Jack E. Henningfield, PhD, Associate Professor of Behavioral Biology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Neal L. Benowitz, MD, Chief of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics at the University of California at San Francisco, in an Aug. 2, 1994 New York Times article titled "Is Nicotine Addictive? It Depends on Whose Criteria You Use," and Daniel M. Perrine, Phd, Associate Professor of Chemistry at Loyola College in Maryland, in his 1996 book The Chemistry of Mind-Altering Drugs: History, Pharmacology, and Cultural Context, ranked the addictiveness of six drugs, with 1 being the most addictive, as shown in the chart below:
  Jack E. Henningfield, PhD Neal L. Benowitz, MD Daniel M. Perrine, PhD
1. Heroin Heroin Nicotine
2. Alcohol Cocaine Alcohol
3. Cocaine Alcohol Heroin
4. Nicotine Nicotine Cocaine (Nasal)
5. Marijuana / Caffeine Caffeine Caffeine
6. Marijuana Marijuana

To read more about the addictiveness ratings, please visit our Addictiveness of Marijuana page.

Aug. 2, 1994 and 1996