A chipper is an occasional recreational-drug user who does not use drugs with the regularity or frequency that is typical of
addiction
Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to engage in certain behaviors, one of which is the usage of a drug, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use o ...
. It is used particularly to refer to occasional users of
opiate
An opiate, in classical pharmacology, is a substance derived from opium. In more modern usage, the term ''opioid'' is used to designate all substances, both natural and synthetic, that bind to opioid receptors in the brain (including antagonis ...
s and
tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
smokers.
It can also refer to people who use various recreational drugs, but none habitually.
"Social" smokers
Such occasional users of tobacco are sometimes thought of as ''social smokers'' which is similar in meaning to ''
social drinkers''. However, evidence indicates that this only characterizes a minority of chippers. The prevalence of non-daily smoking in the U.S. has increased by 40% between 1996 and 2001.
Tipping point
Chippers are given as an example in ''
The Tipping Point
''The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference'' is the debut book by Malcolm Gladwell, first published by Little, Brown in 2000. Gladwell defines a tipping point as "the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling po ...
''; if chippers begin smoking above a certain threshold (or tipping point), then they will develop regular cravings and become addicted.
History
The term dates at least to the 1970s, where it is used in reference to opiate use.
The term was notably used in reference to tobacco by psychologist Dr. Saul Shiffman, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh.
[Shiffman, S. (1989). Tobacco "Chippers": Individual differences in tobacco dependence. Psychopharmacology, 97, 539-547.]
Notes and references
{{reflist
See also
*
Cigarette smoking among college students#Social smokers
External links
Kris Frieswick's column about chippingWord Spy definition of a chipperPsychosocial and Personality Differences in Chippers and Regular Smokers, by Saul Shiffman, et al.
Tobacco
Smoking in the United States