Dale M. Atrens

While most people assume that nicotine is addictive, research on nicotine addiction does not support this assumption, argues Dale M. Atrens in the following viewpoint. Nicotine does not meet the criteria that defines addiction, Atrens claims. He maintains, for example, that one element of the Surgeon General’s definition for addiction—that addiction takes precedence over other important priorities in the lives of addicts—does not apply to nicotine; most smokers have no problem not smoking in situations where laws prohibit smoking, for example. Atrens, author of The Neurosciences and Behavior, is a lecturer in psychobiology at the University of Sydney, in Australia.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. According to Atrens, what two factors compromise the verbal reports of drug users?
2. What broad behaviors have been labeled “addictions...