Vulnarable Teens: A Story that Drug Addicts Don’t Tell You

Let me take you through the story of someone addicted to substances. While I’ll focus on a smoker addicted to nicotine, understand that the path to addiction is remarkably similar across all substances—whether it’s alcohol or illegal drugs.

The smoker’s story is more dramatic and interesting. From the outside, they usually look calm, composed, and even confident. However, the truth is only known to those who are trapped within it. 

Please understand that I will not scare you with health risks. The story follows a smoker’s thoughts and emotions throughout their smoking journey.

Before we dive deeper into this story, keep these two points in your mind.

1. Drug tolerance: Drug tolerance works much like lifting weights at the gym. At first, a light weight gives a noticeable effect. But over time, you need to lift heavier weights to feel the same strain. Similarly, as addiction progresses, the body craves higher doses of the drug to feel the same ‘high,’ pulling us deeper into the trap.

2. Statistics: Among adults who have smoked daily, 87% had tried their first cigarette by the time they were 18 years of age, and 95% had by age 21.

 Now, let’s begin with one who found a new paradise island.

1. Paradise Island: The First Puff

The smoker’s story often starts in the teenage years. After facing vulnerabilities and influences, they’re curious and excited, lighting their first cigarette. But that first experience is often unpleasant—it tastes awful, brings on coughing fits, dizziness, and sometimes even a mild fever. It’s your body saying you are feeding me the poison. Some lucky teens can’t bear it and never touch it again.

But others? They feel a strange thrill, a sense of rebellion. They feel as if “I have grown up.” When someone warns them about the dangers of smoking, their response becomes defensive: “What’s the point of living 100 boring years? Even if I live shorter, at least my life will be exciting.”

For some, this sense of entitlement even turns into narcissism—they feel strong and better than everyone else. A few might even take it further, experimenting with illegal drugs that eventually ruin their lives.

But like all things, the initial excitement wears off. Smoking becomes less about thrill and more about habit.

2. Sliding Down into the Pitcher Plant: “It’s Just a Habit”

The vulnerabilities that made them start smoking in the first place are no longer the reasons they smoke. Instead, they’ve come to believe they need cigarettes to relax, concentrate, relieve stress, or pass the time.

When someone warns them about the dangers, their response is always the same: “I’ve got this under control. It’s just a habit. I’m not like those chain smokers who can’t live without cigarettes. I can quit whenever I want.”

But the truth? It’s all an illusion… again!

Take relaxation, for example. The smoker lights a cigarette, thinking it will help them relax. To my understanding, relaxation usually comes with a slower heart rate. But if you check a smoker’s heart rate while they’re “relaxing” with a cigarette, it’s likely to be around 140 beats per minute. Similarly, they smoke to concentrate, yet the brain needs oxygen for focus, but the cigarettes fill their lungs with carbon monoxide instead.

At this point, they’ve likely entered adulthood. Life begins to present unexpected challenges, such as enduring a painful breakup, failing a crucial exam, losing a job, or even relishing a significant moment like a vacation. Their usual number of cigarettes isn’t enough to handle these emotional highs and lows anymore. “This moment calls for more cigarettes.”

Due to drug tolerance, their regular dosage keeps climbing to an average of one or two packs a day. Soon, the problems start to show up: health problems, money problems, or a growing sense that they are not as in charge as they thought. For the first time, they decide to quit.

And this is where the real drama begins.

3. Quitting smoking: Experiencing the Reality of Addiction

Here are some sad statistics about quitting smoking.

Most smokers—nearly 70%—say they want to quit, and many make quit attempts each year. For many smokers, it may take 30 or more quit attempts before successfully quitting smoking. But success rates are very low. In 2022, 8.8% of adults who smoked were able to successfully quit smoking in the past year.

Why is quitting smoking so hard?

Quitting smoking is difficult because they still believe that cigarettes are essential for their daily lives, especially during highs and lows.

Health problems, money problems, or complaints from family members are the most common reasons people quit. These may motivate you to quit, but you must understand the trap to succeed.

Let me show you the real face of addiction through some examples.

Reason 1: Initial Cravings, Withdrawal Pangs

Once a smoker decides, “I am never going to smoke again,” cravings and withdrawal symptoms begin. These mostly involve two things. First is an empty, restless, and insecure. Second, whenever something triggers smoking—like watching someone else smoke—they get the automatic thought, “I want a cigarette.”.

Much like Pavlov’s dogs were trained to associate a bell with food, smokers have trained themselves to associate certain cues with smoking. Fortunately, these thoughts typically fade as they reinforce their decision, but initially, they rely solely on motivation. Soon, frustration sets in: “Why am I still craving? I can’t focus; I can’t relax. I feel worse than when I smoked.”

Life’s stresses, like work or family issues, complicate things further, leading them to think, “Maybe I picked the wrong time. I’ll quit when things are less stressful.” However, that initial motivation usually fades.

Reason 2: Influence of Friends

Let’s say they manage to quit during a less stressful period and even enjoy a smoke-free vacation. But if they’re around friends who smoke, they start feeling left out, thinking, “I’ve quit for so long; I’m in control. I’ll just smoke on this trip and quit again after.” They light up, enjoy it, and fall into the trap again.

Reason 3: Sheer Stupidity

Assume that they have learnt from previous mistakes and didn’t smoke for a month. Now, there are no traces of nicotine in their body, and the automatic thoughts of “I want a cigarette” have faded. In fact, they wonder, “Why did I find it so hard earlier? I’m now in total control over smoking.” It feels like a moment of revelation.

But then curiosity strikes: “I can just try one and still control it.” They smoke, feel fine, and reassure themselves. Days later, they try another, convinced they’ve mastered it. Finally, back to the trap, filled with regret for making the mistake 😢😢😢

Reason XYZ… Lots of excuses

Smokers come up with endless excuses to keep smoking. Here are some examples: During tough moments, like a breakup, losing a loved one, or losing a job, they say, “I need a cigarette to get through this.” During joyful moments, like partying, getting drunk, or celebrating a promotion, they think, “Just one cigarette to celebrate won’t hurt, or it’s a vacation—why spoil the fun?” And then there are the most ridiculous reasons.

The illusion of control

You may wonder, “Well, they may not be able to quit completely, but they can control it.” Well, why not try that? In fact, this is what comes to their mind after a few failed attempts. This is how it goes.

By this point, smokers might have reached to a few packs a day. So, they try to control their addiction by cutting down—maybe just 3 cigarettes a day: one in the morning, one after work, and the third one is before sleep. At first, their health and finances seem manageable. But when they hit a stressful day, they start counting the hours between each cigarette. 😢

After a few days or months, they come up with a “brilliant” idea: “Today is stressful. I’ll just borrow a cigarette from tomorrow’s quota.” At first, it seems harmless. One extra cigarette here, another there. But soon enough, they’re not just borrowing from tomorrow—they’re borrowing from the future. After six months, they’ve already smoked through their quota for the next decade.😅

At this point, if you feel pity for a smoker, hold it for a few minutes—there’s much more to come.

Some lucky ones at this phase leave the trap, maybe after tens or hundreds of attempts. But if they didn’t learn anything from their mistakes, then they slide down even more in the trap.

4. A life with slavery to addiction

At this point, smokers begin to hate themselves for smoking. They are in complete control of their lives, but cigarettes control them. They feel hopeless, helpless, and convinced that they’ll never break free.

In extreme cases, some smokers even have suicidal thoughts, desperate to escape the slavery of addiction. They may not act on those thoughts, but the fear of failing again makes them give up, even trying to quit again.

Cigarettes become part of every moment—when they wake up, after breakfast, with coffee, after meals, before work, during breaks, after dinner, before bed. Every part of their day triggers the need for a cigarette. And often, one cigarette isn’t enough. They do chain smoking, especially when dealing with stress or boredom. They are simply burning packs of cigarettes every day. Meanwhile, the neighbourhood cigarette store owner is busy building his new home.😂😂😂

At this point, their health begins to show the damage — they look much older than they are, with grey teeth and wrinkled skin. Their immune system weakens, and their physical health goes in very bad shape. Then comes tragedy.

5. The Final Price: Ending with a tragedy

By now, they might have invested thousands of dollars, seeking their illusory pleasures and needs. Despite all these investments, there comes a day when they get diagnosed with a killer disease due to smoking. Maybe they get cancer. The doctor says, “You will die in a few months if you cannot stop smoking.”

Some lucky people won’t get diagnosed with killer diseases. Anyway, they die prematurely.

Whatever the case it is, they are finally free. No need to smoke anymore. Rest in peace!

But sometimes, an unfortunate event may follow even after death. For their selfish reasons, they might have continued smoking despite their family members’ repeated pleas to quit. In this case, the family members might bury them along with leftover, unsmoked cigarettes for old times’ sake: “Here lies Mr. Santhosh, a lifetime smoker. And just in case, we packed your coffin with a few packs of cigarettes. After all, you never know when you’ll need to impress the angels with a smoke ring.” Rest in peace…??? There may be no peace even after death. 😭😭😭

Take Away

In this story, I’ve shared the experiences of smokers, and I am no exception. How did you find this story—scary, pitiful, boring, or maybe even hilarious? Well, that’s the life of a smoker. A life full of stupidity, frustration, slavery, misery, and a lot more.

Also, except in the final stage, did I ever try to scare you with all the health problems that could come into their life? I deliberately skipped that. I believe that getting health issues is just one part of the agony that smokers go through in life.

You might think that some points in these stories are exaggerated, but they aren’t. Almost every smoker can relate to these stories—it’s not just about individuals, but the nature of addiction itself. When I shared my first part, I got this response from a friend: Just like us 😣

Other Substances

There’s not much to say about illegal drug users; it’s a pathetic life.

You might wonder, “What about alcohol? It looks normal, and people enjoy drinking on the weekends. Also, it’s not that addictive, right?”

Well, answering this would take another story, but here’s some food for thought: What do you think the people in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) are doing? There are an estimated 87,000 AA groups around the world. Do you think they’re meeting up to enjoy a few drinks together?