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Comment by refurb | Hacker News Reader

I recall reading long ago, some researchers did an experiment where they planted tobacco on an isolated island with a monkey population. We already know monkeys will consume tobacco, but they assumed they learned by mimicking humans.

The monkeys hated the fresh bitter leaves, but once they fell to the ground and cured, they took on a tobacco chewing habit pretty quickly.

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> The monkeys hated the fresh bitter leaves, but once they fell to the ground and cured, they took on a tobacco chewing habit pretty quickly.

I'm a bit distracted today, at first I thought it was the monkey who fell to the ground and was cured.

nicotine as medicine :)

Nicotine has to be one of the worst drugs I’ve ever done. You get an annoying addiction but there’s not really any positive effects brides maintains the status quo of not being pissed off and frustrated.

Nicotine has significant positive effects on attention and executive function, as well as wakefulness. People smoke for a reason, even if they don't really understand the effect it's having

As does caffeine, but I don’t consider it enjoyable.

I know why I started smoking and it wasn’t because I enjoyed the weak stimulant benefits, it was because of social rituals and later addiction.

My points wasn’t “nicotine has no positive effects”, but more of the negative effects (in most delivery methods) vastly outweigh the benefits.

nicotine is a well studied noortropic. It enhances neuroplasticity and focus

If Nicotine is the worst you've done, then I'm going to assume you haven't done many.

Nah I’ve done a number of things not a ton, and I tend to avoid things where risks far outweigh the benefits, which nictotine fits neatly in. Especially in some of the more established delivery methods.

At least the psychedelics I’ve tried have given me some entertainment and introspection, weed is useful for chilling out and relaxing and has proved to at times be a surprisingly powerful sleep aid for me. Shit even alcohol is extremely useful as a social lubricant, despite being a terrible substance healthwise.

Nicotine (notable nicotine delivered via tobacco and particularly cigarettes) gives me, something to do with my hands for a few minutes and makes me a bit less anxious and fidgety (caused by withdrawal anyway) but comes with significant cancer and cardiovascular risks.

I guess as far as other stuff I tried that I just felt sucked, coke probably sits up there, but I’m pretty sure it was cut to hell the one time I tried it.

To be a little less disingenuous for a second, someone else mentioned nootropic benefits, but I still doubt the benefits outweigh the health risks.

Why? Nicotine has addiction rates on par with hard drugs while having only very mild benefits. It also tends to be really expensive. It won't make you homeless but it does suck

Its not just nicotine. There are other compounds in tabacco that act as MAOIs for example

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