Adam, allow me to use my adapted "Matrix" analogy:
Morpheus: Nicotine is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.
....
First of all, I agree that quoting the Matrix is ghey.
Secondly, the key is that many just are not ready to be "unplugged" from nicotine. It frightens them because life with nicotine is the only life they remember. So, through some screwed up logic, they just throw in another pinch and assume that this is as good as it gets, and nicotine is making it tolerable. The chose to ignore the possibility that another, better life can exist. Hell, some will fight like hell to protect that addicted life (I did for years).
Allow me another "Matrix" analogy: Life has opened your eyes a bit wider today. And life is now offering you a choice. Are you gonna take the red pill and return to an existence of ignorant "bliss" where your life is controlled by a drug? (and it is controlling you, I promise.) Or are you gonna take the blue pill and throw off your nicotine master? The first option is comfortable. The second option is hard. The second option is discomfort x2, at least short term. That choice is scary, anxiety filled. It is also the only option for those who want to see the world clearly and interact with it WITHOUT the shackles and limits of nicotine addiction. But it IS doable, and it IS your choice.
Enough with the deep BS. It boils down to this, Adam: Are you ready to be "unplugged?"