Get the Help You Need
Many people who are in recovery from other drugs or behaviours continue to smoke cigarettes or cigars. Sooner or later, if you are in a 12 Step program, practicing Step 6 and 7 and 12, you need to address your nicotine addiction. When it seems impossible to quit, it is time to surrender. Underlying the physical addiction, which can be successfully treated with nicotine patches, is a rebelliousness which will eventually prove fatal. If you have tried many times to quit, and find yourself with a cigarette between your fingers again - get the emotional help you really need. It is becoming increasingly common for people to attend drug rehab for nicotine addiction. Serenity Vista Addiction Recovery Retreat uses Nicotine Anonymous materials, as well as a full complement of holistic therapies.
If you are still smoking, you are an active drug addict. That may sound harsh, especially if you are in recovery, and have stopped using alcohol or other drugs...except nicotine.
Tobacco use kills more people than all other illicit drugs combined, yet this is often denied in the recovery community. Back in the ‘old days’ of 12 Step meetings, one of the first basic jobs for newcomers was to wash ashtrays. AA meant coffee and cigarrettes. Even the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous said not to worry about smoking cigarettes. It is very noteworthy though, that the two co-founders, Dr. Bob, and Bill W., both died early deaths from emphysema due to smoking. So, times have changed, no one denies the toxic properties of tobacco anymore, and the powerful addictive forces of nicotine.
Commonly, people in 12 Step communities strongly suggest to newcomers that they should NOT quit smoking. The message is, don’t quit tobacco and your other drug of choice at the same time. This was the prevalent thinking in...
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