Daily Doc: RJR, Feb 9, 1989: RJR's crack-puffing baboons
Daily Doc: RJR's crack-puffing baboons
Title: FIRST DRAFT REPORT ON PILOT EXPERIMENT ON CRACK PUFFING BY BABOONS VIA PREMIER.
RJR, Feb 9, 1989
Bates #: None
August 30, 2000
In the 1980's, the tobacco industry was actually trying to develop a safer cigarette. The R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company's version of a safer cigarette was a brand called Premier (which was the subject of a very interesting movie called Barbarians at that Gate with James Garner--you can still get it on video). RJR had a problem with Premier, though. They found that it "drew" harder than regular cigarettes (it was harder to pull the smoke through it). They needed to make sure it "functioned" like a regular cigarette...
So RJR hired a research lab to do an experiment. In the experiment, they made baboons smoke Premier cigarettes laced with crack cocaine, and then they analyzed the animals' blood for cocaine content. The reason for this bizarre experiment became clear after reading the conclusions of the scientist who conducted the test: it was to find out whether the Premier cigarette functioned adequately a drug delivery device.
From the phrasing of the conclusion, it was apparent that RJR hoped that a substantial amount of cocaine would be found in the baboons' blood after smoking the crack-laden Premier cigarettes. Note this apology by the scientist conducting the experiment:
"I am sorry to hear that the samples from the animals who smoke Premier cigarettes loaded with crack were relatively low in cocaine content... "Since the tobacco companies insist that cigarettes aren't drug delivery devices (and indeed they fought this charge very strongly at the FDA), you would think the RJR Tobacco Company would have been happy about these findings-- wouldn't you?
"...I listed several possible interpretations [of why this might be the case], including:
... 4) The Premier really does not serve as a drug delivery device."
CITATION
Title: FIRST DRAFT REPORT ON PILOT EXPERIMENT ON CRACK PUFFING BY BABOONS VIA PREMIER.
Type of Document: Report, draft
Author: Rogers, WR [Dr. Walt Rogers, Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX]
Recipient: Smith, C. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company [Dr. Carr Smith]
Date: 19890209
Site: R.J. Reynolds document site http://www.rjrtdocs.com/rjrtdocs/frames.html
Page Count 6
Bates No. 511477664 -7669
URL: No URL. Go to the RJR site and enter as quick-search criteria the phrase "crack puffing" (without quotation marks). Select the THIRD copy of the document.
Litigation Usage: Minnesota
Found Using Search Criteria: "Fed Ex"
QUOTES
V. Possible Interpretations
Introduction I am sorry to hear that the samples from the animals who smoke Premier cigarettes loaded with crack were relatively low in cocaine content.... In our phone conversation today, I listed several possible interpretations, including:
1) The animals "puffed" rather than inhaled and thus were not exposed to cocaine.
2) The animals smoke so avidly that all of the crack was pyrolized [burned] (and thus was not biologically available).
3) The efficiency of delivery from the cylinder [cigarette] was much less than anticipated, or
4) The Premier really does not serve as a drug delivery device.
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