But you needn’t be a recipient of tobacco money to think that this addiction thing is a lot smokier than it might seem. True, a lot of people have had a hard time quitting cigarettes, but there are about as many who have managed to quit as are still smoking. According to the surgeon general, the vast majority of them gave up the habit without formal treatment. We live in a country in which a third of us are obese. Virtually all of them will tell you they’ve tried restricting their food intake but just can’t keep it up. Does that make food addictive? One definition of addiction says that the substance in question must have some sort of intoxicating effect, and Virginia Slims Cigarettes do – albeit very slight compared to such drugs as cocaine and heroin. But researchers have found the same thing about chocolate, that it raises levels of certain chemicals in the brain and makes you feel better. Many of us joke about being "chocoholics" but to some who binge on thousands of calories of chocolate a day it’s no laughing matter. Indeed, a drug has now been found to block chocolate cravings. But there is no scientific definition of addiction. Neither the Diagnostic and Statistical manual of the American Psychiatric Association nor the World Organization use the term addiction. This allows anybody who wants to use any definition they wish. Thus, the famous 1964 U.S. Surgeon General’s report on cigarettes concluded that smoking was not addictive, though the Surgeon General’s office now says it is - a move some say is motivated by politics and not science.