NICOTINE'S ADDICTIVENESS REMAINS HAZY

NEW YORK Over the centuries, it's been described as medicinal and
poisonous, gratifying and irritating, calming and stimulating.

Some call it the devil's drug, while others say it's the lord's way of
making tobacco smoke taste good. Nicotine is different things at different
times to different people.

But is it addictive? And should the federal government treat nicotine in
tobacco as a drug to be regulated?

Absolutely, says the surgeon general, the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, and the Food and Drug Administration. They have a list of
reasons why nicotine qualifies as a drug:

*It temporarily alters the mood of smokers.

*It causes a direct chemical effect on the brain.

*Withdrawal symptoms usually follow abstinence from smoking.

*Increasing doses are needed to get the same psychoactive effect.

*People continue to smoke ir~ spite of health problems or the risk of
cancer.

Absolutely not, says the Tobacco Institute, an industry group in
Washington. It has its reasons why nicotine isn't addictive:

*It's not intoxicating.

*Withdrawal. symptoms aren't as predictable as they are with heroin or
cocaine.

*Hard drugs produce irreversible brain damage; nicotine does not

*Hard drugs lead to sever personality changes; nicotine does not.

*Smoking doesn't create social problems; smokers can hold jobs, keep
marriages intact.

Health experts say the tobacco industry's points have nothing to do with
the criteria of addiction established by the World Health Organization.
"Something doesn't have to be intoxicating to be addictive," said Dr. Gary
Giovino, chief epidemiologist at the CDC's office on smoking and health.

Walker Merryman, vice president for the Tobacco Institute, said, "The
criteria have been drawn up to fit tobacco so they can wrap the net around
tobacco. For their criteria to make any sense, they'd have to include
caffeine. I don't see anyone scrambling to put caffeine under FDA
regulation."

A colorlesstoamber alkaloid, nicotine forms naturally in plant tissues,
especially tobacco leaves. It acts as an insect repellent and, unless
absorbed in small doses, can be lethally toxic.

Seven seconds after cigarette smoke is inhaled into the lungs, scientists
say, nicotinesaturated. blood floods the brain. The nicotine "hits" brain
cell receptors and stimulates the release of neurotransmitter s the
brain's chemical messengers.

These messengers acetylcholine, dopamine, serotonin and betaendorphin
affect how humans pay attention, think, eat, deal with stress and feel
pleasure. Once excited, these messengers make life tastier

Some scientists believe nicotine causes the brain to develop extra
"nicotine receptors" that release more messengers. When not enough nicotine
goes to the brain, these new receptors cry out for more.

"While nicotine is basically a stimulant smokers tend to reach for their
first cigarette as they roll out of bed it can also appear to be a
relaxant. The effect, say scientists, may: be illusory. "If smokers go an
hour or so without smoking, their nicotine levels start falling," said
Henningfield

"When the person smokes, the nicotine level goes back up and the patient
goes 'ahhhh.' The effect on the person is relaxation, stress relief. One of
the misconceptions is that nicotine relieves stress. It could be the
reverse."

KnightRidder Newspapers contributed to this story