The nicotine addiction trap: a 40-year sentence for four cigarettes

• Published in: British Journal of Addiction Vol. 85; no. 2; pp. 293 - 300
• Main Author: RUSSELL, M. A. H.
• Format: Conference Proceeding Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.02.1990; Carfax
• Subjects: Addictive behaviors; Adolescent; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Biological and medical sciences; Combined Modality Therapy; Humans; Medical sciences; Nicotine - adverse effects; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Risk Factors; Smoking - psychology; Smoking Prevention; Street Drugs; Substance-Related Disorders - psychology; Substance-Related Disorders - rehabilitation; Human; Motivation; Dependence; Tobacco smoking; Evolution; Therapeutic schedule; Nicotine
• ISSN: 0952-0481; 0965-2140; 2056-5178
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.1990.tb03085.x

Summary It is generally recognised that smoking causes more preventable illness than any other form of drug addiction. Despite this, and unlike the case with other addictions, few services are provided to help people to give it up. Yet nicotine is highly addictive. Its role in the recruitment process, the development of dependence and as a block to smoking cessation are discussed within the context of the typical smoking career. Over 90% of teenagers who smoke 3–4 cigarettes are trapped into a career of regular smoking which typically lasts for some 30–40 years. Only 35% of regular smokers succeed in stopping permanently before the age of 60, although the large majority want to stop and fry to stop. The pharmacological effects of nicotine and other factors that determine dependence on smoking, together with the attitudinal and cognitive factors that determine motivation to stop smoking, are considered within the framework of a decision‐making model which reflects the cycles of change in smoking status at different stages of the smoking career. It is argued that, in future intervention strategies, the newly developed treatment approaches should be included to complement traditional motivational approaches based on educational and restrictive measures.