Nicotine
Pronunciation:NIK-uh-teen (also pronounced NIK-uh-tin)
Chemical Abstracts Service Registry Number:54-11-5
Formal Names:Habitrol, Nicoderm, Niconil, Nicorette,Nicotiana rustica,Nico-
tiana tabacum, Nicotrol, Prostrop, Tobacco
Informal Names:Chip (cigarette mixed withPCP), Fry Daddy (cigarette mixed
with crackcocaine)
Type:Stimulant (pyridine alkaloids class).Seepage 18
Federal Schedule Listing:Unlisted
USA Availability:Generally available to adults as a component of tobacco prod-
ucts; nonprescription and prescription in pharmaceutical format
Pregnancy Category:C or D (depending on pharmaceutical format)
Uses.Tobacco’s history is mentioned on page 18. Nicotine is the addictive
drug component of tobacco and is found in other plants as well. Nicotine is
one of the more hazardous drugs, and dosage via tobacco smoke adds still
more peril. Although nicotine has medical uses, characteristics of the natural
product tobacco fall within the criteria of a Schedule I controlled substance.
Nonetheless, federal law explicitly excludes tobacco from such control, making
the tobacco industry legal. At the time this book was written debate was under
way about limiting adult access to nicotine products, a restrictive effort re-
quiring changes in law.
Traditional medical uses of the drug include treatment of insect bites, skin
and intestinal parasites, vomiting, earache, toothache, runny nose, hernia, and
heart pain. Although tobacco smoking worsens a gastrointestinal inflamma-
tion called Crohn’s disease, medical practice uses nicotine skin patches, oral
capsules, or suppositories to treat inflammation of the colon and rectum
caused by ulcerative colitis. Nicotine chewing gum has been used successfully
to treat finger or toe sores deriving from Buerger’s disease, an affliction in
which blood vessels get blocked off (and which, despite the usefulness of
pharmaceutical nicotine, seems to be worsened by smoking). Pharmaceutical
nicotine helps some persons suffering from the tics of Tourette’s syndrome.
Researchers have found cigarette smoking to reduce the likelihood of getting
preeclampsia, a potentially serious disease of late pregnancy in which women
suffer fluid retention, high blood pressure, and too-high urine protein levels.
Cigarette smoking is also associated with a lower probability of getting Par-