Tobacco Sales to Youth. FFY 2011 Annual SYNAR Reports.

摘要

Tobacco use is the leading cause of death and disease in the United States, with 443,000 deaths annually attributed to smoking or exposure to secondhand smoke (CDC, 2008). Nearly all tobacco use begins during youth and young adulthood. In fact, among adults who have ever smoked daily, 88 percent report that they first smoked by the age of 18, with 99 percent reporting that they first smoked by the age of 26. Furthermore, more than one-third (36.7 percent) of adults who have ever smoked report trying their first cigarette by the age of 14 (USDHHS, 2012). These data suggest that if youth are prevented from smoking while they are young, they will be unlikely to begin smoking as adults. Tobacco use is also highly associated with the use of alcohol and illicit drugs. Specifically, over half (52.9 percent) of youths aged 12 to 17 who smoked cigarettes in the past month also used an illicit drug compared with 6.2 percent of youths who did not smoke cigarettes. Similarly, close to half (43.7 percent) of current cigarette users age 12 and over also report binge drinking in the past month, compared to 16.9 percent of current nonsmokers (SAMHSA, 2011).