How has the brain disease model of addiction contributed to tobacco control?

Wayne Hall; Coral Gartner; Kylie Morphett

doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2023.111033

How has the brain disease model of addiction contributed to tobacco control?

Drug Alcohol Depend. 2023 Dec 1:253:111033. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2023.111033. Epub 2023 Nov 20.

Authors

Wayne Hall¹, Coral Gartner², Kylie Morphett²

Affiliations

¹ The National Centre for Youth Substance Use Research, the University of Queensland, Australia. Electronic address: w.hall@uq.edu.au.
² The School of Public Health, The University of Queensland, Australia.

PMID: 38006672
DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2023.111033

Abstract

Our paper evaluates the extent to which the brain disease model of addiction (BDMA) has contributed to reducing the prevalence of tobacco smoking and tobacco-related harm over the past 20 years. We discuss the ways in which genetic and neuroscience research on nicotine addiction have contributed to our understanding of tobacco smoking. We then examine the extent to which the BDMA has produced more effective treatments to assist smoking cessation. We also assess the degree to which the BDMA has contributed to the tobacco control policies that have produced substantial reductions in tobacco-related morbidity and mortality in the two decades since the model was first proposed by Alan Leshner. We also assess whether the BDMA has reduced the stigmatisation of people who smoke tobacco.

Keywords: Brain disease model of addiction; Dependence; Genetics of nicotine; Neurobiology of nicotine; Nicotine pharmacogenetics; Nicotine vaccines; Tobacco control policies.

MeSH terms

Brain Diseases*
Humans
Smoking Cessation*
Tobacco Control
Tobacco Use Disorder* / therapy

Substances

N-benzyl-N,N-dimethylamine