flavor. (Actually, I don’t get nicotine fits anymore, and haven’t had snus in months, but this thread reminded me to order one of my favorite vices.) It’s sort of reminiscent of dip or chew, except that it tastes good (meaning, like good tobacco, not menthol or friggin fruit). I once ran out and tried substituting Skoal. Nearly puked.
Besides, if you ever find yourself in the company of Swedes, they will adore you for having some to share. (Something like 20% of Swedes do snus, and Sweden has the lowest smoking rate in Europe. Granted, snus is not without health risks itself, but the clinical studies thus far strongly suggest it’s much better than smoking.)
The plural of anecdote is not data, but smoking certainly relieves some of my ADD symptoms. According to one book I’ve read (but I can’t remember which one, so I can’t prove it :smack: ), something like 75% of people with ADD smoke tobacco.
This thread: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=142399
contains a rant by me on the fact that smoking tobacco is a horrible way to deliver nicotine.
You need nicotine for your disorder? Use a patch, or the gum, or the nasal spray or even chew tobacco. Just don’t smoke the damned stuff.
No, absolutely no positive effects. Not only do you muck up your lungs and throat, but the time spent actually smoking should be better spent in foraging for those 12 servings of fruits and vegatables we’re supposed to be having each day, according to the new USDA dietary guidelines.
My mother has (well, had, as Mom herself died of lung cancer last month) a life-long friend who is bipolar and is also a smoker. The friend told us that bipolar patients are not encouraged to quit. My understanding was that “patient is controlled right now on xxx dosage of yyy medications. Removing nicotine and adding the quitting-related stress will upset the balance, possibly causing the patient’s control to fail”. i.e., don’t upset the applecart.
Supposedly smoking can help with weight control. Despite that, I don’t plan to take it up. I can think of more fun ways to go than lung cancer.
Absolutely YES.
Smoking can be beneficial to society in that the consequences of smoking ultimately will increase the number of candidates for the Darwing Awards. This will subsequently reduce the gene pool of those who are unconcerned with their own health! Also reduces the cost of health care. :
There are many positive effects that come from smoking and otherwise getting nicotine into the bloodstream. Two most important - increased alertness and decreased appetite. The second one was the reason why many world armies used to encourage or even mandate smoking for their soldiers. Also people who are trying lucid dreaming should try using the nicotine patch (one of its listed side effects is lucid or “realistic” dreams). From personal experience that is true, but sleeping with a patch feels so weird that I took no pleasure in the “realism” of my dreams.
There are NO postitive effects from smoking*. None. There are a few minor potential postitive effects from Nictotine, which is another matter altogther. There are some postitive effects from Opiates, but none from being a heroin addict. The two are just about the same.
Polycarp- I am outraged and ashamed of you. If, indeed- Nicotine was the solution- then Cig smoking is the worst way to get it. Patch, Gum, etc- then even "chew’, pipes, etc all are better.
pulykamell- your link doesn’t lead anywhere on that subject.
*well, none to the smoker, that is. The non-smoking public saves quite a bit on Social security, and the gene pool of stupid people is reduced.