What is Nicotine?

Nicotine, one of more than 4,000 chemicals found in the smoke from tobacco products such as cigarettes, cigars, and pipes, is the primary component in tobacco that acts on the brain. Smokeless tobacco products such as snuff and chewing tobacco also contain many toxins as well as high levels of nicotine. Nicotine, recognized as one of the most frequently used addictive drugs, is a naturally occurring colorless liquid that turns brown when burned and acquires the odor of tobacco when exposed to air. There are many species of tobacco plants; the tabacum species serves as the major source of tobacco products today. Since nicotine was first identified in the early 1800s, it has been studied extensively and shown to have a number of complex and sometimes unpredictable effects on the brain and the body.

Cigarette smoking is the most prevalent form of nicotine addiction in the United States. Most cigarettes in the U.S. market today contain 10 milligrams (mg) or more of nicotine. Through inhaling smoke, the average smoker takes in 1 to 2 mg nicotine per cigarette. There have been substantial increases in the sale and consumption of smokeless tobacco products also, and more recently, in cigar sales.

Nicotine is absorbed through the skin and mucosal lining of the mouth and nose or by inhalation in the lungs. Depending on how tobacco is taken, nicotine can reach peak levels in the bloodstream and brain rapidly. Cigarette smoking, for example, results in rapid distribution of nicotine throughout the body, reaching the brain within 10 seconds of inhalation. Cigar and pipe smokers, on the other hand, typically do not inhale the smoke, so nicotine is absorbed more slowly through the mucosal membranes of their mouths. Nicotine from smokeless tobacco also is absorbed through the mucosal membranes.

The use of tobacco products may be the Nation's most critical public health problem. It is, in fact, addiction to nicotine that is at the root of this enormous health, social, and financial burden.

An improved overall understanding of addiction, coupled with the identification of nicotine as an addictive drug, has been instrumental in the development of medications and behavioral treatments for nicotine addiction. In essence, science-driven treatment development has provided to consumers the option to easily purchase effective treatments, such as the nicotine patch and nicotine gum, in their local drugstores and supermarkets. Science has also shown that treating addiction with medications alone is not nearly as effective as when the medication is coupled with a behavioral approach. While we have made substantial progress in developing both pharmacological and behavioral treatments that have proven effective for many people, much more remains to be done.

Through the use of advanced neuroimaging technologies, we are now actually able to see some of the changes in brain function that occur as people smoke tobacco products. Researchers are beginning to find that there may be chemicals other than nicotine in cigarette smoke that contribute to tobacco's addictiveness. This finding and many other new research accomplishments in the addiction arena are providing us with an unprecedented opportunity to curtail this enormous public health crisis (Excerpts from the National Institute of Drug Abuse NIDA Reports).