Easthampton just became the 25th Massachusetts municipality to adopt a "nicotine-free generation" policy.
asserted
Easthampton → become → policy
Anyone born after January 1, 2006, will never be old enough to legally buy nicotine products there.
asserted
Anyone → bear → products
The ban doesn't just apply to cigarettes.
asserted
ban → apply → cigarettes
It also applies to noncombustible nicotine products that can help smokers reduce their risk.
asserted
smokers → apply → risk
Decades of anti-smoking campaigns have dramatically reduced cigarette use, especially among young people.
asserted
Decades → reduce → people
But somehow along the way nicotine itself became associated with the worst harms of smoking, even though the chemical is not responsible for the cancers, the lung disease, or most of the cardiovascular disease caused by combustible tobacco.
asserted
chemical → associate → tobacco
Worse, the pendulum has swung so far in the maximalist anti-nicotine direction that we risk criminalizing some of the most effective smoking-cessation alternatives.
asserted
we → swing → alternatives
Consider the reports that Marty Makary resigned as Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner to protest the White House's decision to authorize flavored nicotine vaping products.
asserted
Makary → consider → products
The products in question do not involve combustion—again, one of the core health problems of smoking—and may help adults move away from cigarettes.
uncertain
adults → involve → cigarettes
If Makary's goal was to help Americans avoid the worst maladies of tobacco use, going after vaping is simply the wrong approach.
asserted
going → help → vaping
Public health institutions have spent so many decades fighting smoking that they have come to view nicotine itself as the enemy.
asserted
they → spend → enemy
In retrospect, it's an easy mistake to make.
asserted
it → make → retrospect
If nicotine is what makes smoking appealing, then nicotine, critics reason, is the problem.
asserted
critics → make → ?
Yet the relationship between nicotine and smoking-related disease is far more complicated than most people realize.
asserted
people → relate → nicotine
In 2015, Britain's Royal Society for Public Health, not exactly the poster boy for a live-and-let-live approach to medicine, described nicotine as "no more harmful to health than caffeine."
asserted
Society → live → caffeine
That formulation may surprise many Americans, but it reflects an important reality.
uncertain
it → surprise → reality
Nicotine is the addictive component of tobacco cigarettes, but it is not what causes lung cancer or emphysema.
asserted
what → cause → cancer
Those harms stem primarily from inhaling the products of combustion: tar, carbon monoxide, and thousands of toxic chemicals generated by burning tobacco.
asserted
harms → stem → tobacco
Furthermore, a growing body of research suggests that nicotine may offer benefits that are rarely acknowledged in public discussion.
uncertain
that → grow → discussion
Nicotine as a Cognitive Tool
Millions of adults use nicotine for the same reason that millions consume caffeine every day: They believe it helps them think more clearly, concentrate more effectively, and cope more successfully with the demands of daily life.
asserted
them → use → life
Nicotine increases alertness and concentration.
asserted
Nicotine → increase → alertness
It can improve attention and reaction time.
asserted
It → improve → attention
Unlike caffeine, nicotine appears to have calming properties, increasing beta-endorphin release and helping many users manage stress and anxiety.
asserted
users → appear → stress
The familiar phrase "I need a cigarette" may reflect not only habit but also nicotine's ability to relieve tension.
uncertain
I → need → tension
Researchers have found that nicotine can enhance attention, working memory, and episodic memory in both smokers and nonsmokers.
asserted
nicotine → find → smokers
Studies have associated nicotine use with improved short-term verbal memory and faster learning rates among older adults.
asserted
Studies → associate → adults
Other research suggests nicotine may help people diagnosed with schizophrenia compensate for cognitive deficits that interfere with daily functioning, perhaps helping explain the extraordinarily high smoking rates in that population.
uncertain
that → suggest → population
Researchers have also explored nicotine's potential role in relieving attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
asserted
Researchers → explore → disorder
A growing body of research suggests nicotine can improve attention, inhibitory control, and aspects of executive functioning.
uncertain
nicotine → grow → functioning
A 1996 review published in Psychopharmacology concluded that the drug "may be useful in treating the symptoms of ADHD."
uncertain
drug → publish → ADHD
More recently, researchers reviewing the literature in 2017 reported that nicotine has been shown to improve attention and reduce inattentive symptoms in people diagnosed with the disorder.
asserted
nicotine → review → disorder
Nicotine is not an approved treatment for ADHD, and the evidence remains preliminary.
asserted
evidence → remain → ADHD
Yet the existence of this research is difficult to reconcile with the common portrayal of nicotine as a substance devoid of any beneficial effects.
asserted
existence → reconcile → effects
Taken together, these findings suggest that many nicotine users may not simply be satisfying a dependency.
uncertain
users → take → dependency
They may be obtaining effects they find useful.
uncertain
they → obtain → effects
Human beings have always sought substances that enhance performance, elevate mood, sharpen concentration, reduce fatigue, or alleviate stress.
asserted
that → seek → stress
Billions of people consume coffee, tea, and other caffeinated beverages for precisely these reasons.
asserted
Billions → consume → reasons
Scientists have also investigated nicotine's potential role in conditions ranging from Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease to ulcerative colitis and age-related cognitive decline.
asserted
Scientists → investigate → colitis
Some lines of research have produced conflicting results.
asserted
lines → produce → results
Others remain preliminary.
asserted
Others → remain → ?
…and 60 more, not listed.
The Aporia
