Drug And Alcohol Treatment

Smoking cigarettes can greatly increase the risk of returning to drug and alcohol use.

There is a growing body of evidence provided by research studies that shows that smokers have a significantly higher rate of relapse back to drug and alcohol use than non-smokers. This should come as no surprise when we look at nicotine use as consuming a drug.

Nicotine is a drug, it is mood altering, highly addictive, and a poison.

In drug and alcohol treatment, the concept of complete abstinence from all mood altering substances is almost universally accepted. Why has nicotine been traditionally excluded? I am not sure, quite possibly because of historical social acceptance of smoking. Condoning nicotine use for an alcoholic or drug addict is almost like telling an alcoholic to give up rum, scotch and beer...but tequila is OK.

There is a popular myth that trying to quit using nicotine products while giving up drugs and alcohol is too much to handle. The new evidence shows the reverse is true; people attempting to stop smoking while in treatment for drugs and alcohol actually have a higher rate of success. Arguably, for a smoker, a key element in their drug and alcohol relapse prevention plan is to stop smoking.

This higher rate of success makes sense if we look at some key elements of how to quit smoking and their ready availability during drug and alcohol treatment.

1. Getting support and setting a date. In treatment, counseling, encouragement and peer support is readily available.

2. Learning alternative coping skills. An important element in quitting smoking is to make concrete changes in dealing with situations where smoking occurred. For example, handling boredom or stress.

3. Preparing a relapse prevention plan. A prepared plan to handle difficult situations is like an insurance policy; you may never need it, but it is wise to have it in place.

These are important elements in any type of relapse prevention plan. There is a great deal of additional information available on relapse prevention and quitting smoking.