Many people are starters and not finishers. We all know someone who can talk a great game but in the end, can't be counted on to complete the task. Sometimes, I even find myself in that category of person. If only we could take a pill for commitment. Now wouldn't that save a lot of marriages?

Well, there is a drug that can raise a person's commitment level. A substance that has scientific proof and years of data showing its abilities. Unfortunately, it doesn't actually help us become better spouses, employees or athletes. It does help us become more committed to itself though. Of course, we're talking about nicotine. Many scientists believe nicotine is just as, if not more powerfully addictive, then that little white powder frequently shown on cop shows or found growing in the fields of third world countries. That is absolutely startling in my viewpoint.

Here we have one of the most addictive drugs known to mankind, yet it gets grandfathered into our good graces of society because of its importance as a trade crop during the time of our founding fathers in early America. We have unwavering tolerance for a drug that indirectly kills an estimated 20% of our population each year. We have expensive ad campaigns to slow down drunk driving because it kills. We have laws against just about everything considered bad. But smoking tobacco gets a pass, despite it's annual health care costs in dollars and lives each year. As I sit here recording my thoughts, I regretfully draw the eventual comparison to Afghanistan and its illicit drug trade. One drug has political and economic acceptance, while the other gets rejected and its fields burned to the ground.

What makes nicotine so insidious is its ability to mask the delivery package. Although cigarettes are not much to look at, the brain views it as nothing short of extraordinary. The nicotine beguiles the brain with such an intoxification, creating an intense yearning for more and more. However, found lurking within the plain white paper, are all sorts of nastiness just waiting for that first puff. That first inhalation binds the chemicals of the brain with its new found partner, creating an easy pathway for its slow and plodding forces. Each puff bringing in another wave of reinforcements to do their harm. This process then gets repeated ten, twenty maybe thirty times a day. All the while, nicotine clears the way, enabling this process to continue for years and years to come.

The willing victim, of course, is oblivious to the chemical reactions taking place. All they know is they somehow feel better when they light up. Some how, they feel satisfaction, although they have done nothing special. They haven't climbed Mt. Everest or saved a child from drowning. But they are strangely content and so the relationship flourishes. How ironic that when times are tough and stress is at its zenith, smokers will crave that feeling. They'll crave that contentment. At the worst possible time, they are putting the worst possible thing in their systems. Over time that feeling, that basic emotion, hooks the victim without fanfare and without warning. The smoker now lights up without a second thought. It's as much a part of their life as eating and drinking. Mazlow's hierarchy of needs now includes, nicotine rich, smoking.

Nicotine has done its job. All done before the war on the body even started. The heavy battery of cancer, lung disease, and cardiovascular disease have yet to be brought into the fight; yet the terms of surrender have been signed and the long term occupation begins.