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Is nicotine really so addictive?

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Is nicotine actually more addictive than things like cocaine and speed?
All I could find was that it was addictive, but not compared against anything. I often hear it being called the most addictive drug, but I don't see how it could be noticeably more addictive than anything else which just stimulates dopamine pathways in the same fashion.


If it's effect was normalised for dopamine activity would it be more addictive than cocaine or is it just the fact that it is usually smoked, giving a shortlived, intense, instant effect that leads to reinforcing behaviour?

If someone used nicotine patches then would these be less addictive because they encourage less fiending, similar to the way that crack is more addictive than cocaine despite not really being any different?

I'm talking about physical and psychological addiction here, as I believe both are equally important when considering whether a habit will impact negatively on someone's life.
 
Think its so addictive because it has a direct reinforcing effect on the mesolimbic dopamine pathway (same as cocaine) but also has a dopamine independant mechanism of reinforcement through nicotinic receptors on enkephalinergic neurons. Alcohol (and obviously opioids) also access this dopamine independent mechanism, its why naltrexone isn't completely effective in stopping reinforcing behaviour with alcohol.
 
And the tobacco manufacturers add a lot of stuff to just nicotine, so who knows what shit is in a M*boro, that renders it more addictive.

That said, when you give up cigarettes (as I did two weeks ago), you think of it obsessively but you're not acheing like when you stop opiates or alcohol.
 
I think that the "moment of smoking" contributes to the addictivness to a large degree. I would kill for my morning cigarette simply because those are the 5 minutes where I don't do anything and get in the right mood for the day. Cigarette breaks are pure relaxation for me, its a bit like taking a step back from the artwork to look at it from another view
 
i also think the habit of smoking might be more addictive than nicotine itself, and the aforementioned combination makes for some bad news-

packing the pack, tearing off the paper, taking out that first cigarette, lighting the cigarette, bringing it up to your mouth and inhaling... it becomes second nature to do sowhen you want a cigarette. i could be wrong. :o
 
In my own experience, giving up cigarettes wasn't hard. I just had to replace it with another drug, though I probably didn't even need to do that. It seems to affect everyone differently like my cousin cannot quit for the life of him, while my girlfriend (after being a chain smoker) stopped just when she wanted to.
 
But is that just a product of it's relatively high social acceptability and ease of supply as opposed to it's actual addictiveness?
 
ime nicotine has been the only thing i haven't been able to stay away from consistently. i've quit smoking for a year or longer several times. at work i've seen many patients die from smoking related diseases. but i still smoke which must be the definition of insanity. or that other thing, addiction.
-izzy
 
But is that just a product of it's relatively high social acceptability and ease of supply as opposed to it's actual addictiveness?
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We cannot know. However, substances do not have properties in and of themselves; rather, they have only patterns of usage within varying social contexts.

ebola
 
It's also important to remember that tobacco contains beta-carbolines, which are MAOIs. Nicotine is strongly reinforcing in animal studies only when MAO is inhibited. See the link below.
http://www.jneurosci.org/cgi/content/abstract/25/38/8593

I'm a smoker myself.. and I want to quit, but I really enjoy smoking and its damn difficult to stop.

Edit: One last thing... I do think that the claim that nicotine is "more addictive" than opioids or cocaine is a dubious claim. How do you measure something like that in humans? I'm not sure you can. If any sort of scale was possible, my guess would be that dopaminergic psychostimulants, mu-agonist opioids and tobacco (not simply nicotine) are all roughly equal in addictive potential.
 
Mudeltakappa said:
It's also important to remember that tobacco contains beta-carbolines, which are MAOIs. Nicotine is strongly reinforcing in animal studies only when MAO is inhibited. See the link below.
http://www.jneurosci.org/cgi/content/abstract/25/38/8593

I'm a smoker myself.. and I want to quit, but I really enjoy smoking and its damn difficult to stop.

Edit: One last thing... I do think that the claim that nicotine is "more addictive" than opioids or cocaine is a dubious claim. How do you measure something like that in humans? I'm not sure you can. If any sort of scale was possible, my guess would be that dopaminergic psychostimulants, mu-agonist opioids and tobacco (not simply nicotine) are all roughly equal in addictive potential.
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^

came in here to post this - it's also not a secret that depressed people tend to become addicted to tobacco more easily
 
I personally hate when i see people comparing tobacco addiction to opiate addiction and other hard drug addictions. It is NOT EVEN CLOSE to as addictive, although yes it does hit some of the same reward circuitry, so what.

I remember reading an article comparing heroin addiction and tobacco addiction i loled hard.

Hmm ive never seen people give up EVERYTHING for tobacco, but i have for heroin and crack and meth.

So no, its bs IMO. I can smoke once a month or once a week and have zero nicotine cravings whatsoever.

I dont stop thinking about opiates, ever.....
 
i dont know if the high relapse rate is really the right way to measure addictiveness. i think part of the reason the relapse rate for tobacco is so high is because the immediate consequences for using it are so low. for instance, compare it alcohol. if an alcoholic relapses, there are much more immediate consequneces. he becomes less functional, gets hungover, perhaps his wife threatens to leave him, etc. if a smoker relapses, nothing much happens at all. it takes many years for the true negative health effects of tobacco to manifest.
 
burn out said:
i dont know if the high relapse rate is really the right way to measure addictiveness. i think part of the reason the relapse rate for tobacco is so high is because the immediate consequences for using it are so low. for instance, compare it alcohol. if an alcoholic relapses, there are much more immediate consequneces. he becomes less functional, gets hungover, perhaps his wife threatens to leave him, etc. if a smoker relapses, nothing much happens at all. it takes many years for the true negative health effects of tobacco to manifest.
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i think its also because i can walk into a store and get a pack of ciggs, i cant get shot of heroin. Easy access def contributes.
 
bben said:
I personally hate when i see people comparing tobacco addiction to opiate addiction and other hard drug addictions. It is NOT EVEN CLOSE to as addictive, although yes it does hit some of the same reward circuitry, so what.

I remember reading an article comparing heroin addiction and tobacco addiction i loled hard.

Hmm ive never seen people give up EVERYTHING for tobacco, but i have for heroin and crack and meth.

So no, its bs IMO. I can smoke once a month or once a week and have zero nicotine cravings whatsoever.

I dont stop thinking about opiates, ever.....
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Seeing as it's one of the only reinforcing drugs that doesn't cause any euphoria its incredibly addictive.
 
BARBARELLA said:
Seeing as it's one of the only reinforcing drugs that doesn't cause any euphoria its incredibly addictive.
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i think tobacco does cause euphoria, perhaps people who smoke habitually develop tolerance and forget this? ive never been addicted to tobacco (hate the smell) but i get a very short lived euphoria from if i smoke some.
 
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