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Jason Kuznicki

Jason Kuznicki is a research fellow at the Cato Institute and contributor of Cato Unbound. He's on twitter as JasonKuznicki. His interests include political theory and history.

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8 Responses

  1. gregiank says:

    I guess it depends on why you are taking the meds. The point of taking medication if you have cancer is not really exactly to enjoy oneself. Its more to take away the horrendous pain. Compare that to drinking a few beers or a joint on the weekend. There is a bit of difference.Report

  2. LawMonkey says:

    That link about tobacco is interesting. I was having some pretty nasty issues with depression earlier this summer. In the last month or so, I’ve put a foot off the wagon and started smoking some again–not much; generally a couple of cigs in the evening. I’ve also gotten my mood on something closer to an even keel. I’d thought it was just coincidence and doing a better job of staying busy, but who knows. Something to think about.Report

  3. Trumwill says:

    There is a crucial difference between Zyban and Welbutrin besides marketing… Zyban is sporadically covered by insurance and Welbutrin almost always is. The politician may take Zyban for the Welbutren effects, but it’s more often than not it goes the other way. You mean if I’m depressed the insurance will pay for it? Well, doctor, I do feel sad…

    I have bottles of Welbutrin in the medicine cabinet but I don’t take them because I am not yet ready to quit smoking. I’m stocking up so that when I am ready, I won’t have scarcity to convince me to stop taking it.

    For my own part, it is likely that cigarettes act as a sort of self-medication for one problem (depression) or another (ADHD). I have an unhealthy attraction to stimulants that are known to help with both. I will never forgive George W. Bush for taking ephedrine off the market.Report

    • Eric Seymour in reply to Trumwill says:

      @Trumwill,
      Be careful about where you keep your Wellbutrin stockpile, and how long you keep it. Most drugs have a shelf life of 2-3 years, which is the amount of time they’ll have at least 90% of their original effectiveness. Some last longer, but some will degrade more quicly, especially if they are stored in standard pharmacy twist-cap bottles, rather than in foil-sealed bottles containing dessicant. And the bathroom is the worst place to store any drugs, because the repeated humidity from showers and baths will seriously reduce the shelf life of nearly any medication. (I work in pharmaceutical R&D.)Report

    • JosephFM in reply to Trumwill says:

      @Trumwill,
      Be careful when you do, I tried using generic bupropion to quit smoking and it gave me severe insomnia and other typical stimulant side effects.

      It also didn’t work and I ended up quitting using OTC nicotine patches.Report

  4. Rufus F. says:

    I was reading a lovely book of old Tibetan Buddhist documents from the 12th century the other day (while I was supposed to be writing my dissertation), and I found a nice sentence to the effect that sorrow, because it leads us to truth, is a guru. I certainly think we all self-medicate in one way or another, including myself, but that sentence really resonated with me.Report

  5. Eric Seymour says:

    My first thought on reading the excerpt on smoking and depression is that the data would work just as well (and perhaps better) to prove that smoking causes depression, rather than ameliorates it. Given the fact that an antidepressant appears to be effective at helping people quit smoking, I’d suspect the depression is linked to withdrawal.Report