Is it true that smoking produces dopamine?

[Satangel]

For everybody who doesn't know dopamine, it's a substance that your brain produces when you're having real fun or really enjoying yourself. Almost everybody gets it while having some sexual handling or while doing something you really enjoy
Now I heard from my friend that smoking produces this too? Is that true?

That would be the first real pro to start smoking IMHO (note that I have no intentions at all to start smoking)

 

[Ritsuki]

EDIT : I was completely wrong Here's a correct answer :

The production of dopamine is triggered naturally by acetycholin (a neurotransmitter). But nicotin can act as acetycholin, and fix himself on the receptors that controls the production of dopamine.

To avoid overproduction of dopamine, if the concentration of acetycholin/nicotin is too high, the production of dopamine is stopped (the receptors loses their sensitivity). The problem is when you're a chronic smoker, there's so much nicotin in your body that the receptors aren't sensitive anymore. So you got to wait a certain time before you feel the sensation of pleasure (that's why smokers says that the first cigarette in the morning is the best ; nicotin have been evacuated and they can feel the pleasure again)

The problem is the more your body produces dopamine, the more he'll be used to that state of happiness, and the risk is to get addicted. Your body will think that this high concentration of dopamine is your 'normal' state, and when the amount of dopamine will decrease to a normal state, your body will think that there's not enough dopamine. That will cause physical and mental problems like depression, or having your hands shaking,...

 

[HBK]

The main problem about this is that nicotin will get you eventually addicted, since it's a drug. You'd be better off getting something to entertain yourself without the risks of getting addicted to smoking.

 

[Snailface]

Yes, but indirectly. Wikipedia explains it nicely:

"Dopamine is commonly associated with the reward system of the brain, providing feelings of enjoyment and reinforcement to motivate a person proactively to perform certain activities. Dopamine is released (particularly in areas such as the nucleus accumbens and prefrontal cortex) by rewarding experiences such as food, sex, drugs, and neutral stimuli that become associated with them. Recent studies indicate that aggression may also stimulate the release of dopamine in this way.[19]

This theory is often discussed in terms of drugs such as cocaine, nicotine, and amphetamines, which directly or indirectly lead to an increase of dopamine in the mesolimbic reward pathway of the brain, and in relation to neurobiological theories of chemical addiction (not to be confused with psychological dependence), arguing that this dopamine pathway is pathologically altered in addicted persons."

 

[Satangel]

Thanks so much everybody, I understand it a lot better now.
I think it's correct if I say that smoking does in fact make dopamine in your brain.

(Yes I know it's the nicotine that somehow gets it in your brain, but in the end, it's smoking that does the trick)