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Nicotine Is the New Wonder Drug
Posted by
kdawson
on Tue Jul 10, 2007 06:53 AM
from the if-it-don't-kill-you-first dept.
from the if-it-don't-kill-you-first dept.
Fantastic Lad sends us to Wired for a story on the upside of nicotine. Researchers are developing drugs based on nicotine that may prove beneficial for brains, bowels, blood vessels and immune systems. "Nicotine acts on the acetylcholine receptors in the brain, stimulating and regulating the release of a slew of brain chemicals, including seratonin, dopamine and norepinephrine. Now drugs derived from nicotine and the research on nicotine receptors are in clinical trials for everything from helping to heal wounds, to depression, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's, Tourette Syndrome, ADHD, anger management and anxiety." A separate story talks about nicotine warding off Parkinson's disease.
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Suspicious at best. (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Suspicious at best. (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Suspicious at best. (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
Not Sure Why... (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm not sure why this is so hard for some people to swallow. Most drugs that have such an obvious and strong effect on people and have been tested on millions with few adverse effects (all the bad effects of smoking come mostly from the smoke + chronic use—the nicotine merely makes it addictive) usually yield other valuable research output.
I don't see any reason to let emotional value judgments get in the way of potentially valuable medical applications. Let's turn that frown upside down and make a negative into a positive!
Disclaimer: No I'm not a drug company representative nor a smoking advocate.
Parent
Re:Suspicious at best. (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm sure that it won't be administered via a cigarette because the delivery system is important too. In the case of cigarettes, the delivery mechanism causes more harm than the nicotine helps. After all, antibiotics are good medicine but you wouldn't administer them by putting them on the tip of a knitting needle and jamming it into your eyeball.
Parent
Re:Suspicious at best. (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Suspicious at best. (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Suspicious at best. (Score:5, Insightful)
LS
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Suspicious at best. (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Actually, according to TFA (you did RTFA, right? Nevermind, "I must be new here" ;), the company doing the research was founded by a guy who used to work for RJ Reynolds. RJR retains a 4% stake in the company.
... they're developing drugs based on a modified nicotine. Sounds good to me.
Still, why poo poo the research just because its linked to RJR? It's not like they're trying to use it to sell cigarettes here
*shrugs*
No
Re:Suspicious at best. (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Drugs info in school is bullshit (Score:4, Informative)
By scientific literature, LSD is one of the SAFEST drugs known to man and completely non-addictive. Seriously (it stunned me too, I've been trying to find any valid finding of dangers for a while.) Flashbacks appear to be a psychological effect and rare, more like Viet Nam vet's flashbacks.
Here's some perspective in people averaging over 3 drinks of alcohol per day, PERMANENT deficiencies in problem solving, concentration and memory begin to appear. (This is a statistic, so it is probably people who binge drink on weekends that have the damage, not those who have a few every day. I'm sure you remember mornings when you had brain damage.)
The relapse rates for quitting smokers are on par with heroin addicts.
Parent
Re:Suspicious at best. (Score:5, Insightful)
It isn't just that...for many of us, smoking is FUN. I wish to hell it wasn't bad for you...if it weren't, I'd go back to it. It just was so natural to be in a bar, have a drink in one hand...smoke in the other. It also appeals to the 'firebug' in many people. Half the fun to me was the lighting up part.
Also, was a neat way to introduce yourself to a woman...even not smoking any more, I often carry a lighter to light a smoke for her when she pulls one out.
I'm sure some people...many in fact...are very hooked to nicotine..but, not everyone. Whenever I quit (and I've gone for years at a time)..the first 2 days are a PITA...but, not that big a deal after than. I didn't really smoke 'cause I NEEDED ONE....I did it because it was fun and an enjoyable activity for me.
I don't think anyone is smoking because it "looks cool" or promotes an image. Most people I think smoke because they enjoy it and it is fun. If they came out with a harmless cigarette....I'd start smoking again immediately.
Parent
Nicotene may have it's uses... (Score:4, Insightful)
No matter what uses they find for nicotene, you're not going to suddenly make smoking healthy, so it wouldn't matter even if the tobacco industry was funding this.
Parent
Oh great (Score:5, Funny)
Stop making me smoke you damned scientists!
Re:Oh great (Score:5, Funny)
I'm surprised they are letting lab beagles post on slashdot, is it the result of some animal rights campaign?
Parent
Oh great (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Well, in the quantities present, it's not the worst part, but put a drop of that stuff on your tongue, and it's all over.
Re:Oh great (Score:4, Insightful)
Personally, I think the idea of modified nicotine may hold promise for many, but for those who smoke, the concept is somewhat akin to taking caffeine tablets instead of enjoying (or sharing ) that great cup of coffee. To the extent it works, life becomes a little bit less enjoyable. And less social.
I smoke. Not because I suffer from an addiction to nicotine, or an innability to change any number of related habits, but because I choose to. And I derive great pleasure from it for a large number of reasons. I have, on occasion, cut back, or stopped entirely for weeks or months at a time, but I think that was due in most part to suffering the effects of a good habit gone bad. Too much of anything is bad (or bad for you, if you prefer). The ability to make that distinction is important.
The benefits of nicotine for those suffering schizophrenia I found notable. Anyone familiar with the disease knows that smoking "relaxes" schizophrenics. I have a family member who has suffered from schizophrenia for most of his life. Watching him suffer from the disease is one thing, but seeing him endure the effects of the varying regimen of (mostly ineffective) drugs was even more painful. Personally, I'd prefer that he have a cigarette from time to time to make his (and others) life more bearable.
For anyone that has opinions on smoking that borders on the hysterical, I'd suggest they lighten up. Or better still, light up once in a while. There are many things in life that are good for you in small amounts, but dangerous or poisonous at higher levels. Put another way, you'd be better served by not moralising your (and everyone else's) choices and instead, pick your favourite poison and enjoy it responsibly. Besides, what else are you going to do after sex? Peel an orange?
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
obligatory Gentoo joke (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
Re:Oh great (Score:5, Insightful)
You gave up smoking? There's half your problem!
It's in your language - you see not smoking as a sacrifice. Every time you mention to anyone that you're giving up, you subtly reinforce to yourself the idea that you are depriving yourself of something pleasurable.
I stopped smoking instead of giving up. I made a point of referring to it in that fashion. The thing is, because of that attitude, I made sure I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything.
Giving up smoking is hard - I tried it several times. Stopping smoking is much easier.
Parent
Re:Oh great (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Oh great (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
Re:Oh great (Score:5, Interesting)
But, you are right, the real danger with smoking is, well, smoking all the other shit that's in cigarettes - the nicotine is a secondary concern. The danger of the nicotine in cigarettes is the fact that it keeps you addicted.
Parent
...just remember (Score:4, Funny)
Nicotine and bowels (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Nicotine and bowels (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Wait ..... (Score:4, Funny)
Just make sure that report wasn't signed by anybody named Benson or Hedges!
Re:Wait ..... (Score:5, Funny)
(that's a UK-centric joke, sorry)
Oh and he's giggling over my shoulder now.
Parent
Re:Wait ..... (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Daydream (Score:4, Funny)
Grumble...
Can't take a smoke break in peace anymore, with all these health nuts trying to get a free lungful of nicotine.
The real problem (Score:5, Interesting)
better than SSRI? (Score:5, Interesting)
I stopped seeing him. I was looking into 'legal' highs for depression, such as St. John's Wort and
Since I also had problems concentrating, I tried smoking for the nicotine. I found that it really helped with my anxiety. I took a smoke after work, I relaxed, and then moved my bowels. I felt calm and focused rather than frenzied and harried. Things were right on course instead of all over the place. I've since given it up, however, since I started coughing.
I know smoking destroys your lungs gives you cancer after decades. My maternal grandparents died of cancers in their 60s, probably from smoking. All the people I try to turn on to smoking tell me that. But what are the long-term effects of taking anti-depression or anti-anxiety medication for decades.
It seems to me that cigarettes are a relatively cheap and simple anti-depressant. Although there are long term health consequences, we don't really know what the damage is from decades of wellbutrin. Of course, Big Pharma would rather have us rely on them for anti-depressants than use a simple plant that we could grow ourselves... Hey, that sounds familiar.
Re:better than SSRI? (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:better than SSRI? (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
Re:better than SSRI? (Score:4, Informative)
Sorry to pick a nit, but I had to throw in here...
from wiki [wikipedia.org]:
Not only is alcohol physically addictive, it's even worse than heroin and nicotine.
Parent
Oh ya... (Score:3, Interesting)
Extract the same stuff, put it in pills and tablets, and sell it for a bajillion more, it's medicine.
Since most dont RTFA.... (Score:4, Informative)
Alternatively they're looking at cremes which can be used to promote blood flow to parts of the body (begin Viagra jokes now please). Mostly as a way to prevent Diabetic amputations which means its better for the health care system since they wont have to chop off as many legs which means less people in wheelchairs and such.
It's not endorsing that people go light up. Just that they can probably make these things new drugs and get them in 'patch form' in the future (because lets face it lighting up a cigarette is not the best method of administering such a drug)
Maybe they'll start working with Marijuana again.
nicotine can't be patented (Score:4, Insightful)
You have to love corporate pharma... (Score:5, Insightful)
New nicotine drugs, for a healthy you.... (Score:5, Funny)
Welcome to a healthy new you.
The "Separate Story" (Score:5, Informative)
The carbon monoxide effect has some merit too. CO in the blood scavenges excess hyperoxides, a source of oxidative stress which is a known cause of Parkinson's and other apparent autoimmune problems. As above, you don't need to smoke to get the effect and can obviously find other things to do the same job. They're called anti-oxidants.
Nicotine may well also have some other protective effect, but it doesn't prevent mitochondrial MPTP from turning into MPP+, a very potent neurotoxin that causes Parkinsonian apoptosis. To read up on the mechanism, look up the "frozen addicts". As an interesting aside, at least one of them was all but completely cured in weeks using injected stem cells before the fundies got ahold of the concept and strangled it.
A couple of points. . . (Score:4, Informative)
2. Additives. --In looking at the toxicity issue with regard to tobacco, I have noted that it is incredibly common for people to ignore the fact that cigarette companies use an assortment of 500 additives into their products, many of which are known carcinogens. [about.com] When studies are done on the toxicity of tobacco smoke, this detail is often left unmentioned. Are they testing tobacco per se, or are they testing corporate tobacco?
3. Radioactive tobacco leaves. --Your basic cigarette probably came from a farm which used phosphate fertilizer, known to contain radioactive metals [cannabisculture.com]. After years of use, these radioactive metals build up in the soil to high concentrations. Many foods are similarly affected, but you don't smoke most foods. This element of tobacco is considered by those who have studied the issue to be one of the leading reasons smoking can cause cancer.
You can buy organic tobacco, [motherearthtobacco.com] and you can smoke it in a pipe. No filter, no deliberately added poisons and no radioactive particles. I wonder if they've ever done health tests on this kind of tobacco smoke.
Probably not.
Here are some more points. .
1. Pavlovian Responses to stress indicate that when you raise the anxiety level in a subject to the breaking point, you can then easily insert a new set of behaviors which become locked into place. .
2. Tobacco smoke quickly lowers stress and anxiety and feelings of anger. It is one of the only two commonly used drugs on the market which while increasing clarity of thinking does not affect judgment. (Caffeine is the other). Old native bands meeting to discuss problems would all first smoke before opening their meeting, (hence, the "peace pipe"). Tobacco lent itself well to averting unnecessary anger and anxiety. In a world like ours today when fear is regularly promoted in such a way which guides the decisions and acceptance of the public with regard to international policy, knowledge
Re:Of course it does (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
And also, they are not saying smoking is healthy, they are investigating the properties of nicotine and how it affects the brain. Smoking is not the only method of getting nicotine into the body. If they can isolate helpful effects of the drug, maybe it can do some good.
Re:'medicine' (Score:5, Insightful)
Lots of people go for botox treatments, and allegedly some of them end up looking better
People consume poisons all the time - capsaicin (in spicy foods), cyanide (in almonds), caffeine, and nicotine. Chrysanthemum is often made into a tea, but it contains pyrethrum which is a "natural pesticide".
In fact, it may be that a lot of smokers are dying more due to the radioactivity than the nicotine or tar.
wiki: "One study found that tobacco grown in India averaged only 0.09 pCi per gram of polonium 210, whereas tobacco grown in the United States averaged 0.516 pCi per gram."
"In support of this hypothetical link between radioactive elements in tobacco and cancer is the observation that bladder cancer incidence is also proportional to the amount of tobacco smoked, even though nonradioactive carcinogens have not been detected in the urine of even heavy smokers; however, urine of smokers contains about six times more polonium 210 than that of nonsmokers, suggesting strongly that the polonium 210 is the cause of the bladder carcinogenicity, and would be expected to act similarly in the lungs and other tissue."
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
If you're poor, smoke beedis (unflavored ones); If you're rich, Trichnopoly cigars (Woraiyur suruttu used to be an excellent choice).
The first is probably available at your local Indian store and the second at elite tobacconists'.
Cheers!