Press Room
Is Nicotine a Gateway to Cocaine Addiction and Cancer
(11/8/2011)
TIME Healthland
By Maia Szalavitz
November 4, 2011
Some have claimed that tobacco and alcohol are "gateway" drugs that people use before turning to illicit substances. While causal conclusions are hard to draw, at least one new study in mice shows that smoking may indeed increase the risk of cocaine addiction by changing gene activity in the brain. The findings also shed new light on how cigarettes cause cancer and why smoking can harm developing fetuses.
Read the full TIME article: http://healthland.time.com/2011/11/04/46428/
Keywords: nicotine, gateway, cocaine, addiction, cancer