A recent article in U.S. News and World Report talked about how the majority of Alcoholics Anonymous attendees drink coffee (90%) and smoke cigarettes (60%). Many believe that by helping to alleviate feelings of depression, anxiety and irritability, these “lesser” addictions can actually help alcoholics and addicts avoid relapse. Now, however, a researcher from the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center of the University of California, San Francisco is suggesting that recovering alcoholics who continue smoking cigarettes may actually have a higher chance of relapse. Because of this, she feels that nicotine and alcohol addictions should be treated at the same time.

The article doesn’t go into details about the evidence for this claim other than mentioning that animal studies have shown “that nicotine can cause relapses to alcohol drinking” and after reading it, I felt a bit uneasy. The idea that smoking can lead to higher rates of relapse amongst alcoholics is compelling and it would indeed be interesting to see if more AA members who smoke relapse than those who don’t. In the meantime however, without further research, I think it could be a bit risky to start advocating the idea that people who are trying to quit drinking should also quit smoking at the same time.

In my own experience getting sober, cigarettes (and coffee too for that matter), have played a fairly crucial role in my recovery. I got sober at 25 but it took me another 4 years to quit smoking and I still drink at least 2 or 3 cups of coffee a day. Certainly I’m not claiming that I couldn’t have gotten sober without these crutches because in retrospect, it’s impossible to say. What I do know is that at least for me, it made staying clean and sober easier, but not for the reasons that most people might expect. Yes, cigarettes did “take the edge off,” but my real motivation for continuing to smoke went deeper than that because to me, drinking, using, and smoking cigarettes were not just addictions, they were a part of my identity.

Addiction experts and researchers spend a great deal of time talking about how people drink or use drugs because it makes them feel better. I’m always amazed however, at how rarely they mention the complex connections that exist between addictive behaviors and self-identity. In my case, I was not proud of being an alcoholic and addict but nevertheless, the idea of being the kind of person who drank, used, and smoked was both appealing, and central to who I saw myself as being. The fact is that even after I (finally) realized that I would never be able to drink or use drugs in moderation, I still thought that those who could were, well, cool. In my mind, smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee were the last defenses I had against falling over the abyss into what I saw as being a land inhabited only by Ned Flanders and a bunch of girl scout troops.

Looking back, I now find all this a bit embarrassing to admit. On the other hand, I don’t think my feelings were so unusual. I was 25 years old and although I knew that I couldn’t drink or use drugs, that didn’t mean that it was easy to cut myself off from the culture of youthful rebellion altogether. What it came down to is that even if I couldn’t do the same things that most of my friends were doing, I still wanted to fit in. And if there’s one thing that parents know, it’s that like it or not, fitting in is very very important to young people.

The reason I’m talking about this now is because I think it’s an important issue for parents of adolescents with substance abuse problems to consider. I don’t argue with the notion that there are very good reasons for encouraging someone in recovery to quit smoking. On the other hand, keep in mind that the reasons that they are still using cigarettes may be much more complicated than just that it lessens anxiety or makes them feel good. Overcoming an addiction is one of the most difficult things that a human being can do. Doing a complete overhaul of one’s identity at the same time might be what some people need, but for others, it may be too much to handle all at once.

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  Posted by: Johanna Bailey