Tobacco manufacturers manipulate nicotine content of cigarettes to cause and sustain addiction

Virtually all mass-marketed cigarettes are designed by their manufacturers to cause and sustain a powerful addiction to their use. It has been shown that 77–92% of smokers are physically dependent on nicotine in cigarettes, and consumers use these products almost exclusively for pharmacological purposes (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1994). Cigarettes deliver into the body pharmacologically active doses of nicotine which exert psychoactive effects on the brain that motivate repeated, compulsive use of the drug. The pharmacological processes that cause addiction to nicotine are similar to those that cause addiction to heroin and cocaine, a conclusion reached by Government health authorities and the tobacco industry. All leading experts and public health organizations with expertise in tobacco or drug addiction recognize that nicotine is addictive (e.g. Department of Health and Human Services, 1988; World Health Organization, 1992).