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I appear before you today to address the proposition that ciga- 

 rette smoking is addictive and a proposed label warning that once 

 a person has started smoking, he or she may not be able to quit, 

 and that cigarette smoking is as addictive as heroin or cocaine. 



Cigarette smoking behavior is not the same as seeing an actual 

 hard drug addiction. The only reason smoking became an addiction 

 in 1988 is because the Surgeon General changed the definition of 

 addiction, not because of any new scientific discoveries. 



I do not appear here as an apologist or promoter of cigarette 

 smoking. Fundamentally I believe it is a risk factor in the develop- 

 ment of some diseases. What is it about truly addicting drugs that 

 differentiates them from habitual behaviors such as cigarette 

 smoking, coffee drinking, eating, or exercise? 



First, is the effect produced by ingestion. A person on hard drugs 

 is intoxicated. The person's state of consciousness is altered, rea- 

 soning is impaired, coordination is affected, and memory and con- 

 centration are substantially altered. Mood is visibly changed, judg- 

 ment is warped and delusions and/or hallucinations may occur. 

 Overdose may cause death. 



Intoxication does not occur with cigarette smoking. Cigarette 

 smoking is similar to the effect produced by drinking a cup of coffee 

 and very dissimilar from the effect produced by hard drugs. People 

 who smoke think clearly and make reasoned decisions. 



The second difference occurs upon cessation of drug use. Abrupt 

 cessation of a hard drug following a regular use will inevitably and 

 predictably result in a classic withdrawal syndrome including rapid 

 blood pressure changes, muscle cramps, nausea, hallucinations or 

 delusions. Withdrawal from hard drugs is so severe as to render 

 the addict incapable of making or carrying out reasoned decisions. 



Cigarettes and nicotine cessation is not really withdrawal be- 

 cause it produces none of these signs or s3rmptoms. It is impossible 

 to predict whether or not a smoker will have any discomfort based 

 upon cigarettes smoked per day or the duration that person has 

 smoked, that is to say the number of years they have smoked. 



The clinical complaints associated with cigarette abstinence are 

 a far cry from hard drug withdrawal. Abstaining smokers continue 

 to meet their responsibilities without significant disruptions of rea- 

 soning, judgment, concentration or efficiency. It may not be pleas- 

 ant, but the symptoms are no different than those experienced 

 when dieting. 



The pharmocologic of hard drugs lead to a change of personality 

 and pursuit of a lifestyle which is dominated by the drug. Nicotine 

 does not. Active smokers can and do abstain for long periods with- 

 out untoward effect if external circumstances dictate it. 



Since 1964, more than 40 million people have stopped smoking 

 permanently without any outside intervention or assistance. The 

 overwhelming majority have quit on their own. With hard drug ad- 

 diction, self-help quitting or spontaneous remission, to borrow the 

 Surgeon General's term, is an extremely rare occurrence. 



As with successful dieting, the smoker must abandon a pleasur- 

 able activity and modify a behavior in order to obtain a greater 

 long-term benefit. The smoker need not rebuild his life to succeed, 

 nor does he face perpetual struggle requiring therapeutic support. 



