By: Sophia Wang

In June, the Food and Drug Administration said that it would move toward reducing nicotine levels in cigarettes in effort to cut down on addiction-related deaths.

Nicotine is the chemical in tobacco that keeps you smoking. Nicotine reaches the brain within seconds of taking a puff. In the brain, nicotine increases the release neurotransmitters that help regulate mood and behavior, specifically dopamine, the chemical that creates a feeling of relaxation and contentment, even though the feeling itself is short-lived.

Over time, a person becomes physically dependent on and emotionally addicted to nicotine. Physical dependence means there are unpleasant withdrawal symptoms upon an attempt to quit smoking or switch to any other tobacco form. That is partially the reason that cigarette smoking is responsible for more than 480,000 deaths per year in the United States.

Next May is the timetable for introducing a fully developed proposal for reducing nicotine levels in cigarettes. This policy is facing a lot of opposition from the tobacco industry and smokers.

Moving to lower nicotine levels is highly difficult for highly addicted smokers, even if they want to stop smoking. Fewer than ten percent of the adults who try to quit smoking succeed,.

Not all of the nicotine in cigarettes will be taken out, because of the Tobacco Control Act, a 2009 law that gave the F.D.A. the power to regulate the manufacture and marketing of tobacco. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, expressed her belief in studies that supported a gradual tapering of nicotine levels rather than an immediate cut. An immediate cut in nicotine could cause those addicted to seek out illicit measures to obtain it, which could cause the creation of underground markets for full-nicotine cigarettes.

Bruce Holaday, who has a lot of experience with the effects of nicotine, said that, “Without that nicotine rush, I would have probably walked away and never smoked again. It will be rough for smokers, but anything we can do to prevent a new generation from getting hooked is a good thing.”

Source:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/appforest_uf/f1659883925887x524510902391496450/Breaking%20Nicotine%E2%80%99s%20Powerful%20Draw%20-%20The%20New%20York%20Times.pdf, https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fast_facts/index.htm#:~:text=Cigarette%20smoking%20is%20responsible%20for,or%201%2C300%20deaths%20every%20day., https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/nicotine-dependence/symptoms-causes/syc-20351584#:~:text=Nicotine%20is%20the%20chemical%20in%20tobacco%20that%20keeps%20you%20smoking,help%20regulate%20mood%20and%20behavior.,