Eletta Hansen: Hello, my name is Eletta Hansen; I am a registered nurse and a Certified Tobacco Treatment Specialist for Medicorp Health System in Fredericksburg, Virginia. I have spent many years of my nursing career working with patients and communities to help them quit smoking. I have learnt a lot over those years, a lot of lessons from our patients as they have been on their journeys. Today, I would like to share some of that information with you; we will talk about the addiction.

Host: What is tobacco use?

Eletta Hansen: Tobacco use is an addiction to the substance in nicotine; nicotine is absorbed into the brain through the inhalation process and has the same effect on the brain as the use of cocaine, heroine, or marijuana. We no longer refer to tobacco use as a habit, but rather a chronic as well as addictive lethal disease.