• Question: What is the most addictive thing in the world ?

    Asked by ye.boiii to Gavin, Karen, Mark, Michel, Roisin on 15 Nov 2016.
    • Photo: Michel Destrade

      Michel Destrade answered on 15 Nov 2016:

      I’d say nicotine and sugar are among the most addictive things in the world.

    • Photo: Karen

      Karen answered on 15 Nov 2016:

      As far as I can remember from pharmacology crack cocaine is a drug that is 100% addictive in that you get physical withdrawal symptoms after the first time you take it. However Roisin probably knows a lot more about it!

    • Photo: Mark Kennedy

      Mark Kennedy answered on 15 Nov 2016:

      I thought it was heroin, but I also think it depends on the person – some people can become addicted to things easier than other people.

    • Photo: Roisin Jones

      Roisin Jones answered on 15 Nov 2016:

      There are different conclusions in various research papers, but the same names come up time and time again, with just a small variation in how they’re arranged: according to most research the most addictive substances are nicotine, smoked methamphetamine, heroin and crack cocaine. Some rank heroin at the top, some rank nicotine at the top, but those four are nearly always the top four.

      In terms of ‘capture rate’ that is, the percentage of users who reported that they became dependent on their drug of choice, the order is tobacco/nicotine, followed by heroin and then cocaine, so you can see that the same type of trend is maintained.

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