Good job Vocalek....
I just watched a program on PBS on stress and the health effects it has. Part way through the program which compared primates to humans and heirarchy-based stress, I thought of your article about using nicotine to self-medicate. People buy aspirin and tylenol to ease pain, so why not nicotine to ease stress effects? The program went on to also touch on strange Alpha Male and Alpha Female dominance behavior which goes a long way to explain why some anti-smokers won't let go even after winning the smoke fight, but wanting to to also control vapor. That's a whole other story, though.
Despite my dependence (don't like the term addiction and it is not accurate anyway) on nicotine now...I first realized early on in my smoking carreer, that it took away the bad feelings brought on by stress. I don't do well with stress. You won't see me giving speeches in front of a big crowd and it takes at least three shots of vodka to ask a girl out on a date....LOL. I have also noticed my stress levels rising since I am not getting the nicotine I used to. Even after a year of vaping, which should be enough time to adjust, I haven't yet. Still have to burn one when stress gets high....and I am OK with that.
Anyway, before I ramble too much, just wanted to say I agree with your article. I don't believe anything is absolutely evil....nor absolutely good. It's all relative....
