Other components boost nicotine's effects

People in the sciences and the substance abuse field have known for years that tobacco companies add things to their tobacco mixture to make them more addictive and mood altering and thereby increasing appeal and dependence.

I have had people come out of rehab and tell me that their first cigarette was a bigger rush than any crack cocaine they ever smoked.

In the online journal, Neuropsychopharmacology there is a report that it is acetaldehyde that combines with nicotine that makes nicotine so addicting. This combination of acetabldehyde and nicotine is much more addicting than nicotine alone.

"Researchers report a chemical in tobacco smoke enhances the addictive properties of nicotine and teens are most vulnerable to the chemical combination.

Scientists doing animal studies were surprised to discover that nicotine by itself was not that addictive. However, when combined with acetaldehyde, one of the main chemical components of tobacco smoke, they found its addictiveness was increased."

MedlinePlus: Other components boost nicotine's effects