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It is fair to argue that a decision to start smoking may be a mat- 

 ter of choice. But once people start smoking regularly, most in ef- 

 fect are deprived of the choice to stop smoking. My concern is that 

 the choice that people make at a young age quickly becomes little 

 or no choice at all and it will be very difficult to reverse over the 

 course of their lives. 



The primary criteria of addictive substances are compulsive use, 

 a psychoactive effect; that is a direct chemical effect in the brain, 

 and reinforcing behavior that conditions continued use. 



Mr. Chairman, nicotine reaches the brain within seconds. This 

 contributes greatly to its reinforcing effect. Nicotine meets all the 

 criteria for an addictive substance. We have learned a great deal 

 about addictive drugs by studying laboratory animals. It is intrigu- 

 ing that with very few exceptions, animals will press levers and do 

 other things to give themselves those drugs that are considered 

 highly addictive in humans, but will not generally self-administer 

 nonaddictive drugs. 



Despite being very different chemically, almost all addictive 

 drugs affect the parts of the brain that are important to emotion 

 and motivation. Specifically they affect the regulation of the brain 

 chemical dopamine which produces psychoactive sensation and re- 

 inforces drug use behavior. 



Animal self-administration is considered a hallmark of a drug 

 with a potential to addict. Nicotine has been shown to affect 

 dopamine release and it has been further shown that animals will 

 self-administer nicotine. 



Tobacco industry officials have denied that nicotine is addictive. 

 They use euphemisms — satisfaction, impact, strength to describe 

 the effects of nicotine. But one company states in a quote, "It also 

 has been generally recognized that the smoker's perception of 

 "strength" of the cigarette is directly related to the amount of nico- 

 tine contained in the cigarette smoke during each puff." 



Euphemisms aside, smokers crave nicotine pure and simple be- 

 cause of its psychoactive effects and its drug dependence qualities. 

 Mr. Chairman, nicotine levels in a cigarettes are more than suffi- 

 cient to create and sustain addiction in the vast majority of smok- 

 ers. 



Let me turn to my second point today, which involves the control 

 of nicotine levels exercised by the tobacco industry. Mr. Chairman, 

 I do not have all the facts or all the answers today. Certainly prac- 

 tices differ within the industry and the technology available to one 

 company may not be available to another. It is important to keep 

 this in mind. But a picture is beginning to emerge. 



The public may think of cigarettes as no more than blended to- 

 bacco rolled in paper. But they are more than that. Some of today's 

 cigarettes may in fact qualify as high technology nicotine delivery 

 systems that deliver nicotine in quantities sufficient to create and 

 to sustain addiction in the vast majority of individuals who smoke 

 regularly. 



But you don't have to take it from me. Just listen to the words 

 written by a supervisor of research at one of the Nation's largest 

 tobacco companies in 1972. And I quote, "Think of the cigarette 

 pack as a storage container for a da^s supply of nicotine. Think of 

 the cigarette as a dispenser for a dose unit of nicotine. Think of a 



