Richard J. DeGrandpre

About the author: Richard J. DeGrandpre, an independent scholar of drugs and culture, is coeditor of Drug Policy and Human Nature and coauthor of The Changeable Self.

Nicotine dependency is not necessarily the reason that some people acquire a cigarette smoking habit. The fact that only a minority of smokers who attempt to quit have success with nicotinereplacement therapy suggests that nonchemical or environmental factors may trigger the desire to smoke. Public health advocates who insist that nicotine is the addictive agent in cigarettes only exacerbate the problem by leading smokers to believe that they are enslaved by a drug. A fuller understanding of the varieties of addiction is needed to help curb cigarette addiction.

During the 1996 presidential election campaign, Bill Clinton successfully cast Big Tobacco as a national enemy, with...