As was stated, the consequences you listed are not consequences of nicotine but consequences of the other chemicals in cigarettes. Nicotine is a stimulant. As with depressants, being a stimulant or depressant says nothing about the drug being inherently bad...

Nicotine is a stimulant the way caffeine is. The other chemicals in cigarettes are, however, incredibly damaging... Nicotine is addictive and this is damaging in itself, but we have been conflating so many issues.

This is why there are not the same warnings on nicotine gum/patches as there are on cigarette packs.

There are several different issues on the table which people are conflating...

is a substance addictive
is a substance harmful
is a substance harmful in a way that a functioning person is immune to and a person addicted to another substance is *automatically* going to fall prey to
is addiction based on the substance or is it something else
who decides what is best for an individual- is there a cookie cutter answer...