Public HealthBehavioral SciencesRegulatory PolicyRegulatory ScienceSubstance Use DisordersTobacco ControlTobacco Control PolicyTobacco DependenceTobacco PolicyTobacco RegulationTobacco UseTobacco Use CessationAddiction EvidenceDependence EvidenceNicotine Dependence PreventionScience-based RegulationTobacco Use Policy
The marketplace for all tobacco products centers on creating and sustaining an addiction to nicotine. This addiction ensures a lifetime of tobacco use by millions of customers. It was with this notion in mind that a top executive for Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation wrote, in 1963, that cigarette companies were not in the business of selling tobacco products but, rather, were "in the business of selling nicotine, an addictive drug.''