Teen Smoking Linked to Substance Abuse, Mental Illness

[lillywilliam]

Because nicotine significantly affects the structural and chemical changes in the developing brains of adolescents, smoking cigarettes makes teens more vulnerable to alcohol and drug addiction and to mental illness, according to research by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University.

Analyzing data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), CASA researchers found that teens who smoke are nine times more likely to meet the medical criteria for past year alcohol abuse or dependence and 13 times more likely to meet the medical criteria for abuse and dependence on an illegal drug compared with teens who don't smoke.

The report is titled, Tobacco: The Smoking Gun.

"These findings sound an alarm for parents, teachers, pediatricians and others responsible for children's health that smoking by teens may well signal the fire of alcohol and other drug abuse and mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety disorders,"

"We have known for a long time that smoking causes deadly and crippling cancers and cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. Now we see the devastating effects that nicotine can have on the developing brains of our children and teens."