The Real Chains of Nicotine Addiction

Pharmaceuticalization & nicotine sustainment for life

The tobacco industry spends 23 MILLION A DAY to keep addicts addicted, yet everyone is claiming it’s so hard to quit.

Cigarette use is declining, but hardly anyone is nicotine-free.

The same tobacco industry that got us addicted is now making medication doctors are prescribing to sustain nicotine addiction for life. Yes, for life!

It’s not just the tobacco industry that wants to keep you on the sad nicotine wheel of addiction. It’s everyone that’s making money from nicotine addicts.

• It’s the big healthcare industry that needs nicotine addicts to be sick.
• It’s the big pharma that needs us on medication or quit-smoking aids.
• It’s the politicians that count on nicotine campaign money.
• It’s the States that are getting fat on tobacco taxes and government agencies that always seem a little behind on policy.

One day the government, tobacco, healthcare, and pharmaceutical industry looked at each other and said, “Oh shit, what are we going to do with no cigarette smokers — we better work together to continue making money.”

The original research for this article was to argue that quitting smoking cold turkey was the best way to quit smoking, as I did. That everything else I tried kept me addicted. But there is such a ridiculous contradiction in on what is the best way. It made me wonder why?

Tobacco Industry & Policy

The tobacco industry is pretty good at what they do, masking the truth about the lethality of cigarettes.

They have been doing it since the bloody ’30s. Just because cigarettes are catching up to them doesn’t mean they are packing their shit and going home; they still have to make money off smokers somehow.

“The tobacco industry has used its economic power, lobbying, and marketing machinery, and manipulation of the media to discredit scientific research and influence governments in order to propagate the sale and distribution of its deadly product. “- World Health Organization.

State Nicotine taxes

States are banking an average of 27 BILLION a year from tobacco settlements and taxes. Only three states have real tobacco control programs; they are always underfunded.

States have only one favorite tobacco control program, and that is raising cigarette taxes. That’s a lot of cash flow to go without if we admitted cigarettes are lethal and established real controls.

Wisconsin is really missing their tobacco tax money. In this policy forum document, they explain how heavily the state is relying on tobacco taxes, and due to the decline in smokers, they increase the e-cigarette taxes. Somewhere in there, they mention the reason being our health and youth, but clearly, that’s not why they raised taxes.

Politicians Nicotine Contributions

Tobacco lobbyists love to hang around Capitol Hill, making sure policy doesn’t get out of hand. They strategically and generously donate between political parties (directly or directly), with an enormous chunk going to the Senate Leadership Fund. Why?

They are lobbying to suppress citizens from knowing the truth — the severity of what smoking really does to your health.

You think you do, but it’s just a “false sense of security” they created to mask your addictive brain to believe it’s acceptable or not bloody lethal. I mean, the whole industry has yet to admit smoking causes lung cancer.

Tobacco control advocates can’t compete with the limitless presence and cash flow of the tobacco industry. They have to beg and scream for the sake of our children for lawmakers even to lift a finger.

Children, Their Bread and Butter

They are lobbying to continue their subtle but effective campaigns targeting children. That has never changed, and it never will. They are the perfect age to pick up an addiction.

3.6 MILLION U.S. Middle and high school children are currently e-cigarette users.

Tobacco companies use advertising to appeal to children. These kinds of subjective campaigns obviously don't have an instant effect on a child, but studies have shown these tactics to be effective, eventually. Very effective! This old “Camel №9” research study concluded shocking results. Exposure to these advertisements will “MOST LIKELY” result in smoking, especially in little girls. RJ Reynolds has since discontinued their “Barbie Camel,” AKA “Cancer №9,” but nothing has changed.

Even babies know about JUULs at this point.

Their endless fruity and sweet flavors are available everywhere and explicitly targeting our children, known as “JUULing.”

The truth initiative says 63 PERCENT of JUULers are not even aware they are inhaling nicotine because most of them are children.

The truth initiative and other health groups had to seriously pressure the FDA to consider JUUL a public health concern, asking for simple things like stopping selling JUUL merchandise targeting children. The FDA finally acted last month, enforcing e-cigarettes companies to stop manufacturing fruity flavors.

“The United States has never seen an epidemic of substance use arise as quickly as our current epidemic of youth use of e-cigarettes.” HHS Secretary Alex Azar.

But it’s too late, the damage is done — the next generation of addicts will inflate the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry eventually.

The Healthcare Industry

Smoking is the number one killer in America. One smoker contributes $1,600 more to the industry annually — $100 BILLION going towards the healthcare industry by 80% smokers visiting clinics than non-smokers.

I mean, if you were the healthcare industry, wouldn’t you want to keep smokers around?

Smokers contribute to 90 PERCENT of the pharmaceutical industry’s profits. I can drop the mic right there, but that’s not all.

The decline in cigarette smoking is an enormous threat, but just like the other money-driven industries, they must adjust their strategies to continue making money off smokers. As if traditional medication to quit smoking wasn’t bad enough (list of medications and their crazy side effects), the pharmaceutical industry is now sleeping with the tobacco industry to keep nicotine addiction going.

What is Pharmaceuticalization?

The National Institute of Health called it pharmaceuticalization. In medical ethical terms, it’s “the translation or transformation of human conditions, capabilities, and capacities into opportunities for pharmaceutical intervention.” What does that mean other than they have found other ways to continue to make money off addicts?

Pharmaceuticalization is the tobacco industry is literally disguised as a pharmaceutical/healthcare-like industry — producing, marketing, and selling nicotine products as smoking-sensation following no medical testing and oversight requirements, but somehow FDA approved.

This new “Nicotine Maintenance Industry” describes the strategy as “long-term nicotine maintenance,” focused on steering nicotine policy away from prevention and quitting nicotine altogether and aggressively building a long-term use of nicotine products to keep you addicted; or in their terms “to cover tobacco dependence, beyond cessation.”

Take Voke nicotine inhaler made by British American Tobacco (BAT) company as an example. Produced by a tobacco company but requires a medical doctor’s prescription to use. They base their medical legitimacy on the healthcare industry’s perceptive association.

How is the tobacco industry able to keep such a facade going with the American people?

Front Groups

The tobacco industry pays off “front groups” to spread misleading information.

A Front group is “an organization that purports to represent one agenda while in reality, it serves some other party or interest whose sponsorship is hidden or rarely mentioned.”

They can be think-tanks, studies, or PR firms, but in this case, they are in the form of medical journals, health magazines, and medical websites spreading two strategic messages:

1- That it’s damn near impossible to quit on your own even if you wanted to.

2- There are so many “medically-healthy” options out there for you.

Astroturfing is a specific type of front group created by the tobacco industry as hidden “grassroots” groups instigating tobacco users to take action against government policy regarding tobacco regulations, but really, they are brainwashing you to think a certain way.

“The tobacco industry continues to inject large philanthropic contributions into social programs worldwide to create a positive public image under the guise of corporate social responsibility.” — World Health Organization

The Biggest Lie

The Pharmaceuticalization facade is held together by one explanation- smokers dont want to quit and if they did, they simply can't without medication. With the government’s cooperation, multiple industries are continuously convening the public that it’s impossible to quit nicotine and they need long-term nicotine sustainment.

Nicotine IS the Lethal Substance in Cigarettes.

Nicotine is so poisonous, even regular people are using it as a murder weapon.

Addiction is a biopsychological disorder with a biological influence, yes, but it equally includes social and psychological factors. The factors that Pharmaceuticalization manipulates. The factors that keeping addicts addicted. Because if it were just the biological forces of nature, we would go through the withdrawal period and be nicotine-free. But 23 million dollars is spent every day to make you think it’s impossible.