How Addictive Is Nicotine? What The Lancet's Harm Scale Really Shows
Dr. Kumar’s Take
This landmark paper gives us a simple, transparent way to compare drug harms. On the dependence part of the scale, nicotine (tobacco) ranked third in addictiveness, behind heroin and cocaine. That means nicotine creates strong craving and difficult withdrawal for many people, even if it does not cause intoxication like alcohol. The bigger message: legal status does not always match true harm.
What to do with this: if you use nicotine in any form, treat it like a high-risk, high-addiction drug. Plan a quit strategy the way you would for other serious dependencies.