74 



I. NICOTINE IS A HIGHLY ADDICTIVE SUBSTANCE 



Let me turn then to my first point about the addictive 

 nature of nicotine. 



The nicotine delivered by tobacco products is highly 

 addictive. This was carefully documented in the 1988 Surgeon 

 General's report. You can find nicotine's addictive properties 

 described in numerous scientific papers'". 



As with any addictive substance, some people can break their 

 addiction to nicotine. But I doubt there is a person in this 

 room who hasn't either gone to great pains to quit smoking, or 

 watched a friend or relative struggle to extricate himself or 

 herself from a dependence on cigarettes. 



Remarkably, we see the grip of nicotine even among patients 

 for whom the dangers of smoking could not be starker. After 

 surgery for lung cancer, almost half of smokers resume smoking^. 

 Among smokers who suffer a heart attack, 3 8 percent resume 

 smoking while they are still in the hospital'. Even when a 

 smoker has his or her larynx removed, 40 percent try smoking 

 again-\ 



When a smoker sleeps, blood levels of nicotine decrease 

 significantly. But the smoker doesn't need to be an expert on 

 the concept of nicotine blood levels to know full well what that 

 means. More than one-third of smokers reach for their first 

 cigarette within 10 minutes of awakening"; nearly two-thirds 

 smoke within the first half hour*'. Experts in the field tell 

 us that smoking the first cigarette of the day within 30 minutes 



