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Dopamine is one of the key neurotransmitters actively involved in the brain. Research shows that by increasing the levels of dopamine within the reward circuits in the brain, nicotine acts as a chemical with intense addictive qualities. In many studies it has been shown to be more addictive than cocaine and heroin, though chronic treatment has an opposite effect on reward thresholds. Like other physically addictive drugs, nicotine causes down-regulation of the production of dopamine and other stimulatory neurotransmitters as the brain attempts to compensate for artificial stimulation. In addition, the sensitivity of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors decreases. To compensate for this compensatory mechanism, the brain in turn upregulates the number of receptors, convoluting its regulatory effects with compensatory mechanisms meant to counteract other compensatory mechanisms. The net effect is an increase in reward pathway sensitivity, opposite of other drugs of abuse such as cocaine and heroin, which reduce reward pathway sensitivity.

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This is why so many people "quit smoking" but never quit taking the nicotine capsules that they used to get off cigarettes.

http://www.lycaeum.org/drugwar/hening.html
http://www.news-medical.net/?id=1760
http://www.nida.nih.gov/ResearchReports/Nicotine/Nicotine.html

It goes on and on and on and unless it's a study conducted by the tobacco industry or its affiliates, you always get the same thing, tobacco is extraordinarily addictive both physically and psychologically, and someone "choosing to be addicted" is an inaccurate way of describing the reality. Someone "chooses to be addicted" precisely because they are addicted, physically, to the drug.

It is obvious that the psychological habits of the addiction are a factor, but it is absolutely retarded and ignorant to claim that they are the primary course of the addiction.

Post edited at 2:08 pm on Oct. 22, 2008 by medjai

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Who dares wins. - Special Air Service

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The net effect is an increase in reward pathway sensitivity

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Now, that is interesting.

That is where I would begin to believe strongly of it being addicted to the drug and not the choice.

From my own (very little) understanding of psychology, the reward system of the brain releases endorphines (sp?) that make the person feel relaxed and good.

That typically comes from teamwork and social interactions.

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Future. Sex. Love. Sound.
Just tell me which way you like it.

If your brain is saying, "Smoke this and you'll feel great pleasure that's otherwise hard to obtain" you are fucking physically addicted, regardless of if you 'can' fight the urge.

Addiction doesn't mean "forced" after all. The point however is that these people don't CHOOSE to have their brain chemistry changed in a way that encourages smoking, and saying that people CHOOSE to be addicted implies that somehow they choose to have that addiction, which, like I said is absurd.

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Who dares wins. - Special Air Service

Its hard to explain, because its perfect and once I try to type it, it doesnt come out right, but Ill give it ago.

You dont actively choose to be addicted, you sort of subconsciously do. You feel youre a victim of the drug and no one can help you, which is why medical help rarely ever works, which might support why hypnosis and other techniques do. Only its obviously not as simple as that.

Im saying its locked deep into you this choice, this almost like desire to be a victim. Its not your fault its the drug.

Its very hard to explain, and Im not saying I support it. But I find it very interesting, and if it could be proved true it might reveal a lot more about the world and how we percieve it.

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Future. Sex. Love. Sound.
Just tell me which way you like it.

For instance, I am addicted to cigarettes. I recognize this. At the same time, I quit smoking, and come back to smoking all the time depending on what I'm doing and if I need to.

Ultimately when your brain is, on a physical level, rewiring itself to compensate and allocate specifically for your drug and to provide you with pleasure through its use, you are physically addicted. I do not believe it is a choice of any kind, it is an automatic response of your nervous system from repeated use of the drug. The only choice you have in that regard, is not putting those chemicals into your brain in the first place.

Addiction is as much a choice as is 'being high' or 'being drunk.'

Once you're high you can't be like, "Well I have decided that at this moment I will no longer be high!"

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Who dares wins. - Special Air Service