Prevention of nicotine addiction: Neuropsychopharmacological issues

Most children and adolescents try smoking cigarettes; up to two-thirds discontinue. What explains the one-third or more who continue smoking? What physiological, pharmacological, and other environmental factors affect the risk of developing a pattern of chronic tobacco use? How can the transition from occasional use to chronic use be slowed, if not halted? What are the safest, most effective means of intervention for those children and adolescents who develop patterns of chronic daily cigarette smoking and would like to quit? How can they be motivated to want to quit? These are just a few of the issues that might be resolved in part by further neuropsychopharmacological research, but the challenges and barriers to conducting such research on children and adolescents are substantial. The barriers may be better understood by a brief summary of what neuropsychopharmacology research involves, and a corresponding summary of the disincentives to conduct such research.