European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 1, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Nicotine and the body is smoking pleasure or an addiction by John Schwartz the Washington Post before he finally quit smoking 18 years ago Charles r. Schuster recalled that after a Day of leading or nuking cessation workshops he would declare to his wife that he was finished with cigarettes and dramatically fling his pack Over the Back Patio into his hours later said the former head of the National Institute on drug addiction i would be put there with a flashlight looking through the most people would say he was hooked. Yet there is no Universal consensus on How addictive nicotine is or at what level it becomes so. Nicotine one of nature s own insecticides might seem an unlikely drug of Choice. Nicotine is lethal to bugs because it mimics the action chemicals that help animals nerve cells communicate. But As toxicologists Are wont to say the dose makes the Poison. At the level offered by cigarettes nicotine gives its fans a Rush of pleasure focusing the mind and relaxing the nerves. T. .-.--. The tobacco Industry insists that smokers Light up for pleasure not to satisfy an addiction most re Edical experts however disagree. So As the food and drug administration explores the possibility of regulating tobacco products As drugs commissioner David a. Kessler has suggested that it might require cigarette makers to Ratchet Back the Levels of nicotine in cigarettes gradually Over a decade or More to teach Levels that Are not addictive. Finding that icel Ray prove difficult although nicotine is one of the More studied of drugs. Indeed much of what we now know about the class of messenger substances called neurotransmitters derives r experiments with nicotine. In 1909 British researcher . Larigey found that nicotine when applied to the part of a muscle that joins a nerve could make muscle tissue contract. He realized that there must be a receptive substance at the neuromuscular Junction that is responsive to chemicals such As nicotine and that the body must produce its own nicotine like chemicals. Later researchers found the body s nicotine like neurotransmitter acetylcholine which is also released at the synapses or Points of connection Between two nerve cells people use tobacco nicotine enters the bloodstream and binds to receptors in place of acetylcholine. In the brain which nicotine can reach by passing through its protective filter Barrier nicotine alters nicotine belongs to a class of compounds called alkaloids that includes cocaine morphine quinine and strychnine. Some plants produce such substances As a toxic chemical defense against insects. In animals nicotine operates at the Junction of nerve cells or neurons. The effects of nicotine nicotine acts As both a stimulant and a sedative. The first cigarette of the Day on average can raise heart rate by 10 to 20 beats a minute and blood pressure by 5 to 10 Points As blood vessels constrict. Larger doses however have calming effects. Studies have shown that cigarette smokers Are less anxious arid aggressive More sociable and More efficient at Many tasks than non smoking counterparts nicotine causes its effects by imitating the action of acetylcholine one of the body s most important neurotransmitters the group of chemicals that Are used to carry signals Between nerve cells in the tiny Cleft Between cells called a synapse acetylcholine is released from one cell and binds to Matching receptors on the membrane of the next. Nicotine also binds to certain types of acetylcholine receptors. Thus like acetylcholine it can affect the autonomic nervous system which governs involuntary bodily functions muscle action and brain activity. It also May prompt the production of dopamine another neurotransmitter involved in pleasure sensations. Vav a \ \ % dose of about 60 milligrams my " would kill most humans but the average cigarette delivers around 1 my of nicotine into the bloodstream. Inhalation is highly effective All the body s blood passes through the lungs and nicotine picked up in air sacs there goes through the heart and gets pumped directly to the brain within about 8 seconds. By John Anderson the Washington Post the messages sent Between nerve cells especially along the Section of the inner brain known As the Mes limbic dopamine Gic pathway from which cravings seem to emerge a. V the Meso limbic system responds to pleasurable acts by producing the chemical dopamine believed to reinforce the Good feeling within a part of the brain known As the nucleus acc Bens. 7 cocaine like nicotine enhances the effects of 7 dopamine. It blocks the parts of the cells that soak dopamine Back up leaving More dopamine in the brain and Over stimulating the nucleus acc Bens " nicotine could work on the same system but it does v keep the body from soaking up its excess dopamine the Way cocaine does instead it seems to Tell the nerve cells to pump out More dopamine. At the same time steady smoking appears to deactivate the nicotine receptors lessening the pleasant Buzz. The body compensates Over time by growing More nicotine receptors and once that pathology is set up you end up in a Little Cycle that keeps you smoking cigarettes said John Dani a researcher at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. After the body has gone without nicotine for several hours the receptors reactivate hungrily clamouring for a fix. You feel nervous your hands Are shaking you feel awful. That s the reason the first cigarette of the Day is reported to be the most pleasurable Dani said. The smoker continues to puff throughout the Day to keep the receptors quiet. Does that Cycle equal addiction the surgeon general s report of 1988 said it does. But the tobacco Industry argues that it Dees not at least in the common sense meaning of the words. James w. Johnston chief executive officer of . Reynolds tobacco co., said All you need to do is ask and honestly answer two simple questions. First would you rather Board a plane with a Pilot who just smoked a cigarette or one with a Pilot who just had a couple of Beers or snorted cocaine or shot heroin or popped some pills. Second if cigarettes were addictive could almost 43 million americans have quit smoking almost All of them on their own without any outside help the fact that millions have quit smoking does t negate nicotine s addictive Ness said Jack e. Henningfield chief of the National Institute on drug addiction s clinical pharmacology Branch. Many addicts walk away from alcohol cocaine and even heroin. There is the notion that heroin is an All or nothing addiction but nothing is further from the truth he said. As Many As 15 percent of heroin users never seem to become addicted at All about the same percentage of no addicted smokers he said. Most medical authorities have Little doubt that nicotine fits the classic definition of chemical addiction. They have identified All the generally recognized Hallmarks of addiction in smokers new smokers develop a tolerance for nicotine building toward an eventual plateau. They find it difficult to quit even when painfully aware of the health effects. Researchers have found that half of smokers who have had surgery for lung cancer resume their habits and 38 percent of smokers who suffer a heart attack go Back to smoking. -. Smokers who try to quit experience withdrawal symptoms such As irritability anxiety headaches and declining cigarette consumption after nearly four decades of growth cigarette consumption in the United states began declining in the Early 1980s. In 1993, consumption was Down to 485 billion cigarettes compared with 640 billion in 1981, the High Point of . Consumption. 700 45 55 65 -75 80 82 84 86 88 90 92 source . Deal of agriculture is More. Sitting and depression for some one leads to the other " " " \ by Janee Brody the new York times of that Only one american adult in four smokes cigarettes and now that smoking the nation s leading health Hazard has become largely restricted to the outdoors Many people cannot understand Why anyone would continue to smoke. Knowing that Many Long term smokers May be addicted to nicotine does not fully answer the question. Recent research suggests that for a significant number of hard Core smokers a susceptibility to depression or other emotional disturbances May make it extremely difficult to give up the drug that seems to help allay their negative feelings. Smokers susceptible to depression have the hardest time quitting on their own. They Are also least Likely to succeed in programs to at smoking with Only about a 6 percent Success rate after one year. This fact has prompted researchers to conclude that smokers prone to depression and other negative emotions such As anxiety anger and tension May need a different therapeutic approach from that ordinarily offered in traditional programs for ending smoking. Preliminary studies suggest that supportive therapy a modified form of psychotherapy that works on thought patterns use of a cigarette substitute nicotine gum or Patch and perhaps treatment with antidepressants can significantly increase their chances of becoming former smokers. Nicotine influences neurotransmitters that Are associated with feeling Good so it can Lessen the effects of stress and negative moods said or. Thomas h. Brandon a psychologist at the state University of new York at Binghamton who recently reviewed the connection Between smoking feeling. Nicotine increases the release of brain chemicals that Are stimulating and relaxing As Well As those that produce a mild euphoria. Naomi Breslau a sociologist at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit describes nicotine As a terrific drug that relaxes you at the same time As it keeps you awake and people with depression May get More reinforcement from cigarettes because of nicotine s effects and they become More and More dependent ten nicotine because they get More out of it she said Breslau s studies among Young adults who smoke have shown that people with a history of depression Are More Likely to become dependent on nicotine and that those who Are dependent on nicotine Are More Likely to become depressed years later. Although researchers have not completely ruled out the possibility that Long term use of nicotine can cause depression the predominant evidence especially the results of detailed studies of twins by or. Kenneth Pendjer of the Medica College of Virginia indicates that some people s genes May predispose them both to depression and to nicotine dependence. Or. Alexander h. Classman a psychiatrist who is head of clinical psychopharmacology at the new York state psychiatric Institute has found that smokers with a history of depression Are much More Likely to get depressed and to get severely depressed when they quit smoking than Are smokers who have had no previous depressive episodes. 7 Over All in his experience smokers with a history of depression who attend programs to end smoking have about a 25 percent Chance of becoming seriously depressed when they Stop smoking. They also tend to. Become much More angry and irritable when they quit smoking than those without a history 0f depression. Classman has also found that depressions brought on by quitting nearly always Clear up when the person goes Back to who have studied the link Between smoking and depression believe that Success in getting the depression prone to quit smoking May depend upon first or simultaneously treating depressive tendencies. A Brandon explained that people prone to depression have illogical thoughts that Are not for example instead of thinking this is something i can master if i put my mind to it a person prone to depression might conclude i could never do that even before trying. By increasing the person s awareness of such negative thoughts and evaluating their Validity therapists can help to change them gradually and to improve a person s mood and Outlook on life. Most therapists agree that More positive thinking can increase a person s Chance of Success in any venture including quitting smoking. Classman is testing the effectiveness of the. Antidepressant drug zoloft made by Pfizer inc., in depression prone smokers. Although he has not yet broken the research code to see who is getting Active medication and who is on a look alike Placebo he said the quitting rate at 12 weeks was More than twice that seen in previous Placebo studies of other drugs which strongly suggests that the drug is working. Classman also said that use of a cigarette substitute such As nicotine gum or the nicotine Patch seemed to ease the Way for depression prone Srno kers and increased their Success in quitting. Although such people May find it difficult to wean themselves from the gum or Patch prolonged use of the substitute is far safer and less offensive to others than smoking he noted. The. Psychiatrist also cautioned depression prone smokers against assuming that they will not be Able to quit without special assistance. Even in our study group of a history of depression about 25 percent Are Able to Stop smoking without getting depressed he said. On the other hand a few get depressed even while taking an antidepressant. For them Classman said smoking May be the lesser of two evils since life is not Worth living under the constant Drain of not an Many workplaces smokers must Brave the cold for a cigarette. Yet even that does t make them quit. 16 the stars and stripes tuesday november 1,1994 the stars and stripes 17
