On Friday, Mar. 8, the entirety of the sophomore class congregated in the gym for a presentation given by Dr. Victor J. DeNoble, Ph.D. He spoke in length about his experience as a scientist working for a nicotine drug company in the 80s. He was asked to discover a drug that would make people addicted to nicotine without side effects that could damage the heart.

However, he had different plans.

His goal was to see how nicotine affects the brain, and after struggles with rats and human brains, he found his answer.

“His brain cells were still changing even though he had no nicotine in his body for over two years.”
When DeNoble pulled a brain out of his briefcase to explain how he came to this conclusion, students were shocked.

“Even though you stop using [nicotine], it still affects you and changes everything,” sophomore Megan Lowe said.

DeNoble has spoken to 350,000 students about the dangers of drug addiction, and how nicotine has addictive properties that affect your body even years after usage.

“What you do today to your body you’re not going to see today. What you do today you might see a year from now. You have to think clearly and ask yourself: am I willing to risk trying this, knowing that a year from now I may damage my body?” DeNoble Said. “You’re messing around with the most important organ in your body. This is who you are, this is everything you will become. Think very carefully before you make these mistakes.”