Cigarette Addiction Strong, Court Told

Cigarette smoking can be more difficult to give up than heroin and cocaine, a medical expert testified Thursday in a trial to determine whether R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. is liable in the death of a man who smoked the firm’s cigarettes for more than 50 years.

Dr. Reese Jones, a professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, and a key witness in the trial, said nicotine is a highly addictive drug, and because it is so readily available, it is more difficult to quit cigarettes than some hard drugs.

“There’s absolutely no question that it’s the prototype of an addictive drug,” said Jones, who specializes in psychopharmacological research. “In every survey I’m familiar with, 90% of the smokers said if they could quit, they would.”

But R. J. Reynolds attorney Robert Weber contended that according to medical literature, smoking is a “habituation” not an addiction.

Weber rigorously questioned Jones, who acknowledged that he had said in a deposition that people would be better off taking LSD than smoking cigarettes. Jones elaborated on the statement during further questioning.

“Keeping in mind the dangers and facts I know about both,” Jones said, “someone would be advised to use LSD wisely--that is, occasionally and intermittently--than take up cigarette smoking.”

The trial, which began two weeks ago, will determine whether the tobacco company is liable in the death of John Galbraith, a Santa Barbara man who died three years ago at 69 of lung cancer and other ailments.