PharmaWatch

Every year, smoking-related illnesses cause 440,000 deaths in the United States. Smoking is responsible for at least 87% of lung cancers in America, and it's also the cause of most of the cases of emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Smoking is also responsible for 3,000 lung cancer deaths in non-smokers annually. Smokers die on average ten to fifteen years before they would have died of any other cause. In short, smoking is the number one cause of preventable death in the country. With this information readily available, why do people continue to smoke? In a word, nicotine.

Nicotine is a highly addictive substance that is found in tobacco, and is absorbed and enters the bloodstream through the lungs when cigarette smoke is inhaled. Nicotine is a psychoactive drug; it has stimulant effects on the brain's electrical activity, and it also has calming effects on the body. Nicotine affects the body's hormones, and smoking nicotine will increase the activation of the brain's pleasure centers. Smoking also has a "cool" reputation; while it's not as prominent as it used to be, smoking is a signal in movies or television that a character is dangerous, reckless, or interesting in some other way. Young people are particularly susceptible to the idea that smoking will make them look older or more appealing. All of these factors make it extremely difficult for smokers to kick the habit.

Nicotine is a physical addiction, thus very difficult to stop. It produces a sort of chain reaction in the smoker's body--nicotine acts on the receptors used by one of the brain's main neurotransmitters, and the body responds to the nicotine at the receptors as though it were the actual natural transmitter; the physiological functions and the activity of these systems are altered. With repeated doses of nicotine, the smoker's body will adapt to what it sees as the extra acetylcholine in attempts to restore its normal function, sometimes by growing additional acetylcholine receptors. Smoking is a means to absorb enough nicotine to actually obtain the pharmacological effects desired; a cigarette's smoke is mild enough to be inhaled deeply, thus the nicotine is absorbed quickly into the bloodstream and it can reach the brain in seven seconds--quicker than any intravenous drug injection.

Though it's difficult to stop smoking, it's not impossible. There are several different ways to go about quitting, and it depends on the smoker. Pressure from friends or family will not make the smoker quit, nor will information about smoking's dangerous side-effects. When the smoker is mentally prepared to make the change, then success is possible. Studies show that people who stop smoking before or during middle age (between ages 35-50) will avoid 90% of the risk for lung cancer. Middle-aged smokers are also more likely to quit successfully than younger smokers. The urge to smoke can be overwhelming for the smoker who is trying to stop; even smokers who are able to stop smoking for a time find that they will relapse after two to three months. Tobacco use generally begins in early adolescence, and the people who start at that young age are more likely to continue smoking than their later-starting counterparts. On a daily basis, 4800 teenagers smoke their first cigarette, and at least 42% of these children go on to smoke regularly.