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Although our society is currently focused on the tragic epidemic of opioid overdoses, there is no better example of the lethal power of addiction than nicotine. The measure of a drug's dependence is not how much pleasure (or reward) to reinforce that is to say how much that makes people continue to use it. Nicotine does not produce the type of euphoria or deficiency that many other medications like opioids and marijuana. People do not pull weight by smoking cigarettes or vaping. However, Nicotine's powerful ability to boost its relatively light rewards results in 480,000 deaths a year.
There are probably several reasons why nicotine gets stronger, even if it is not as rewarding as other medications. Like other drugs, nicotine stimulates the release of dopamine in the neurons that connect the nucleus accumbens to the prefrontal cortex, amygdala, hippocampus and other areas of the brain ; This dopaminergic signal "teaches" the brain to repeat the behavior of taking the drug. The amount of dopamine released with a given puff of cigarette is not so great as that of other drugs, but the fact that the activity is repeated so often and in conjunction with so many other activities strongly links the benefits of nicotine to many behaviors. perform daily, improving the pleasure and motivation that we have. The brains of smokers have learned For smoking, and unlearning to ride a bike, it is extremely difficult to unlearn this simple and slightly rewarding behavior of lighting a cigarette.
But research continues to provide new insights into the reinforcing effects of nicotine, and we now know that the insidiousness of nicotine as a booster goes beyond its ability to promote smoking. extending to other non-nicotine and even non-drug medications.
It has long been known that nicotine plays a role as a "gateway" substance. Cigarette smoking tends to precede the adoption of other drugs, and this is not just because cigarettes are more readily available. Research has shown that nicotine acts on animals to administer cocaine for example, while the opposite is not the case: cocaine does not serve as a gateway to self-administered nicotine. Denise B. Kandel and Eric R. Kandel, researchers at Columbia University, have identified a molecular mechanism underlying the effect of nicotine: nicotine promotes FOSB, a gene that underlies the learning processes described previously. Thus, nicotine makes it easier for other drugs to teach users to repeat their use.
More interestingly, nicotine also seems to make other non-drug activities more enjoyable. The work of Joshua A. Karelitz and Kenneth A. Perkins of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, who has studied the ability of nicotine to increase the pleasure of visual stimuli (videos), confirms the stereotype of a cigarette accompanying other enjoyable activities. and music. They also found that nicotine reduced the rate at which smokers get bored with a visual enhancer (known as habituation). In other words, smoking seems to both improve and prolong the pleasure of other activities. The reinforcing effect reinforcing effect also applies when obtaining nicotine from electronic cigarettes.
This reinforcing side effect can contribute to the difficulty of smokers trying to quit smoking. It's not just that they need nicotine and are experiencing withdrawal symptoms in their absence. It is also that other activities are not as enjoyable or motivating in the absence of nicotine. These are valuable insights that can help us design new prevention strategies and smoking cessation treatments.
Tobacco remains the deadliest drug because of the huge number of lives lost to lung cancer and other preventable lung and heart diseases caused by nicotine addiction. Even though e-cigarettes do not contain tobacco, we still do not know the long-term effects of vaping on physical health and, depending on nicotine levels and patterns of use, the people who make it so difficult for smokers stop smoking and prepare them for the use of combustible tobacco.
It is crucial to understand that being entangled with other behaviors and substances means that even the reliance on a relatively "soft" drug like nicotine is a serious problem that can affect the life and health of an individual. Even though nicotine spray is not as harmful to the lungs as tobacco, its reinforcing effects may be much greater than what the user imagines – which can result not only in smoking but also in the consumption of tobacco. drug addicts. other activities in the absence of nicotine.
For the latest scientific research on tobacco and nicotine in vaping, see https://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/tobacconicotine-e-cigs.
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