Approximately 20% of the US (CDC, 2006), Australian (PHAA, 2004), and Finnish (Helakorpi et al., 2007) adult population continues to smoke, and estimates suggest that over 50% of continuing smokers will die of a smoking-related illness (Peto et al., 1992). A shift in thinking about the problem of smoking cessation, from one of “will-power” to a potentially treatable disorder may be dated to around 1988, when the U.S. Surgeon General released the report which concluded that nicotine “is a powerfully addicting drug… We must recognize both the potential for behavioral and pharmacological treatment of the addicted tobacco user and the problems of withdrawal” (USDHHS, 1988). Curbing tobacco use will reduce population rates of morbidity and mortality, yet, at least for some, a limiting step to quitting cigarettes are symptoms of nicotine withdrawal (Cummings et al., 1985; Hughes, 2006; Piasecki et al., 1998; Piasecki et al., 2003). The degree of nicotine withdrawal-related dysphoria experienced during nicotine abstinence appears similar to the levels reported by psychiatric out-patients (Hughes, 2006). While a third of U.S. smokers try to quit each year, only 3-5%
