I am currently working my way through some articles on nicotine, kindly sent to me by The Tobacco Harm Reduction Project, with the intention of doing a thorough piece on the pluses and minuses of the drug. Even before I started reading these articles, I was already suprised both by how relatively harmless nicotine is regarded by some researchers – several equate it with having a cup of coffee. Not everyone agrees. It is, of course, highly addictive – its addictive properties have even been compared to heroin and morphine.

Some people also believe it could accelerate the growth of lung cancer. However, the drug also has many beneficial properties, many of which have been ignored because of the stigma of smoking. For the same reason, until recently researchers have also struggled to find funding to study nicotine.

According to one article in the New York Times:

Benefits:

These benefits include:

• a reduced risk of developing Parkinson’s disease: approximately half that of non-smokers
• a possible reduced risk of getting Alzheimers (although other studies we have seen suggest that that heavy drinkers and smokers are likely to get Alzheimers earlier)
• evidence that nicotine can enhance learning, performance of certain tasks and awareness
• may be effective in treating a bowel disease known as ulcerative colitis
• helps some patients with Tourette’s syndrome

Although this news may cheer smokers, with one out of every two smokers dying of a smoking related disease it is certainly no reason to take up smoking.

And before trying nicotine, be aware that you could be entering a life long addiction which will make physical changes to parts of your brain.

The good news, though, is that if you are a smoker you now have the chance to enjoy nicotine in a comparatively safer way, either via smokeless tobacco or via electronic cigarettes.