Teen Smoking Is Gateway To Drug Abuse

Almost a quarter of all youth that begin smoking, drinking or using drugs of any kind before the age of 18 go on to become severely addicted to some sort of drug in adulthood according to a new study released this week by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA).

As a matter of fact, 90% of drug addictions begin in high school.

Susan Foster, senior investigator of the study explains: "We now have enough science to show that adolescent substance use is America's number one public health problem."

Researchers from the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, or CASA, found that nine out of 10 American addicts started smoking, drinking or using drugs before the age of 18 and one in four of those people become addicted to some sort of drug.

Dr. Stanton Glantz, director of the University of California at San Francisco Center for Tobacco and Research and Education continues...

"The brain is still developing up until age 25, so when you put nicotine and psychoactive substances in the body, it's actually messing with the brain as its developing. Nicotine tends to be the gateway drug when kids start smoking younger. They're more likely to become addicted and smoke for a longer period of time."

In a related study, John Hopkins research investigated the associations between cigarette smoking and illegal drug use, results showed that those who had smoked cigarettes were more likely to use illegal drugs.

For all age groups combined, the 65.8% of participants who had smoked were:

• Seven times more likely to have tried marijuana
• Seven times more likely to have tried cocaine
• 14 times more likely to have tried crack and
• 16 times more likely to have tried heroin

Cocaine, in either powder or crack form, was the drug most likely to be used among young cigarette smokers.

With the numbers of high school-aged smokers increasing over the past decade, the results of the present analysis in fact predict an increase in illegal drug use over the next few decades.

Go here to see SOLUTIONS for Teen Addiction and Recovery.

Talk soon...

Bob and Shelley
Founders/Recovery Network

New BLOG: Christian Addiction Recovery

Email: robert@recoverynetwork.info

Website: www.drug-alcohol-addiction-recovery.com

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