Nicotine discrimination in male and female smokers

It is well established that nicotine meets all criteria of a highly addictive drug. However, as recognized by the U.S. surgeon general, the nicotine delivery system itself is an important determinant of the toxic and addictive effects engendered by nicotine use. Therefore, altering the form of nicotine dosing may allow for selective therapeutic action in efforts to develop safer and less addictive nicotine replacement therapies. While it is the case that initial tobacco use often escalates to compulsive use accompanied by tolerance and physical dependence, this is not usually observed with nicotine replacement therapies. These observations are consistent with laboratory data indicating that (a) nicotine polacrilex and transdermal systems deliver nicotine more slowly and at lower dose levels than tobacco-based forms, and (b) human data suggesting that the abuse liability of these systems is substantially lower than that of the tobacco-based nicotine delivery systems. Because the drug dosage form can be systematically manipulated and evaluated, further research in developing alternative nicotine delivery forms may hold substantial promise in the treatment of tobacco dependence. Psychological research methods can play an important part in their evaluation. Show more

Estimates of the likelihood that a drug will be abused have generally been based on the subjective effects engendered by that drug. With the development of standardized subjective effects questionnaires in the 1960s and 1970s, researchers have been able to carefully evaluate self-reported effects of drugs, generally making measures before and repeatedly after administration of a single dose of drug. The use of multiple doses under controlled laboratory conditions in which physiological measures are also taken, and both the investigator and the subject are blind to the dose administered, has been suggested as most likely to yield useful data about the abuse liability of a test compound. Although questions remain about the specific subjective effects measures to be used, there has been general agreement among researchers in this area that scores on scales from the Profile of Mood States, Addiction Research Center Inventory, and Visual Analog Scales which include measures of 'high' or 'liking' all provide predictive utility. The addition of a measure of actual drug-taking to this predictive model appears to provide important information about the conditions under which these two behaviors (self-reported effects and drug self-administration) vary, and strengthens the model substantially. Show more