Alcohol and nicotine have been found to be more damaging than some illegal drugs, like LSD, cannabis, or ecstasy. Do you quit the habits?

It is the chronic use and dependence of any substance that produces detrimental side effects. I am certain that a person that has lived through the ravages of alcoholism by a family member or who has lost a loved one to smoking induced illness would have already been aware of this without the need for research studies. It seems like common sense to me; but that same common sense also tells me that a person having a few drinks at a social gathering does not equate itself to a person tripping on LSD.

Personally, I would classify myself as a social drinker averaging no more than 2 drinks per week. Over the course of a year I smoke a total of less than a pack of cigarettes. Will these research findings make change my habits?

Absolutely not. They won't make me take up marijuana and LSD either. PS- I also would still feel safer as a passenger with a pilot that has a few drinks on his approved days off as opposed to one that would be smoking marijuana, tripping on LSD, or doing a few lines of coke during the same time frame.

Well, alcohol is being ranked the fifth most harmful drug but it is based on physical harm, dependence and social harm according to your given article. So I think it's not that harmful when you'd just drink it moderately.

That is a common fact but largely ignored. I am glad I don't have that addiction. Alcohol and nicotine could be even bought from ordinary stores especially in third world countries.

I often inform young people about the danger of drinking and smoking. They want to stop the addiction but it takes gargantuan effort to do this. There should be a support group for people who want to quit alcohol and nicotine (cigarettes) .

This should include the family, friends and a skilled professional who could look into the health aspect. Because addiction is a sickness of the person and consequently of the society. No matter how many pictures I show of irreversible alcoholic liver cirrhosis to the youth and the lung cancer of people who smoke , and teach them about how their life expectancy decreases, still they could not stop their addiction.So telling someone to stop needs action and cooperation from us, and not merely encouragement.

No, but if they were legal it would seem reasonable to try the safer drugs.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.