Blog Post #2 - Nicotine's addictive properties

Nicotine contains many addictive qualities, including stimulation of dopamine receptors, encouragement to use more stimulative drugs, and ability to make non-drug activities more enjoyable. We as a modern society have developed new ways in which to ingest nicotine, and as a result we find more and more people falling to the deadly power of addiction.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse released studies on September 30th further explaining nicotine’s addictive properties and why more and more teens and adults are becoming dependent on these products. Studies were also conducted at Columbia University, comparing the addictive qualities of nicotine to those of cocaine. These studies were done and released in order to enlighten the public on the destructive properties nicotine addiction can have on the body, as well as explain its ability to guide users down a path of more severe drug use. The article claims that the measure of a drugs addictiveness isn not based on how much pleasure or reward is obtained from using, but it is instead based on the drugs ability to “reinforce” or create a repeated cycle of use. This reinforcement is done in the brain, as nicotine releases dopamine in neurons that connects the nucleus accumbens with the prefrontal cortex, amygdala, hippocampus, and other brain regions. Furthermore This dopamine signal “teaches” the brain the action of repeating the behavior of using the nicotine. The article continues, explaining that tobacco is one the leading killer out of drugs, simply from the lung and heart related diseases that arise due to smoking. These diseases are of course preventable, as simply choosing not to smoke cigarettes will prevent you from dealing developing these serious health complications, but the nicotine that comes with smoking makes it hard for smokers to quit, repeating their use and slowly exposing them to the negative effects. Furthermore, with the recent boom in e-cigarette popularity, we find that more and more people are becoming addicted to nicotine as it becomes easier to use these devices, and the flavors become more appealing to the tastes and desires of the public. The article closes out by explaining the “gateway effect”, which explains that the use of nicotine may lead down a path that entices a user to try more immediately harmful drugs. The audience that this article is directed at seems to be the general public, but more specifically it targets people who are nearing, reached, or above the legal smoking age. The article is informative in the sense that it explains addiction and its negative aspects, but it also explains the science of addiction and compares it to feelings that a non-addict can relate to, which allows non-addicts to relate to the feelings that an addict may feel. I personally think that this article differs from other studies on nicotine and drugs because even though it is mostly fact based, it also contains an attitude that doesn’t shame addicts, which may be reassuring and helpful to an addict trying to handle or discover more about their addiction. I personally have never felt an urge or desire to use nicotine products. With that being said I always found it confusing as to why some many people feel the urge to use them, or develop an addiction. After reading this article and finding out that being addicted to nicotine is more than just feeling that urge, but it is combined with reinforcement of use, and its heightened performance during social or luxury events gave me an inside look at the reasons why so many of my peers have succumb to addiction.