Open AccessThe Exclusion of Nicotine: Closing the Gap in Addiction Policy and Practice
Author(s) -
Linda Richter,
Susan E. Foster
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
american journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.284
H-Index - 264
eISSN - 1541-0048
pISSN - 0090-0036
DOI - 10.2105/ajph.2013.301448
Subject(s) - addiction , nicotine , nicotine addiction , addiction medicine , closing (real estate) , psychiatry , public health , medicine , health care , health policy , environmental health , nursing , political science , law
Addiction is a complex brain disease with frequently overlapping expressions involving nicotine, alcohol, and other drugs. Yet current health care practices, public policies, and national treatment data too often exclude nicotine or address its use as completely separate from other forms of substance use and addiction, compromising patients' health and incurring unnecessary health care costs. Effective prevention and treatment requires the inclusion of nicotine in a comprehensive approach addressing all manifestations of addiction within health care policy and practice.