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- "What is notable about tobacco use is that
it consistently occurs early in the sequence of problem behaviors. When
a young person starts to smoke or use tobacco, it is a signal, an alarm
that he or she may get involved in other risky behaviors.
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- "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."
- Former Surgeon General Joyce Elders.
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- Among young people 15 years of age, the initial
use of cigarettes, alcohol or marijuana is the strongest predictor of later
use of cocaine.
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
1988.
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- Youth between the ages of 12 and 17 years old
who had smoked in the past 30 days were 3 times more likely to have consumed
alcohol, 8 times more likely to have smoked marijuana and 22 times more
likely to have used cocaine when compared to those who had not smoked cigarettes.
- NIDA, National Household Survey on Drug Abuse,
1985.
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- Illegal drug use is rare among those who have
never smoked and cigarette smoking is likely to precede the use of alcohol
or illicit drugs.
- National Survey Results on Drug Use from the
Monitoring the Future Study, 1975-1994," The University of Michigan.
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- The amount of tobacco use is directly related
to other drug use. Students whose low-level use of tobacco or alcohol increased
to heavy-level use during follow-up interviews were more likely to begin
using other substances or to increase their use of these substances than
those who remained low-level uses of tobacco or alcohol.
- Bailey, 1992.
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- Among 12 through 17 year old adolescents who
had never smoked, only 3 percent had binged (had five or more alcoholic
drinks in a row) in the past 30 days. This compares to nearly 40 percent
of daily smokers in this age group who had binged in the last 30 days.
- NIDA, National Household Survey on Drug Abuse,
1985.
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