(2 of 2)
Journal of Experimental Psychology. show that "the smoker's mind is in the bladder. You just don't need the mind to explain smoking. When plasma nicotine is below the smoker's usual level, he smokes: when it is at his level, he doesn't." Schachter agrees with other researchers who have recommended development of a new high-nicotine, low-tar, low-gas cigarette. Current low-tar, low-nicotine brands, he says, may be lethal. "You wind up spending more, smoking more and getting far more dangerous combustion products for the same nicotine payoff as stronger cigarettes. Worse, it's probably a good guess that the low-tar brands are hooking millions of teenagers. When I was young, that first Camel or Lucky made so many kids sick that they stayed off cigarettes for good. Now so many brands are so weak that the kids don't get sick enough to stop right away. They just get hooked."
Schachter's own "biochemical mechanism" currently requires 2½ packs a day, and he sees little hope of cutting down. "It's possible to control and restrict smoking, but the price appears to be a chronic state of withdrawal." He admits that like millions of other smokers, "I'm not willing to face that withdrawal."