Tobacco addiction
Basic research studies mapped the actions of nicotine in the brain and showed that nicotine could produce powerful changes in brain function.
Similar to cocaine and morphine, nicotine contained in tobacco produces the entire range of physical and behavioral effects characteristic of addicting drugs.
These effects include activation of brain reward systems that create behavioral effects and physiological cravings that lead to chronic drug use, tolerance and physical dependence, and withdrawal upon discontinuation. Research on nicotine showed that it was possible to become addicted to pure nicotine.
The risk of addiction, however, varies across tobacco products. Oral smokeless tobacco products such as snuff and chewing tobacco do not produce as rapid an effect on the brain as cigarette smoke inhalation. In similar fashion, although many cigar and pipe smokers become addicted, these tobacco products are generally taken up later in life, are less likely to be inhaled, and lead to somewhat muted effects.
The overall risk of addiction from these tobacco products is lower when compared to cigarettes. Speed of delivery is most remarkable with cigarettes, which both require and reinforce smoke delivery to the lung with nicotine “hits” to the brain within seven seconds.
The understanding that nicotine addiction drives the process of tobacco use has been met by safer ways of satisfying and treating the addiction.
For example, some people can be counseled to gradually reduce their dependence on nicotine and thus break the addiction over time, that is, typically a few months. Others can be treated with nicotine-delivering medicines (chewing gum, skin patch, and inhaler).
Most people who quit smoking using this method usually discontinue the medicine within two to three months of use of the medicines and totally unload from tobacco addiction.
