Nicotine even worse than thought

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TWISTED VICTOR

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A recent statewide survey in Arkansas found that the average age of first tobacco use was before the age of 12. Alcohol use started on average a bit over six months after tobacco, and the average age of first ......... use was just before the age of 14.

Gee, I guess I got it wrong. I started using alcohol at age 11, ......... at age 12 and started smoking at age 15. I musta been in the wrong school district.

Note, the above "........" is forum code for illegal ditchweed. The proper wordage doesn't post.
 
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GregH

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I do have to admit, though, that I liked the last paragraph. I added the bold:

The take-home lesson for parents is that they should be vigilant for tobacco use during the middle school years. Dabbling with tobacco products should not be considered a rite of passage. A firm and consistent message from parents that tobacco use is not acceptable is an effective prevention measure.

Of course parents should be vigilant regarding their children and the things they're doing. We only have a problem when the government tries to step in and act as parent/nanny and take things away from adults because parents won't do their job.
 

Skud

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The title of that article is probably the most mis-leading part. But aside from that, I can't for the life of me understand how people haven't figured out that certain people are predisposed to substance abuse, either genetically and/or socially, and people simply go first to what is most commonly available to them. Hence, people smoke before they drink, and drink before they use illegal drugs. The correlations the article draws between grades, attendance, and tobacco use simply shows what kind of people are more predisposed to "rebel" and use tobacco, yet the article seems to mislead people into thinking that tobacco use specifically causes bad grades, poor attendance, and will lead to alcohol and drug abuse.

Although, I couldn't hep but notice the article came from an Asheville, NC newspaper, and that place is the epicenter for new-agey spiritual health-nannies who think veganism, yoga, and astrology can save the world.
 

GregH

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Where do they get the idiots that write this stuff.
According to them, I, who didn't start smoking until I was out of high school, was not addicted to nicotine.
I guess I just like it a lot.:?:

I wonder how young kids are when they get addicted to caffeine? Before the age of 5?

Same here. I was 19 before I had my first cigarette. So maybe I'm not really addicted either!
 

rothenbj

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Hey, but fear not, help is on the way from our Pharma friends-

Pfizer's two new compounds may be effective in treating alcohol, nicotine dependence

Haven't studied the treatment on ",,,,,,,,,,", but the other two should be no problem. For a price.

I just loved this line, "Significantly, while the compounds had a significant effect on the rodents' alcohol consumption"

At the very least, we'll have less drunk rats to worry about!
 

Valsacar

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TWISTED VICTOR

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However, I started drinking water before any of them and still do, a lot. Wonder if that was the gateway to everything else.

Come to think of it, I too recall the rampant use of H2O before the alcohol. To this day I have a faucet as well as a cold water tap on the fridge. And all this time I've thought I was fixed after giving up spirits, ditchweed and smokes. Cracky, even Grandma was in on the water conspiracy 8-o.
 

levsweld

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Pretty sad article I'd say. The publishers must have not enough to write about to meet their quota, so they write about useless garbage they think of. I think nicotine has never been a gateway drug. It's just part of a phase. Experimentation. I smoke at the age of 12 for a while, then stopped because I didn't wanna get 'addicted'. For a few years I was fine, but I drank alcohol and smoked pot because I enjoyed it, peer pressure was irrelevant and surely nicotine had nothing to do with it. And in high school, when I started smoking again, My marks weren't low because of An addiction, it was low because I wasn't motivated to care about school. If a publisher was smart, they would write articles about how the educational system can re-establish focus to students into wanting better marks. Such as, really enforcing that the marks you get in high school, and which courses you take will affect your variety of career choices after you graduate. And if you don't focus in school, and you decide you want to be something one day and realize you needed a better Physics 12 mark, you now have to pay to take it(Online courses are free =D). But back to the point, the article title is very misleading as people said, as people probably click it to find out what sort of effect it may have on your body, only to find out that the best idea they had written about it was being a gateway drug.. ha
 

KDK

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This is all really funny, except it shouldn't be. I started smoking as a regular habit " that is with my parents knowledge and permission " When I was 10 years old. Not that I didn't do it before then, because I did. My older sibling and cousin did it, and would give me a cigarette so I wouldn't tattle on them for smoking. At that time, the only thing that was said was, "you know, that might stunt your growth." When you are 10 years old, that doesn't really regester or make a difference to you. I really think I was already addicted, as I can remember getting up into my Dad's lap when he was smoking to be able to smell it better. I grew up in a household where cigarettes were used by everyone around. All the relatives also used them, and it just seemed like a normal thing to do. Now that I am an adult, and know that smoking isn't good for me, I am alot more into vaping and I haven't had a cigarette for almost 7 months. I don't want to ever start smoking again!
 

Vocalek

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The take-away message that parents need to be vigilent about what their children are up to is all well and good. We all agree with that. But the headline does not fit the story. Nicotine increases alertness and ability to concentrate, which may be why more kids who get into trouble at school happen to be smokers. They may take up smoking because they are (unconsciously) self-medicating for attention deficits, memory problems, or other learning disabilities. They may even be self-medicating for mood problems such as depression and/or anxiety. Nicotine is actually being studied as a treatment for each of these problems. Kids who are moody and getting into trouble at school are at greater risk for alcohol and drug abuse because those chemicals provide an escape from their painful reality. There is no biological rationalle supporting the idea that nicotine causes use of other drugs. If that were true, everyone who ever smoked would have become an alcoholic or drug addict.
 
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