THE WORST drug addiction in America doesn't involve heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, OxyContin, marijuana, hashish, or the like.

Nicotine addiction is more hurtful than all of those. It seizes millions of young people, dooms 400,000 Americans a year to premature death, and causes miserable diseases costing billions of dollars. No illegal drug has such devastating effect. Every medical authority agrees that nicotine is the nation's biggest preventable health menace.

Politicians who rant against other drugs actually promote nicotine by legalizing tobacco and providing subsidies to growers. Oddly, the nation ignores this strange hypocrisy, this double-standard.

Look at any youth gathering and you'll see multitudes of otherwise-healthy young people satisfying their nicotine craving - a hunger that grips them with tremendous strength. It's an addiction stronger than that of most other narcotics.

Cigarette corporations actually are drug-peddlers, reaping $70 billion a year from the addiction they exploit. Past reports have accused them of deliberately seducing teens to start smoking, and boosting nicotine content to keep them hooked.

Now a new study by Harvard School of Public Health says tobacco firms add menthol flavor to entice adolescents, then increase menthol levels to satisfy addicted adults. The findings are published in the September issue of the American Journal of Public Health. Lead researcher Gregory Connolly said:

"Menthol is being used as a candy to help the toxin go down. If we let the industry go ahead and willy-nilly design the product the way they want to, it's going to lead to the premature death of millions and millions of Americans. Our research says we have to go after this."

A pending congressional bill would let the Food and Drug Administration regulate nicotine as a danger. After the Harvard report became public, the American Cancer Society issued a news release saying:

"This study provides evidence of one of the many ways tobacco companies manipulate the ingredients in cigarettes to entice and addict new customers. Legislation in Congress would give the FDA authority to regulate tobacco products and put an end to tobacco industry practices that prey upon children and blatantly mislead adults. The bill would end marketing of tobacco products to children, force companies for the first time to disclose the ingredients in their products, and allow the FDA to regulate all tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes, based on science."

As long as the FDA has no control, the tobacco industry "stands outside the law," Harvard researcher Connolly said.

We hope West Virginia's members of Congress support this attempt to reduce the terrible toll caused by nicotine addiction.

Nicotine addiction is more hurtful than all of those. It seizes millions of young people, dooms 400,000 Americans a year to premature death, and causes miserable diseases costing billions of dollars. No illegal drug has such devastating effect. Every medical authority agrees that nicotine is the nation's biggest preventable health menace.

Politicians who rant against other drugs actually promote nicotine by legalizing tobacco and providing subsidies to growers. Oddly, the nation ignores this strange hypocrisy, this double-standard.

Look at any youth gathering and you'll see multitudes of otherwise-healthy young people satisfying their nicotine craving - a hunger that grips them with tremendous strength. It's an addiction stronger than that of most other narcotics.

Cigarette corporations actually are drug-peddlers, reaping $70 billion a year from the addiction they exploit. Past reports have accused them of deliberately seducing teens to start smoking, and boosting nicotine content to keep them hooked.

Now a new study by Harvard School of Public Health says tobacco firms add menthol flavor to entice adolescents, then increase menthol levels to satisfy addicted adults. The findings are published in the September issue of the American Journal of Public Health. Lead researcher Gregory Connolly said:

"Menthol is being used as a candy to help the toxin go down. If we let the industry go ahead and willy-nilly design the product the way they want to, it's going to lead to the premature death of millions and millions of Americans. Our research says we have to go after this."

A pending congressional bill would let the Food and Drug Administration regulate nicotine as a danger. After the Harvard report became public, the American Cancer Society issued a news release saying:

"This study provides evidence of one of the many ways tobacco companies manipulate the ingredients in cigarettes to entice and addict new customers. Legislation in Congress would give the FDA authority to regulate tobacco products and put an end to tobacco industry practices that prey upon children and blatantly mislead adults. The bill would end marketing of tobacco products to children, force companies for the first time to disclose the ingredients in their products, and allow the FDA to regulate all tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes, based on science."

As long as the FDA has no control, the tobacco industry "stands outside the law," Harvard researcher Connolly said.

We hope West Virginia's members of Congress support this attempt to reduce the terrible toll caused by nicotine addiction.