Through the use of cigarettes, cigars, and chewing tobacco, nicotine is one of the most heavily used addictive drugs in the United States.
In
2004, 29.2 percent of the U.S. population 12 and older—70.3 million
people—used tobacco at least once in the month prior to being
interviewed.* This figure includes 3.6 million young people age 12 to
17. Young adults aged 18 to 25 reported the highest rate of current use
of any tobacco products (44.6 percent) in 2004.
Findings for high school youth indicate that 25.9 percent of
8th-graders, 38.9 percent of 10th-graders, and 50.0 percent of
12th-graders had ever smoked cigarettes when asked in 2005.** These
figures were lower for all three grades from 2004 data, and for
8th-graders and 12th-graders, the decreases were statistically
significant.
Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate
that tobacco use remains the leading preventable cause of death in the
United States, causing approximately 440,000 premature deaths each year
and resulting in an annual cost of more than $75 billion in direct
medical costs attributable to smoking. (See www.cdc.gov/tobacco/issue.htm.)
Over the past four decades, cigarette smoking has caused an estimated
12 million deaths, including 4.1 million deaths from cancer, 5.5
million deaths from cardiovascular diseases, 2.1 million deaths from
respiratory diseases, and 94,000 infant deaths related to mothers
smoking during pregnancy. (See www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/publications/aag/osh.htm.)
Secondhand
smoke, also known as environmental tobacco smoke, isa mixture of the
smoke given off by the burning end of tobacco products (sidestream
smoke) and the mainstream smoke exhaled by smokers. It is a complex
mixture containing many chemicals (including formaldehyde, cyanide,
carbon monoxide, ammonia, and nicotine), many of which are known
carcinogens. Nonsmokers exposed to secondhand smoke at home or work
increase their risk of developing heart disease by 25 to 30 percent and
lung cancer by 20 to 30 percent. In addition, secondhand smoke causes
respiratory problems in nonsmokers such as coughing, phlegm, and
reduced lung function. Children exposed to secondhand smoke are at an
increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome, acute respiratory
infections, ear problems, and more severe asthma.
Health Hazards
Since
1964, 28 Surgeon General's reports on smoking and health have concluded
that tobacco use is the single most avoidable cause of disease,
disability, and death in the United States. In 1988, the Surgeon
General concluded that cigarettes and other forms of tobacco, such as
cigars, pipe tobacco, and chewing tobacco, are addictive and that
nicotine is the drug in tobacco that causes addiction. Nicotine
provides an almost immediate "kick" because it causes a discharge of
epinephrine from the adrenal cortex. This stimulates the central
nervous system and endocrine glands, which causes a sudden release of
glucose. Stimulation is then followed by depression and fatigue,
leading the user to seek more nicotine.
Nicotine is absorbed readily from tobacco smoke in the lungs, and it
does not matter whether the tobacco smoke is from cigarettes, cigars,
or pipes. Nicotine also is absorbed readily when tobacco is chewed.
With regular use of tobacco, levels of nicotine accumulate in the body
during the day and persist overnight. Thus, daily smokers or chewers
are exposed to the effects of nicotine for 24 hours each day.
Adolescents who chew tobacco are more likely than nonusers to
eventually become cigarette smokers.
Addiction to nicotine results in withdrawal symptoms when a person
tries to stop smoking. For example, a study found that when chronic
smokers were deprived of cigarettes for 24 hours, they had increased
anger, hostility, and aggression, and loss of social cooperation.
Persons suffering from withdrawal also take longer to regain emotional
equilibrium following stress. During periods of abstinence and/or
craving, smokers have shown impairment across a wide range of
psychomotor and cognitive functions, such as language comprehension.
Women who smoke generally have earlier menopause. Pregnant women who
smoke cigarettes run an increased risk of having stillborn or premature
infants or infants with low birth weight. Children of women who smoked
while pregnant have an increased risk for developing conduct disorders.
National studies of mothers and daughters have also found that maternal
smoking during pregnancy increased the probability that female children
would smoke and would persist in smoking.
In addition to nicotine, cigarette smoke is primarily composed of a
dozen gases (mainly carbon monoxide) and tar. The tar in a cigarette,
which varies from about 15 mg for a regular cigarette to 7 mg in a
low-tar cigarette, exposes the user to an increased risk of lung
cancer, emphysema, and bronchial disorders.
The carbon monoxide in tobacco smoke increases the chance of
cardiovascular diseases. The Environmental Protection Agency has
concluded that secondhand smoke causes lung cancer in adults and
greatly increases the risk of respiratory illnesses in children and
sudden infant death.
Source: The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
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Nicotine Addiction Intervention
Contact the Intervention Center to discuss a family intervention for your situation.