Press Release - New CASA* Report: Teen Cigarette Smoking Linked to Brain Damage, Alcohol and Illegal Drug Abuse, Mental Illness

Teen Cigarette Smokers Likelier to Meet Medical Criteria for Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Dependence

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - October 23, 2007) - The nicotine in tobacco products poses a significant danger of structural and chemical changes in developing brains that can make teens more vulnerable to alcohol and other drug addiction and to mental illness, according to Tobacco: The Smoking Gun, a new white paper released today by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University and commissioned by The Citizens' Commission to Protect the Truth, a group of all former U.S. Secretaries of Health, Education, and Welfare and of Health and Human Services, all former U.S. Surgeons General, and all former Directors of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Smoking and Alcohol and Illegal Drug Use

Compared to 12- to 17-year-olds who don't smoke, those who do are more than five times likelier to drink and 13 times likelier to use marijuana than nonsmokers.

Compared to those who never smoked, those who began smoking at age 12 or younger are:

--  More than three times likelier to binge drink;
--  Nearly 15 times likelier to smoke marijuana; and
--  Nearly seven times likelier to use other illegal drugs such as heroin
   and cocaine.

Read Full Press Release
  

Download White Paper Tobacco,The Smoking Gun  (PDF)
__________________________________________________________________________________