AHS Views

According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, teens who smoke cigarettes are nine times more likely to develop a drug addiction than those who don’t smoke. If you don’t discourage kids from smoking cigarettes now, you may be looking for drug addiction help later.

According to the study, nicotine causes changes in brain development, making teenagers more vulnerable to addiction to alcohol, marijuana, cocaine and other drugs. The study also found that smokers are three times more likely to binge drink, 15 times more likely to smoke marijuana and seven times more likely to use drugs like heroin and cocaine.

I’m a former smoker - started smoking cigarettes at age 13 and less than a year later was smoking marijuana. I can’t say that one had anything to do with the other, but the same thing happened to many of my friends. And most of us moved onto harder drugs later in life.

I don’t know what the relationship is between smoking and drugs – it’s possibly that smoking cigarettes opens a door to addiction. After all, almost any smoker who has tried to quit knows that it certainly acts as an addiction, and can even cause withdrawal symptoms.

One more reason to discourage smoking, and one more hint on how to avoid needing drug addiction treatment down the road.