583 



Although it is true that animals will self-administer nicotine under certain very 

 limited circumstances, this does not imply that the effects produced by or the motivation for 

 ingesting nicotine are in any way similar to those of truly "addicting" drugs. Scientists at the 

 Bowman Gray School of Medicine, in association with a Reynolds Tobacco scientist, recently 

 published a peer-reviewed study demonstrating that nicotine and caffeine are very weak 

 reinforcers when compared to cocaine and methylphenidate (Ritalin*).^ Their findings 

 were in line with the overall weight of the scientific evidence, which has consistently found 

 caffeine and nicotine are both weak reinforcers.^ Animals can be trained to self- 

 administer a wide variety Of substances. Animals have been trained to self-administer very 

 painful electric shocks, and morphine addictetj monkeys have been trained to self-administer 

 opiate antagonists, precipitating very painful withdrawal symptoms. However, none of these 

 self-administration behaviors proves the existence of an "addiction". Moreover, animals do 

 not have to be extensively trained to self-administer cocaine or heroin. Once they start 

 receiving either drug, they quickly become hooked and self-administer it to the exclusion of 

 food and water and until death if not stopped. 



4. Withdrawal symptoms . Although nicotine withdrawal was defined in 1987 by 

 the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-IH-R) as an element of tobacco dependence, 



^ Dworkin, £l ^., "Comparing the Reinforcing Effects of Nicotine, Caffeine, 

 Methylphenidate and Cocaine." Medical Chemistry Research . Vol. 2:593-602 (1993). 



" Griffiths, R.R., Brady, J.V., and Bigelow, G.E., "Predicting The Dependence Liability 

 of Stimulant Drugs" in Thompson and Johansen Behavioral Pharmacology of Human 

 Drug Dependence . NIDA Monograph 37, 1981, p. 92. This position has not changed. 

 Griffiths, R., American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, 

 (1991). 



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