Tobacco As A Gateway To Reckless Behavior
Another major issue with tobacco is that it leads to more dangerous and reckless activities, especially in the context of young people. Tobacco is often the first sinful pleasure many young people have. "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." (1 John 3:4). "Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death." (James 1:15). "I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness." (Rom. 6:19). People in the church at Rome first began in uncleanness. Then they began living in iniquity which led to more iniquity.
One thing that tobacco use often leads to is alcohol drinking. I remember when I was a kid; I thought that every person who drank alcohol was also a smoker, because literally every alcohol drinker I knew also smoked cigarettes. This does reflect the vast array of the drinking society. An article published in 1996 in the Journal of Addictive Diseases emphasized this connection. Researchers discovered that nearly 90% of alcoholics were also smokers. Smoking is almost three times as prevalent among alcoholics as among the general population.
Young people seem to discover tobacco and drinking at the same time or drinking briefly after tobacco. The picture of a teenager with a cigarette dangling from his lips and a beer can in his hand is the stereotypical image of the cool teenager. Tobacco and alcohol usually are the first and second dangerous substances that teenagers experiment with.
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) completed a ten year study of student attitudes about alcohol and tobacco in 1986. According to that study, 18.4% of high school seniors who smoked also drank alcohol on a daily basis in contrast to a rate of 1.7% of seniors who drank alcohol but were nonsmokers. Nearly 68% of the seniors who smoked also drank heavily, while only 17.2% of nonsmoking seniors were heavy drinkers.
Counselors who try to help alcoholics have long reported that many recovering alcoholics die young from tobacco-related causes. A 2003 study on the effect of vitamins in protecting against cancer revealed some unexpected information. People treated for intestinal polyps, growths (some cancerous) which protrude from the wall of the intestine, were offered various mixtures of beta carotene and vitamins. While most showed improvement, those who smoked and drank had a twice as high rate of polyp recurrence.
Smokers who drink regularly are twice as likely to suffer from a genetic mutation connected with lung cancer then nondrinking smokers. Scientists believe this could be because alcohol interferes with the body's systems for neutralizing and getting rid of carcinogens (cancer-causing chemicals) from cigarette smoke. Alcohol may also disrupt the body's ability to repair genes which is the blue print for creating new cells in the body. Alcohol may even damage genes; create changes or mutations in new cells. These changes and mutations can create cancer cells. "Moderate drinking", one to two drinks a day, can increase the risk of cancer two to three times. Smoking and drinking alcohol pushes the risk to fifteen times more than normal.
In the late 1990s, researchers began studying exactly what happens when nicotine and alcohol are mixed. Previously, many people used the theory that mixing alchol and nicotine offset the unwelcome effects of another. Alcohol is a sedative- it relaxes the body and brain, leading a person to sleepiness, while nicotine is a stimulant that revs the body up. Some drinkers may use nicotine to wake themselves up as tobacco users could use alcohol to calm themselves down.
However research seems to challenge this view. In the February/March 2004 issue of Nicotine and Tobacco Research, researchers from Duke University revealed that alcoholic drinks may enhance the pleasure of nicotine. The subjects were smokers who had at least four drinks a week. The results suggested that nicotine enjoyment is enhanced by even small amounts of alcohol. Subjects also reported that the experience of drinking and smoking is demonstrated without the nicotine. Ongoing research could lead to treatments for people with a dependence on both drugs.
If you visit a typical recovery program for alcoholics, you'll usually find a group of heavy tobacco users. When alcoholics try to stop drinking, they usually use tobacco in large quantities to keep from relapsing. As those who have helped alcoholics have noted, many recovering alcoholics die from tobacco-related diseases. For example, both founders of Alcoholics Anonymous died of lung cancer because they smoked so much when they quit drinking.
In turn, people who have quit smoking often relapse when they drink. Researchers have also discovered that people with an alcohol problem, even a past alcohol problem, have greater difficulty in quitting tobacco.
Tobacco use also often leads to a person experimenting with illicit drugs, particularly young people. Young people who use tobacco and alcohol have a very high chance of using illicit drugs.
NIDA statistics for 2002 reveal that approximately 52% of young people who smoked cigarettes daily within the previous month also used illicit drugs during that time. Youths who had used both cigarettes and alchol within the past month were more than twice as likely to have used illicit drugs within the same period compared with youths who only used cigarettes or only alcohol. Young people who had used only cigarettes or only alcohol were more than seven times as likely to have taken illicit drugs in the previous month compared with youths who had used neither.
Tobacco and alcohol are definitely "gateway drugs" that introduce people to marijuana and illegal drugs that many young people end up abusing. According to a 1994 report from the National Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse, young people who smoked were nineteen times more likely to end up abusing cocaine compared to nonsmokers. Youthful smokers were also thirteen times more likely to use heroin then young people who didn't smoke. A 2000 study by NIDA revealed that two-thirds of drug users are also smokers.
The American Academy of Pediatrics issued a warning to parents oF children who used gateway drugs in saying, "While using alcohol and tobacco, young people develop behaviors that can also be associated with using drugs, such as a willingness to take chances."
The American Academy of Pediatrics listed that using tobacco and alcohol teaches young people: how to obtain substances illegally; how much of the substance to use; how to control the side effects; how to hide what they've done and lie about it; how to deal with any guilt and shame over what they've done.
Simply mastering the act of smoking is an important stepping stone to other drugs. Smoking is, after all, an unnatural act- inhaling a substance that makes one choke. Inhaling smoke is difficult and unpleasant for the starting smoker. The person needs considerable practice to control the reflex to choke or cough. After a person overcomes the barrier to inhaling smoke, they then begin enjoying the pleasure. then after a person masters smoking, they are much more likely to smoke other drugs.
Youths are naturally people who tend to live in the moment without much thought for the future. Young people who use tobacco usually begin the habit out of rebellion and/or because they want to do something dangerous. A young person who will smoke, dip or chew despite all the health warnings that are now in our society, are very likely to try other dangerous things.
In 2000, researchers for the Department of Health And Human Services analyzed results from three government surveys on young people and risky behavior. 85% of those who were smokers engaged in other risky activities. The researchers found that 32% of smokers engaged in regular alcohol use, 40% took part in regular binge drinking, 35% also smoked marijuana and 41% used other illicit drugs. In terms of violence, 17% of smokers got in fights and 21% carried weapons. Also, 19% of smokers admitted to suicidal thoughts and 24% had made a suicide attempt. And 25% of smokers reported that they had unprotected sexual intercourse.
Former surgeon general Joycelyn Elders was very well aware of the hazardous activity tobacco can lead young people to. She proclaimed, "This is one of the few early warning signs we have in public health. If we can prevent tobacco use in the first place, we might have a big impact on preventing or delaying a host of other destructive behaviors among our young people.”