Nicorette gum is designed to help smokers kick the habit, but for some people, it's leading to a whole new addiction, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported March 28.

Deborah Hess has been chewing Nicorette gum for 10 years, despite a warning on the package to stop using after 12 weeks. She estimates that she has spent $20,000 on the nicotine gum, much more than the cost of her three-pack-a-day cigarette habit.

"I was addicted to Nicorette," Hess said. "It's easy to get out of control with them."

Frank Leone, professor of medicine at Jefferson Medical College and director of the tobacco-intervention program at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, said Nicorette is addictive. "The brain likes the peak," he said.

Nicorette company spokeswoman Nancy Lovre said the gum has helped millions to stop smoking since becoming an over-the-counter drug in 1996. But a small percentage of people, like Hess, have simply traded one addiction for another.

The dependency on Nicorette doesn't come cheap. A starter kit containing 108 pieces of gum costs about $50. Bruce Sigman, president of the Montgomery County Pharmacists' Association, noted that theft of Nicorette had been a problem. "Anything that's a high-ticket item and small enough to conceal is a shoplifting target in supermarkets and pharmacies."

Experts point out that an addiction to Nicorette is preferable to an addiction to cigarettes. "You're comparing a medicine to a portable chemical waste dump," said Jack Henningfield, an associate professor at Johns Hopkin Medical School.