Substance abuse prevention

Facts About Tobacco

2006-2007 SALT Survey Students Report
Past Thirty-Day Use of Tobacco

Please note that figures for South Kingstown, Narragansett, and Chariho are from the 2006-2007 SALT for each school. State of Rhode Island figures have not been updated from the 2005-2006 SALT and will be updated upon their release.

Tobacco Use Among Youth in the U.S.

• 4.5 million kids under the age of 18 are current smokers [1]
• Each day, more than 4,000 teens try their first cigarette, and another 2,000 become regular, daily smokers – more than 730,000 new underage daily smokers each year [2]
• Adolescent tobacco users are more likely to use alcohol and illegal drugs, get in fights, carry weapons, attempt suicide, and engage in high-risk sexual behaviors than are nonusers [3]
• More than 15 million kids are exposed to secondhand smoke at home, with countless others exposed to secondhand smoke elsewhere, as well [4]
• Nationwide, about 13% of middle school students and about 28% of high school students reported using some type of tobacco (cigarette, cigar, pipe, and flavored cigarettes like bidis or kreteks/clove cigarettes at least once in the past month [5]
• Smokers, especially heavy smokers, are more likely to drink alcohol and to become problem drinkers than non smokers. Adolescent smokers, for example, are three times more likely to use alcohol than adolescents who do not smoke. [6]
• Smokers are over 30% more likely to consume alcohol and ten times more likely to develop alcoholism than nonsmokers.
• 80% to 95% of all alcoholics also smoke cigarettes, and 70% of all alcoholics are heavy smokers who consume more than one pack of cigarettes per day.
• The initiation of regular cigarette smoking typically precedes the onset of alcoholism by many years. [7]

Devastating Consequences

• More than 6.4 million children under age 18 alive today will eventually die from smoking-related disease, unless current rates are reversed [8]
• More than a third of all kids who ever try smoking a cigarette become regular, daily smokers before leaving high school [9]
• Roughly one third of the 730,000 new underage daily smokers each year will eventually die prematurely from smoking-caused disease. 5,000,000 kids who are alive today will ultimately die from smoking [10]
• 87% of lung cancer deaths can be attributed to tobacco use [11]
• In the US, tobacco use is responsible for nearly 1 in 5 deaths or an estimated 440,000 deaths per year during 1995-1999 [12]
• Each year, secondhand smoke may be responsible for about 3,000 lung cancer deaths in nonsmoking adults and an additional 35,000 to 40,000 cases of heart disease in people who are not current smokers [13]
• High School seniors who are regular smokers and began smoking by grade nine are more than twice as likely than their nonsmoking peers to report poorer overall health; roughly two and a half times more likely to report cough with phlegm or blood, shortness of breath when not exercising, and wheezing or gasping; and three times more likely to have seen a doctor or other health professional for an emotional or psychological complaint [14]

References

1. Based on 2003 National Survey of Drug Use and Health Data.

2. Results from the 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, NSDUH: Detailed Tables.

3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Youth Risk Behavior surveillance – United States, 2003.

4. CDC, “State-Specific Prevalence of Cigarette Smoking among Adults, and Children’s and Adolescents’ Exposure to Environmental Tobacco Smoke – United States 1996,” MMWR 46(44): 1038-1043 (November 7, 1997).

5. CDC; American Cancer Society, Prevention and Early Detection

6. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), Alcohol Alerts: Alcohol and Tobacco (January 1998).

7. NIAAA, Alcohol Alerts: Alcohol and Tobacco (January 1998)

8. CDC, State Highlights 2002: Impact and Opportunity, April 2002.

9. CDC, “Selected Cigarette Smoking Initiation and Quitting Behaviors among High School Students – Unites States, 1997,” MMWR (May 22, 1998).

10. CDC,”Projected Smoking-Related Deaths among Youth – United States,” MMWR 46(44) (November 8, 1996).

11. Cancer Prevention and Early Detection 2004.

12. Cancer Facts & Figures 2004.

13. Cancer Facts & Figures 2004.

14. Arday DR, et al.,”Cigarette smoking and self-reported health problems among US high school seniors, 1982-1989,” American Journal of Health Promotion 10(2):111-116 (1995).

* South Kingstown 8^th grade statistic includes Curtis Corner Middle School only. At the time of this posting 2004-2005 SALT information for Broad Rock Middle School was not available.

** Rhode Island Statistics are listed for 2003-2004 since at the time of this posting the 2004-2005 are not yet available.