"Don't Blame Me - I Have an Addictive Personality!"

Message to all those who are thinking of smoking their first cigarette today:

Message to all those who know someone who has recently taking up cigarette smoking:

Message to all those who have quit smoking but are having difficulty fighting the craving for nicotine:

People who smoke cigarettes for a long period of time permanently alter their brain cells in such a way that mimics the damage done from other addictive drugs such as cocaine and heroin.

Researchers from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) examined eight samples of human brain tissue from each of three groups: long-term smokers who smoked until death, previous long-term smokers, and nonsmokers. The samples were taken from the nucleus accumbens and the ventral midbrain, two brain regions that play a part in controlling addiction-related behaviors. All of the participants had died of causes not related to smoking. The researchers analyzed levels of two specific enzymes found inside brain cells that have been associated with addictive-related behaviors in animals exposed to cocaine, heroin and other illicit drugs. Levels of these enzymes were elevated in smokers and, more interestingly, former smokers, compared with nonsmokers [my italics].

The study authors postulate that high levels of these enzymes within the neurons of smokers and even former smokers create a physiological stimulus toward tobacco recidivism. In other words, if you smoke long enough your brain will fall in love with Nicotiana tabacum and cry like a starving coyote unless you keep feeding it tar and nicotine.

45 million Americans smoke cigarettes. Verbum sapienti satis est.