NICOTINE ADDICTION AND TREATMENT

The persistence of cigarette smoking despite widespread awareness of a dverse health effects results from an underlying addiction to nicotine . Unaided attempts to quit smoking are generally unsuccessful. This ar ticle discusses nicotine addiction and therapeutic techniques that hav e been or are being developed to relieve smoking withdrawal symptoms a nd promote abstinence from smoking. These techniques include nicotine chewing gum, skin patches, nasal sprays, and inhalers, as well as phar macotherapies such as mecamylamine and clonidine, serotonergic treatme nts such as buspirone, and antidepressants such as buproprion. A nondr ug approach using cigarette substitutes that mimic the airway sensatio ns produced by cigarette smoke is also discussed.