Ch. 4: Tobacco and Nicotine

In this chapter you will read two articles from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The first discusses tobacco: specifically, nicotine (NIDA, 2016). The second is about a relatively new phenomenon—the e-cigarette. While some people believe that the e-cigarette represents a harm reduction approach to smoking and nicotine addiction, evidence about the level of harm associated with using e-cigarettes is growing. This is the topic of our second reading in this chapter (NIDA, 2017).

In this chapter you will read about:

• The epidemiology of tobacco/nicotine use (from data a bit older than was presented in chapter 1)
• Effects of tobacco use, including addiction
• Tobacco use and other health risk behaviors, comorbidity, and pregnancy
• Treatment approaches for nicotine addiction
• E-cigarettes

Two additional points to consider when you review the second article:

• The batteries used in some-cigarette brands have been known to malfunction, just as some other forms of rechargeable battery products recently in the news, causing fires, burns, and injuries (they are banned on airplane flights).
• The liquid nicotine (“e-juice”) use in e-cigarettes is highly toxic to young children and pets if they are exposed to it. The nation’s poison control centers report a sharp increase of 1500% in calls about this type of overdose in the 3-year period between 2012 and 2015, usually involving children under the age of 6, and especially children under the age of 2 years (LaMotte, 2016).