Nicotine is not addictive, according to recent research

[Vocalek]

This might put to bed some of the screaming about nicotine being in "2nd-hand vapor".

But first we have to let them know that nicotine also doesn't cause cancer, lung disease, heart attacks, or strokes...

Professor: Nicotine does not cause cigarette addiction | The State Press - An independent daily serving Arizona State University

[h=2]Professor: Nicotine does not cause cigarette addiction[/h]
An ASU professor is challenging widely held conceptions about smoking, including challenging the view that nicotine is addictive.
Peter Killeen, emeritus professor of psychology in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, presented his research findings for the National Institute on Drug Abuse on the Tempe campus Wednesday afternoon.


The talk was called “...... Madness: There ain’t no such Thing as Addiction to Nicotine.”


NIDA initially invited Killeen to look into ways to improve scientific research on drug abuse, specifically nicotine addiction.


“I came up with a shocking discovery,” Killeen said. “There’s no such thing as nicotine addiction.”


“It’s time to get our heads straight,” Killeen said. “What causes the tremendously addicting power of cigarettes is the drug cocktail of nicotine,” he said, not nicotine itself.

 

[Orb Skewer]

By self experimentation over a year ago I also came to the same conclusion-liberating is not the word


http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...ropoganda-machine-creeps-further-forward.html

 

[moijamie]

but how come just nicotine stop the cravings then

 

[Vocalek]

There were two things going on when you smoked:

1. Nicotine was providing beneficial effects:

• Enhancing your ability to concentrate and pay attention
• Enhancing your alertness
• Relaxing skeletal muscles
• Calming anxiety
• Mildly boosting metabolism
• Improving mood by providing a mild boost in dopamine release

2. MAOIs were regulating dopamine levels which further improves mood and helps to prevent depression.

So when you stopped smoking, you were cutting out both of the above. That's why you felt distracted, fuzzy-brained, tense, anxious and "down" and started getting fat.

Those who suffer the most severe of withdrawal symptoms are those with underlying conditions such as attention deficits and/or mood disorders that they were self-medicating with nicotine. When you switch to a low-risk source of nicotine you are only missing #2. I suspect that those who are using snus are also getting the benefit of #2 as well.

Those who experience zero ill effects don't miss the beneficial effects as much because they had no underlying conditions that needed to be kept under control.

I think it's the combination of the two effects that causes to the inability to stop smoking.

ADDENDUM: My theory is that the cravings are simply your body's way of letting you know, "Hey! Need some help here!" How does your body let you know that it needs hydration?

 

[DC2]

There were two things going on when you smoked:

1. Nicotine was providing beneficial effects:

• Enhancing your ability to concentrate and pay attention
• Enhancing your alertness
• Relaxing skeletal muscles
• Calming anxiety
• Mildly boosting metabolism
• Improving mood by providing a mild boost in dopamine release

2. MAOIs were regulating dopamine levels which further improves mood and helps to prevent depression.

So when you stopped smoking, you were cutting out both of the above. That's why you felt distracted, fuzzy-brained, tense, anxious and "down" and started getting fat.

Those who suffer the most severe of withdrawal symptoms are those with underlying conditions such as attention deficits and/or mood disorders that they were self-medicating with nicotine. When you switch to a low-risk source of nicotine you are only missing #2. I suspect that those who are using snus are also getting the benefit of #2 as well.

Those who experience zero ill effects don't miss the beneficial effects as much because they had no underlying conditions that needed to be kept under control.

I think it's the combination of the two effects that causes to the inability to stop smoking.

While I don't disagree with you in general, you missed a VERY big factor...

Smoking was a calming habit, a ritual, a chance to get away for a short while, or even a way to escape.
It was a way to relax, take a break, prepare for what is before you, or celebrate what you just did.

Those are the reasons I smoked, and nicotine was never really a big part of it for me.
I smoked about six cigarettes per day for 27 years, and I was never really much addicted to nicotine at any point.

Studies are showing that even vaping with zero nicotine can help a lot of people stop smoking.
That is the third factor at work.

 

[Vocalek]

While I don't disagree with you in general, you missed a VERY big factor...

Smoking was a calming habit, a ritual, a chance to get away for a short while, or even a way to escape.
It was a way to relax, take a break, prepare for what is before you, or celebrate what you just did.

Those are the reasons I smoked, and nicotine was never really a big part of it for me.
I smoked about six cigarettes per day for 27 years, and I was never really much addicted to nicotine at any point.

Studies are showing that even vaping with zero nicotine can help a lot of people stop smoking.
That is the third factor at work.

Part of that is the fact that nicotine relaxes the skeletal muscles, which is how it manages to simultaneously relax folks and make them alert. Most drugs do one or the other.

It may be that the reason vaping calms you is something known as "muscle memory". Your body recalls the entire experience of feeling nicely relaxed when you begin inhaling and exhaling that dreamy-looking vapor and goes into its relaxation routine. So now you can get the relaxation without the drug.

 

[DC2]

Part of that is the fact that nicotine relaxes the skeletal muscles, which is how it manages to simultaneously relax folks and make them alert. Most drugs do one or the other.

It may be that the reason vaping calms you is something known as "muscle memory". Your body recalls the entire experience of feeling nicely relaxed when you begin inhaling and exhaling that dreamy-looking vapor and goes into its relaxation routine. So now you can get the relaxation without the drug.

It was usually more about getting away and being alone for short periods of time than anything else.
Usually that was mostly about getting my thoughts in order for one reason or another.

But sometimes it was also about a relaxing habit and ritual at times as well.
Or maybe it was just a reason to take a break from work, which I never would have done otherwise.