BACKGROUND NOTE: In the 1980's, the tobacco industry was actually
trying to develop a safer cigarette. RJR's version of this was its
brand Premier (which was the subject of a movie called "Barbarians at
that Gate" with James Garner--you can still get it on video). One
problem they had with Premier, though, was that it "drew" harder than
regular cigarettes. They needed to make sure it functioned like a
regular cigarette...
So RJR hired a research lab to do an experiment where they made baboons
smoke Premier cigarettes laced with crack cocaine, and then analyzed the
animals' blood for cocaine content. The reason for this is revealed
near the end of the report under a section entitled "Possbile
Interpretations":
V. Possible Interpretations
Introduction I am sorry to hear that the samples from the animals who
smoke Premier cigarettes loaded with crack were relatively low in
cocaine content. You indicate the levels of a few ng/ml, measured
shortly after exposure, are not physiologically meaningful. In our
phone conversiona today, I listed several possible interpretations,
including:
1) The animals "puffed" rather than inhaled and thus were not exposed to
cocaine.
2) The animals smoke so avidly that all of the crack was pyrolized
[burned] (and thus was not biologically available).
3) The efficiency of delivery from the cylinder [cigarette] was much
less than anticipated, or
4) The Premier really does not serve as a drug delivery device.
Anne Landman
American Lung Association of Colorado, West Region Office
Grand Junction
