Smoking cigarettes, particularly consuming the nicotine in tobacco, has all of the characteristics of addiction: pleasant feelings, withdrawal symptoms, tolerance, and continued use despite the adverse effects. That's why scientists consider cigarettes to be truly addictive. In fact, the scientific evidence indicates that cigarettes are at least as addictive as illegal drugs such as cocaine. And the younger people are when they start smoking cigarettes, the more likely they are to become strongly addicted to nicotine.
just the facts
Seventy-five percent of the cigarette smokers reported at least one of the four symptoms of addiction, as compared to 29% of cocaine users, 23% of marijuana users, and 14% of alcohol users. (1)
At least one symptom of addiction was reported by 91% of daily cigarette smokers, as compared to 79% of daily cocaine users, 58% of daily marijuana users, and 48% of daily alcohol users. (2)
smokers between the ages of 12 and 17 reported symptoms of addiction at lower rates of cigarette consumption than older smokers did. More than one-quarter of 12- to 17-year-olds who smoked one to five cigarettes per day had symptoms of addiction, and so did about 12 percent of those who were less-than-daily smokers.
Sources 1. Heishman SJ. Behavioral and cognitive effects of smoking: relationship to nicotine addiction. Nicotine and Tobacco Research 1999;1(suppl 2):S143-147. 2. Heishman SJ. Behavioral and cognitive effects of smoking: relationship to nicotine addiction. Nicotine and Tobacco Research 1999;1(suppl 2):S143-147.
definition
What Is Addiction?
People often use the word "addiction" in a very broad sense. They may say that someone is addicted to candy, television, or the Internet -- actually, almost anything that a person might enjoy and use excessively. However, when doctors and scientists use the word "addiction," they have something more specific in mind. They are talking about the repeated, habitual use of a substance that affects a person's mood. Truly addictive substances have the following properties:
When people stop using the substance, they have unpleasant symptoms called withdrawal symptoms. Therefore, they need to use the substance to feel normal. This is called physical dependence.
Over time, people need to use larger amounts of the substance to get a pleasant effect. This is called tolerance.
People often continue to use the substance even though it is harming them.
explanation
The majority of smokers -- both adults and teenagers -- say that they would like to stop smoking. Yet most of them continue to smoke. Why do people smoke even though they say they don't want to? They do it because they have become addicted to nicotine, a drug found in tobacco.
How Addictive Is Tobacco?
The scientific evidence indicates that cigarettes are at least as addictive as illegal drugs such as cocaine.
Some people find this very hard to believe. They point out that illegal drugs often cause people to lose their ability to function normally, but cigarettes don't. They also point out that people who are addicted to illegal drugs often commit crimes in order to obtain drugs, but smokers don't do this.
However, these differences between cigarettes and other drugs are not simply indications of their relative addictive powers. Unlike some other drugs, nicotine doesn't make a person unable to function normally. Cigarettes don't make people drunk or "stoned," the way that some other drugs do. Also, cigarettes are legal (for adults) and relatively inexpensive in comparison to most other drugs. So adults don't have to lie, cheat, or steal to get them (although teenagers sometimes do).
When researchers have compared cigarettes to other addictive substances strictly on the basis of how likely they are to produce symptoms of addiction, they have found that cigarettes are at least as addictive as other drugs -- maybe even more so.
In a national survey on drug abuse, people who used cigarettes, alcohol, cocaine, or marijuana were asked whether they had experienced any of four symptoms of addiction: feeling that they needed the substance, needing larger amounts to get the same effect (tolerance), being unable to cut down on use even though they had tried, and feeling sick after stopping or cutting down on use (withdrawal). Cigarette smokers were more likely than users of the other substances to report three of these four symptoms (the exception was tolerance, which was reported more often by the cocaine users). Seventy-five percent of the cigarette smokers reported at least one of the four symptoms of addiction, as compared to 29% of cocaine users, 23% of marijuana users, and 14% of alcohol users. (1)
Of course, to some extent, the greater rate of symptoms of addiction among the cigarette smokers might be due to the fact that most smokers smoke daily, while many users of the other substances use them less frequently. However, in the same survey, when the researchers looked only at the answers given by people who used a substance every day, they still found that cigarettes were more addictive than the other three substances. At least one symptom of addiction was reported by 91% of daily cigarette smokers, as compared to 79% of daily cocaine users, 58% of daily marijuana users, and 48% of daily alcohol users. (2)
One reason why addiction to tobacco is so strong is that the cigarette is a highly efficient drug delivery system. It delivers nicotine rapidly and in relatively high concentrations to the brain -- a situation that encourages continued use and promotes addiction. When smokers inhale cigarette smoke, they deliver nicotine rapidly to their brains with every puff. A smoker typically takes 10 puffs on a cigarette over the five-minute period that the cigarette is lit. Thus, a person who smokes 30 cigarettes (a pack and a half) daily gets 300 "hits" of nicotine to the brain each day, each of which encourages the person to continue smoking.
Teenagers Get Addicted More Easily Than Older People Do
Research has shown that teenagers are more susceptible than older people to nicotine addiction. In fact, the younger people are when they start smoking cigarettes, the more likely they are to become strongly addicted to nicotine. People your age can become addicted to cigarettes very quickly, and they often develop symptoms of nicotine addiction even while they are smoking only a small number of cigarettes each day. Some teenagers even become addicted to nicotine while they are still smoking only a few times a week rather than every day!
In a large U.S. national drug abuse survey, people of all ages were asked how many cigarettes they smoked daily and whether they had any symptoms of nicotine addiction (such as tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, or failed efforts to cut down or stop smoking). In this survey, smokers between the ages of 12 and 17 reported symptoms of addiction at lower rates of cigarette consumption than older smokers did. More than one-quarter of 12- to 17-year-olds who smoked one to five cigarettes per day had symptoms of addiction, and so did about 12 percent of those who were less-than-daily smokers.
In another study, in which a group of seventh and eighth graders were interviewed about their experiences with cigarettes several times over a two-year period, half of those who said that they had symptoms of addiction noticed those symptoms by the time that they were smoking two cigarettes per week. Many of the young smokers started to have symptoms of addiction very soon after they began to smoke. This was especially true among girls, many of whom became addicted within a month after starting to smoke occasionally.
Teenage smokers may become addicted more easily than older people do because their brains are still developing. Research in experimental animals indicates that nicotine has different and stronger effects on the brains of still-growing young animals than it does in full-grown animals. If this is also true in people, it could explain why teenage smokers often get addicted to nicotine even when they have only been smoking small numbers of cigarettes for a short time.
