Nicotine

The Addiction

Nicotine is a naturally occurring drug found in tobacco. When consumed in various products, nicotine spreads rapidly throughout the body, and it is a highly addictive substance (as addictive as heroin and cocaine). Addiction is often accompanied by physical and psychological dependence on the substance. Regular use of tobacco products leads to addiction in a high proportion of users. The most commonly used nicotine-delivery device is smoked tobacco, including cigarettes and cigars. There are also other smoked tobacco products used less often than cigarettes, including smoking hookah and cloves. Nicotine is absorbed readily from tobacco smoke in the lungs. Nicotine can also be administered through smokeless tobacco products, from oral tobacco in the mouth or nose, including dip or chew. In addition to nicotine, tobacco products include many chemicals and carcinogens (toxic to the human body). Tobacco use results in an annual cost of more than $167 billion ($75 billion in direct medical costs & $92 billion in lost productivity).¹ Hence, several products that include nicotine and may or may not include tobacco are being advertised as "less harmful" than other tobacco products. These products are referred to as "potentially reduced exposure products" or PREPs. Here, MDQuit provides information on common products that include tobacco and/or nicotine.

¹ Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Annual Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Years of Potential Life Lost, and Productivity Losses-U.S., 1997-2001. Vol. 54, No. 25, July 2005.