SAMSHA Issues New Report on Nicotine Dependence; Report has Significant Implications for School-Aged Children
February 15, 2008 - A new report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) demonstrates that among past-month cigarette smokers aged 12 or older, 57.7 percent met the criteria for past-month nicotine dependence.
The NSDUH Report: Nicotine Dependence: 2006 is based on SAMHSA's Office of Applied Studies National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDHU). NSDUH is the primary source of information on the prevalence, patterns, and consequences of drug and alcohol use and abuse in the general U.S. civilian non-institutionalized population, age 12 and older. The survey also provides estimates for drug use by state.
In the United States, tobacco is more widely used than illicit drugs, and it is implicated in more deaths each year than alcohol and illicit drugs combined. According to the SAMHSA report, 29.6 percent of Americans aged 12 or older were current users of tobacco in some form during 2006, with 84.5 percent of those being cigarette smokers. As 4 out of 5 smokers begin smoking before the age of 18, the high rate of nicotine dependence has significant implications for the school-aged population.
School health policies play an important role in preventing kids from smoking and keeping kids healthy. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Guidelines for School Health Programs to Prevent Tobacco Use and Addiction recommend seven strategies for preventing tobacco use among youth. One of those strategies is supporting cessation efforts among students and all school staff who use tobacco. Low-cost measures such as providing access to a “Quitline” telephone number can be a valuable part of a comprehensive tobacco-free schools policy.
To learn more about tobacco use and tobacco use prevention in schools, request a “Tobacco Use Prevention 101 Packet” from NSBA's School Health Programs.
Source: “The NSDUH Report: Nicotine Dependence: 2006,” National Survey on Drug Use and Health, SAMHSA, Office of Applied Studies, January 24, 2008.