Posted on 07/08/2007 1:06:41 AM PDT by neverdem
Kids Show Signs Of Addiction Almost Immediately
A new study published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine shows that 10 percent of youth who become hooked on cigarettes are addicted within two days of first inhaling from a cigarette, and 25 percent are addicted within a month. The study found that adolescents who smoke even just a few cigarettes per month suffer withdrawal symptoms when deprived of nicotine, a startling finding that is contrary to long-held beliefs that only people with established smoking habits of at least five cigarettes per day experience such symptoms.
The study monitored 1,246 sixth-grade students in six Massachusetts communities over four years. Students were interviewed frequently about smoking and symptoms of addiction, such as difficulty quitting, strong urges to smoke, or nicotine withdrawal symptoms such as cravings, restlessness, irritability, and trouble concentrating. Of those who were hooked, half were already addicted by the time they were smoking seven cigarettes per month. As amazing as it may seem, some youth find they are unable to quit smoking after just a few cigarettes. This confirms an earlier study by the same researchers.
Recent research has revealed that the nicotine from one cigarette is enough to saturate the nicotine receptors in the human brain. "Laboratory experiments confirm that nicotine alters the structure and function of the brain within a day of the very first dose. In humans, nicotine-induced alterations in the brain can trigger addiction with the first cigarette," commented Joseph R. DiFranza, MD, professor of family medicine & community health at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and leader of the UMMS research team. "Nobody expects to get addicted from smoking one cigarette." Many smokers struggle for a lifetime trying to overcome nicotine addiction. The National Institutes of Health estimates that as many as 6.4 million children who are living today will die prematurely as adults because they began to smoke cigarettes during adolescence.
"While smoking one cigarette will keep withdrawal symptoms away for less than an hour in long-time smokers, novice smokers find that one cigarette suppresses withdrawal for weeks at a time," explained Dr. DiFranza. "One dose of nicotine affects brain function long after the nicotine is gone from the body. The important lesson here is that youth have all the same symptoms of nicotine addiction as adults do, even though they may be smoking only a few cigarettes per month."
Symptoms of nicotine addiction can appear when youth are smoking as little as one cigarette per month. At first, one cigarette will relieve the craving produced by nicotine withdrawal for weeks, but as tolerance to nicotine builds, the smoker finds that he or she must smoke ever more frequently to cope with withdrawal.
According to DiFranza, the addiction-related changes in the brain caused by nicotine are permanent and remain years after a smoker has quit. This explains why one cigarette can trigger an immediate relapse in an ex-smoker. It also explains why an ex-smoker who relapses after many years of abstinence cannot keep the craving away by smoking one cigarette per month. Unlike the newly addicted novice smoker, a newly relapsed smoker must smoke several cigarettes each day to cope with the craving.
The study was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and appears in the July issue of the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. According to the National Institutes of Health, smoking remains the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, accounting for approximately 440,000 deaths annually.
DiFranza worked on this study with UMMS colleagues Judith K. Ockene, PhD, Judith A. Savageau, MPH, Kenneth Fletcher, PhD, Lori Pbert, PhD, Jennifer Hazelton, BA, Karen Friedman, BA, Gretchen Dussault, BA, and Connie Wood, MSW; Jennifer O'Loughlin, PhD, of McGill University; Ann D. McNeill, PhD, of St. George's Hospital Medical School at the University of London; and Robert J. Wellman of both UMMS and Fitchburg State College.
Ahh, studies. Whatever would we do without them?
(We wouldn’t get any more grants is what we’d do.)
Smoking muscadine vine can lead to nicotine addiction. Chewing Rabbit tobacco can too.
"Nobody expects to get addicted from smoking one Cigarette."
"Nobody expects to get addicted!" Not even a skag freak.
Yeah right.
I took a puff from a cigarette at a party when I was 16. It felt like an elephant had landed on my chest and I must have coughed for 5 minutes. Never took another puff.
See my tagline. ‘Nuff said.
” and this stuff is legal....
total hypocrisy “
Everything that’s not required needs to be forbidden, right??
hypocrisy, indeed.....
Am I addicted X#%X^Z#C#$%)&^%$@!@$DXS
I forgot to add “BULL SHIT ALERT”.
Nicotine is found in the nightshade family of plants which includes tomato, potato, eggplant, and green pepper.
Everyone must be addicted!
i don’t no sicum from come here when it comes to some things.
I do know this, we live in an age of a bunch of over educated narcissistic assholes who know everything.
Your right any scientists can make a credible report that many suckers will read and take to heart.
I spent five years in a surgery clinic in South America and have heard every excuse under the Sun for explanations of why things are as they are.
I am sorry Donna but right now I am about three sheets to the wind, thinking about a friend who has gone to meet God.
Death is something I meet just about every day but it’s different when it’s someone you know and respect.
I got on George Strait, Toby Keith, Alan Jackson and Beer.
Yes I am sad tonight.
That's interesting, my brother and I with my friend and his brother tried smoking at 12, my brother and the older of the friends coughed and gagged and to this day don't smoke, me and the other brother loved it, smoking and us seemed made for each other and 40 years later I haven't gone a day without smoking, the same for my friend. So my 40 years of smoking and my brother's not smoking stem from the same incident at 12 years old but with different reactions.
The same with booze for me, from my first drink at 15 I was well on my way to 25 years of big time hardcore drinking, by the time I was 18 I could drink most adults under the table and then some. I managed to kick that 12 years ago.
I am not a bum, I am a successful tradesman who has worked steady since I was 19. I put two kids through college and have been married for 33 years, never been arrested or missed work because of drinking. I just drank a hell of a lot and still smoke a hell of a lot.
On the other hand my old man didn't smoke and told me he would cut my nuts off if he caught me smoking, so of course I smoked the first chance I got. I still have my nuts (barely) and still smoke.
Oh, yeah.
Then perhaps they can explain why my Brother never smoked while our Dad puffed like a freight train in the car, in the house, etc...
Follow the money, folks. It’s fer tha CHILLRUN!!
Ping!
Not all people are equally subject to addiction.
However, this article’s results look good to me. It descibes perfectly the addictive behavior of smokers. Among those behaviors is denial, seen in some of the comments above.
I don’t think that prohibition of smoking would work, but if your parentling skills are above the Al Gore level, you should be able to raise children who do not smoke. Here’s how:
1. Example being the best teacher, neither parent should smoke.
2. When small children first notice a smoker, take the opportunity to point out how dirty the smoke smells, and how sad it is that the smoker has this very bad habit.
3. Don’t allow any smoking in your house, even by relatives. It’s your house, and you make the rules. Most smokers nowadays will not take offense at this. We have lost only one friend who was angered by being asked not to smoke in our home: she thereby demonstrated that her addiction was more important to her, and her denial more sacred than any friendship with us. So be it.
4. Explain the health aspects of smoking later, as you children learn health aspects of biology.
5. Run a disciplined family, never forgetting that the main ingredient is love.
6. Teach general cleanliness. Smoking is a dirty habit, and people who like being clean will shy away from it. I note that smokers generally are sloppy, and make up 90% of the people who throw litter out of car windows, &c. Almost every index of a disorganized life-style correlates with smoking.
7. Allow sports activity. Sports is way overemphasized in our society, but it is obvious to any kid in serious sport that smokers are losers. A sports life generally mitigates against the tobacco habit. Perhaps sports is a rival addiction, but it is certainly a healthier one, even including all the sports injuries.
As for people who already are addicted: I know that it is hard to break free. I would never say that it is easy, once you are addicted. However, breaking the addiction can be done, and it is a challenge worth attaining. What are you waiting for? Your next life?
The half life of a cigarette is weeks? This seems too long.
I would add another to your list. I believe many smokers are ADD types who use tobacco for self medication. These folks should probably consider better and safer drugs to do the job than nicotine.
BS
Huh? Huh? Do we owe Joe Camel an apology?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.