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World Market for Addiction Disorders, 2009–2016: the Future Therapies for Substance Dependence and Impulse Control to Increase to US$3.8 Billion by 2016 

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/c77b21/world_market_for_a) has announced the addition of the "World Market for Addiction Disorders, 2009-2016, The Future Therapies for Substance Dependence and Impulse Control" report to their offering.

The report estimates that the current market for addiction disorders is valued at US$3.2 billion and this is forecast to increase 19% to US$3.8 billion by 2016. . . .

Key Topics Covered:

Chapter 1. Introduction to Addiction Disorders

Chapter 2. The Addiction Pharmacotherapy Market

Chapter 3. Alcohol Addiction Market

Chapter 4. The Narcotic Addiction Market

Chapter 5. Tobacco Addiction

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Gutman: That Devil Tobacco: smokers should fume with anger  

I was 12 when I smoked my first cigarette. . . .

Thirty years (and 500,000 cigarettes) later, coughing and wheezing, unable to climb a flight of stairs without panting, diagnosed with heart disease and other smoking-related disorders, I decided to quit. Cold turkey. . . .

I am now violently allergic to smoke. Smokers are not welcome in my home unless they abstain. I consciously avoid any venue that might expose me to someone's foul exhalations.

Now comes word that the nicotine levels that smokers typically absorb per cigarette rose dramatically in the past 10 years, perpetuating what a Harvard University study funded by the National Cancer Institute describes as a "tobacco pandemic" that makes it even harder for smokers to quit. . . .

Next time you light up, look at yourself in the mirror and ponder this. You are consuming a product manufactured by a gang of criminals dedicated to killing you --- at your own expense. If this ghoulish revelation is not enough to make you mad and encourage you to quit forthwith, you risk joining the 450,000 people who die each year from lung cancer and other diseases related to tobacco use.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

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• Swedish Match under fire in secret snus substance investigation  

Tobacco company Swedish Match has been accused of adding a substance to moist snuff or 'snus' to purposely increase user dependency and, in turn, boosts sales of their products.

Since 2005, the company has introduced eight new snus products with higher than average nicotine levels.

The usual level for snus is eight milligrams per gram. In one product, levels have almost doubled that figure.

”Certain consumer groups have shown demand for a high nicotine content,” the company’s production director Torbjörn Åkeson explains.

Allegations that the company adds a substance, known as E500, to purposely increase the amount of so-called ‘free’ nicotine – which increases dependency – are presented in a new report by investigative news programme Kalla Fakta. . . .

Yet, Professor Greg Connolly at the Harvard School of Public Health believes that Swedish Match is consciously using the substance to increase addiction and their profits.

”In a study in 2008 he concluded that we are manipulating the pH value, something that we consider hugely speculative,” Brehmer adds.

”It never led to demands from any authority that we need to change something.”

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St. John's detox centre smoking ban criticized 

The new anti-smoking rules for facilities run by Eastern Health are being criticized by people who work in the addictions field.

Smoking is no longer allowed on any of the properties run by Newfoundland and Labrador's largest health-care corporation, including the detoxification centre in St. John's.

An alcoholic seeking treatment was kicked out of the centre last week for smoking just outside of the building.

Addictions specialist Dr. Richard Kimberley, who teaches addictions assessment and counselling at Memorial University, said he is worried that the tough approach will turn some people away from seeking help for addictions to drugs and alcohol.

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POLITO: City and county council inaction hand youth to nicotine industry 

A rash of recent studies declare the insanity of city and county councils continuing to allow nicotine addiction industry marketing to transform neighborhood stores into subliminal child and teen brainwashing centers. Local elected leaders continue to act as though students are immune from the cumulative weight of thousands of invitations begging them to give nicotine a try, as though experimenting a few times with cigarettes or oral tobacco is normal, expected and can't hurt.

On June 22, 2009, Congress passed and the President signed "feel good," do nothing legislation called the Family Smoking Prevention Act. The Act does vastly more harm than good. . . .

What's most amazing about the dependency onset process, and should probably be considered a symptom, is how rapidly and completely durable nicotine-use dopamine memories bury all remaining memory of what life was like before nicotine took control. Slave to a stimulant that increases the heart rate by up to 17 beats per minute, ask the next smoker you see if they have any remaining memory of the calm and quiet mind they once called home. Ask them to try and recall what it was like to go day after day and not once think about wanting to smoke nicotine.

At some point in the loss of autonomy process the dependency threshold gets crossed. Once hooked, the student may experience an emotional anxiety train wreck when attempting to end nicotine use, as their dopamine deprived brain works vigorously to down-regulate receptor counts and restore natural sensitivities.

How often can a teenager smoke nicotine before losing control? . . .

Clearly, experimentation with that first cigarette is far more gripping than previously recognized. The Surgeon General asserts that nicotine enslaves the same brain pathways as heroin and cocaine. . . .

City and county councils across America have abrogated responsibly for protecting young, gullible and immature minds from a legal industry that, by economic necessity, must lure, entice and hook them. Sadly, evidence of local government's long history of reckless indifference is impossible to miss. Nationwide, 26% of high school students report current use of cigarettes, cigars or smokeless tobacco. . . .

Look closely at the tobacco marketing signs hanging above candy, pastry and chip racks inside neighborhood convenience stores. Do you really think they're hanging there by chance? Here in South Carolina roughly half of convenience stores are engaged in the practice. What subconscious message is delivered to youth when the industry associates cigarettes with candy? . . .

It's time for city and county councils across the land to rise up and move to protect youth from the influence of those who seek to enslave them. Consider an immediate test vote of where council now stands. Simply propose the erection of a billboard on a highly visible public lot that teaches youth a simple yet critical dependency prevention lesson such as, "Don't be fooled by tobacco industry pleasure and flavor advertising. Nicotine is highly addictive and enslaves the same brain pathways as heroin and cocaine. It may only take smoking or using oral nicotine products once or twice before your brain begins begging for more."

Congress, the President and Supreme Court have spoken. It's your job. Other than extremely watered-down cigarette pack health warnings, that should begin appearing by July 2010, don't expect help from Washington. They've handed youth protection to city and county council. Addiction research screams that the time for action is now.

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SRI International's Research on Nicotine Use and Dependence Featured in the National Cancer Institute's Tobacco Control Monograph Series 

SRI International, an independent nonprofit research and development institute, today announced that new research on nicotine dependence is featured in National Cancer Institute's Tobacco Control Monograph 20, Phenotypes and Endophenotypes: Foundations for Genetic Studies of Nicotine Use and Dependence. Gary E. Swan, Ph.D., director of SRI's Center for Health Sciences, was the senior scientific editor of the monograph.

"It was an honor to work with a broad range of experts to develop a greater understanding of behavioral genetics and how these findings can improve public health approaches to tobacco control," said Dr. Swan. "By understanding the role of genetics in the context of nicotine dependence, more effective treatment and prevention programs can be developed."

New studies by researchers from SRI's Center for Health Sciences are described in the monograph, including an analysis of subgroups among adolescent tobacco users. This research shows that the subgroup that started smoking at a younger age and maintained a high level of tobacco use is at high risk for adult nicotine dependence. The monograph also presents the first example of a metabolism ontology--a formal system to represent causal relationships between the administration of nicotine and its subsequent metabolism through the action of various genes. The monograph further summarizes work from the first-ever twin study of nicotine metabolism, work that was published previously and conducted by scientists working at SRI and elsewhere in the United States and Canada.

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The First Annual C. Everett Koop, MD Tobacco Treatment Conference (PDF) 

We encourage you to attend the “First Annual C. Everett Koop, MD Tobacco Treatment Conference” to be held at the Lake Morey Inn in Fairlee, Vermont on Friday, September 18, 2009. Nationally recognized expert on tobacco, Founder and Director of the University of Wisconsin Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention (UW-CTI), Michael C. Fiore, MD, MPH, MBA, will provide the keynote address for a stimulating day on innovative approaches to current evidence-based tobacco treatment.

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Doctors discuss nicotine addiction at conference 

Physicians from across the nation gathered to discuss smoking-related issues in the first-annual C. Everett Koop Tobacco Treatment Conference, held on Sept. 18 and sponsored by Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.

Former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop ’37 gained national attention as surgeon general in part because of his work to increase awareness about the dangers of smoking tobacco.

The event’s speakers highlighted emerging treatments for nicotine dependence and discussed the updated clinical guidelines for treating tobacco addiction. Attendees also completed an instructional clinic focusing on motivational interviewing techniques that may help patients stop smoking.

University of Wisconsin professor Michael Fiore presented the keynote lecture, “Treating Tobacco Dependence: New Clinical Practice Guidelines,” which focused on new strategies and medications that can be used to help people quit smoking. Roughly 20 percent of Americans have a smoking habit, he said.

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Doctors discuss nicotine addiction at conference 

Physicians from across the nation gathered to discuss smoking-related issues in the first-annual C. Everett Koop Tobacco Treatment Conference, held on Sept. 18 and sponsored by Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.

Former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop ’37 gained national attention as surgeon general in part because of his work to increase awareness about the dangers of smoking tobacco.

The event’s speakers highlighted emerging treatments for nicotine dependence and discussed the updated clinical guidelines for treating tobacco addiction. Attendees also completed an instructional clinic focusing on motivational interviewing techniques that may help patients stop smoking.

University of Wisconsin professor Michael Fiore presented the keynote lecture, “Treating Tobacco Dependence: New Clinical Practice Guidelines,” which focused on new strategies and medications that can be used to help people quit smoking. Roughly 20 percent of Americans have a smoking habit, he said.

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• Nicotine Tob Res -- Table of Contents (October 2009, 11 [10]) 

SRI International's Research on Nicotine Use and Dependence Featured in the National Cancer Institute's Tobacco Control Monograph Series 

SRI International, an independent nonprofit research and development institute, today announced that new research on nicotine dependence is featured in National Cancer Institute's Tobacco Control Monograph 20, Phenotypes and Endophenotypes: Foundations for Genetic Studies of Nicotine Use and Dependence. Gary E. Swan, Ph.D., director of SRI's Center for Health Sciences, was the senior scientific editor of the monograph.

"It was an honor to work with a broad range of experts to develop a greater understanding of behavioral genetics and how these findings can improve public health approaches to tobacco control," said Dr. Swan. "By understanding the role of genetics in the context of nicotine dependence, more effective treatment and prevention programs can be developed."

New studies by researchers from SRI's Center for Health Sciences are described in the monograph, including an analysis of subgroups among adolescent tobacco users. This research shows that the subgroup that started smoking at a younger age and maintained a high level of tobacco use is at high risk for adult nicotine dependence. The monograph also presents the first example of a metabolism ontology--a formal system to represent causal relationships between the administration of nicotine and its subsequent metabolism through the action of various genes. The monograph further summarizes work from the first-ever twin study of nicotine metabolism, work that was published previously and conducted by scientists working at SRI and elsewhere in the United States and Canada.

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Dopamine Enables In Vivo Synaptic Plasticity Associated with the Addictive Drug Nicotine 

Addictive drugs induce a dopamine signal that contributes to the initiation of addiction, and the dopamine signal influences drug-associated memories that perpetuate drug use. The addiction process shares many commonalities with the synaptic plasticity mechanisms normally attributed to learning and memory. Environmental stimuli repeatedly linked to addictive drugs become learned associations, and those stimuli come to elicit memories or sensations that motivate continued drug use. Applying in vivo recording techniques to freely moving mice, we show that physiologically relevant concentrations of the addictive drug nicotine directly cause in vivo hippocampal synaptic potentiation of the kind that underlies learning and memory. The drug-induced long-term synaptic plasticity required a local hippocampal dopamine signal. Disrupting general dopamine signaling prevented the nicotine-induced synaptic plasticity and conditioned place preference. These results suggest that dopaminergic signaling serves as a functional label of salient events by enabling and scaling synaptic plasticity that underlies drug-induced associative memory.

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Nicotine's Allure 

Both conscious and unconscious memory mechanisms contribute to the rewarding effects of nicotine and other drugs of abuse. In this issue of Neuron, Tang and Dani use in vivo measures of synaptic plasticity in freely moving mice to link nicotine-induced dopamine release in hippocampus to LTP induction and behavioral reinforcement.

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Treatment of Tobacco Dependence in Mental Health and Addictive Disorders (PDF) 

Conclusions and Recommendations

Our review highlights the advances during the last decade in the treatment of TD in people with MHA disorders. Much progress has been achieved. Treatment combining intensive CBT and multiple pharmacotherapy has shown the greatest efficacy. Among the many studies measuring changes in psy- chiatric symptoms during smoking treatment, most show improvements. Increasing the efficacy of these interventions may be achieved through extending the duration of treat- ment, providing them in the context of mental health care,60 and promoting reduction as an acceptable initial treatment goal. MET and CM as adjunctive interventions to increase readiness to quit, treatment usage, and smoking abstinence (or reduction) should also be evaluated in future studies, and CBT should be used as a part of relapse-prevention therapy. Experimental therapies, such as selegiline and nicotine vac- cine, among others, have yet to be tested in MHA smokers.95 An evidence-based algorithm for the general approach to smoking cessation in people with MHA disorders is displayed in Figure 1.

Additional recommendations include creating and establishing programs to raise the awareness and ability of mental health care professionals to identify and treat people with TD. . . .

With the exception of obsessive–compulsive disorder, all of the major MHA disorders are associated with a significantly higher prevalence of smoking than that found among the gen- eral US population.9 To date, there has been only one treat- ment study of smokers with BD, and none have targeted smokers with panic disorder. The evidence suggests that many of the patients with these disorders may be able to reduce their smoking or achieve abstinence if provided with treatment. Future research is needed for these MHA subgroups.

Lastly, there is a critical need for research aimed at identify- ing smoker characteristics that predict positive smoking ces- sation treatment outcomes (usage, reduction, and [or] abstinence) among smokers with MHA. For example, some studies have found that atypical antipsychotic medication is associated with short-term abstinence in treatment combin- ing MET and NRT or bupropion.6,49 To the extent that people with schizophrenia smoke to help alleviate pathophysiologic aspects of their condition, such as prefrontal cortical and information processing deficits, pharmacological treatments targeting these processes may lead to improved cessation out- comes.9,31 A similar approach is needed in treatment studies of smokers with other MHA diagnoses.

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Nicotine Creates Stronger Memories, Cues To Drug Use 

Ever wonder why former smokers miss lighting up most when they are in a bar or after a meal with friends?

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine say nicotine, the addictive component in cigarettes, "tricks" the brain into creating memory associations between environmental cues and smoking behavior. The findings appear in the current issue of the journal Neuron.

"Our brains normally make these associations between things that support our existence and environmental cues so that we conduct behaviors leading to successful lives. The brain sends a reward signal when we act in a way that contributes to our well being," said Dr. John A. Dani, professor of neuroscience at BCM and co-author of the study. "However, nicotine commandeers this subconscious learning process in the brain so we begin to behave as though smoking is a positive action."

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