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Message #4379 posted by DdC (Info) June 01, 2003 03:27:46 ET
In Reply to: US cigarettes v organic cannabis/tobacco posted by DdC (Info) June 01, 2003 03:17:09 ET
Tobacco Vs. Marijuana
Date: March 8, 1998
Source: Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL)
Author: Stephen Young
Daily Herald editorial writers articulated our national schizophrenia regarding drug policy recently as they rallied for universal condemnation of marijuana ("Marijuana use isn't harmless," Feb. 17) while days later they favored concessions and continued leniency for the tobacco industry ("Without immunity, tobacco deal fails," Feb. 19). These views may be popular, but when analyzed side by side they defy logic.
Tobacco addicts millions and it leads hundreds of thousands to early death each year, including second-hand smokers who didn't even make the choice to use it. No one suggests tobacco has
medical value.
Marijuana, on the other hand, has been recommended by doctors to patients suffering from AIDS, the side effects of chemotherapy and a variety of spastic muscle disorders, among other maladies. It is not physically addicting and human deaths related to marijuana use have not been credibly documented.
There is no argument about the need to keep children away from both substances, but the strategies are radically different. Somehow marijuana will be kept away from kids by exaggerating its risks and enforcing increasingly strict penalties for any use, even doctor-sanctioned medical use. But when it comes to tobacco, the industry should be trusted to keep kids away from their product, even though documents now show how representatives lied for decades about active marketing to children.
Both strategies retreat from honesty and rationality as if they were the plague. They have failed and will continue to fail.
To show how ludicrous these "solutions" are, think about reversing them. Imagine a world where marijuana manufacturers are allowed the power to negotiate regulation even as they receive subsidies from the federal government, while pot is available at virtually every gas station and grocery store. In that same world, imagine citizens who risk forfeiting their liberty and property for possessing the smallest amount of tobacco, while they are scolded by editorialists for not thinking negatively enough about the demon drug.
Sound insane? Perhaps, but how much crazier is it than what we have now?
Stephen Young
Roselle, IL
Name: Chris
Email: maxthedog1@aol.com
Home Page:
Subject: tobacco vs marijuana
Date: 10/13/96
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In Reply to: Help!! No legalizing Marijuana, please!!! posted by erectus
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Concern, I believe is a wonderful thing.
Reality is even better.
The reality is that the drugs that are legal in this country:
Tobacco, caffeine, and alcohol are much more dangerous than marijuana has ever been.
An other problem is the way illegal drugs are all lumpped together into one category.
Marijuana is much less of a real danger than all other drugs,
legal or otherwise (excepting maybe caffeine).
Please stop and think for a while.
Are your fears reasonable or have you simply inherited them?
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EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 8 AUGUST 2000 AT 14:00 ET US
Contact: Jacki Flowers
jflowers@partners.org
617-724-2753
Massachusetts General Hospital
Nearly half of college students used tobacco in one-year period, according to JAMA study
The first national study to report on both cigarette and non-cigarette tobacco use by college students finds that nearly one-half of college students (46 percent) reported using tobacco
products in the previous year. The study is reported in the Aug. 9 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association and was conducted by researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) College Alcohol Study. By including the use of cigars and smokeless tobacco, the study finds a greater prevalence of tobacco use among college students than have previous reports that looked only at cigarette use.
The study, conducted under a grant from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is based on responses from a nationally representative sample of 14,138 college students surveyed in 1999. It involves students at 119 colleges in 39 states. The study survey asked students whether they had smoked a cigarette, cigar, pipe, or used smokeless tobacco in the past 30 days or in the past 12 months. "Current use" was considered as use in the past 30 days, and one third of college students were current tobacco users. The study was released at a JAMA media briefing held in conjunction with the World Conference on Tobacco or Health in Chicago.
"Our findings show that college students are using all types of tobacco products. Essentially, college students are playing with fire, putting themselves at risk of a lifelong addiction to nicotine," said lead author Nancy Rigotti, MD, director of Tobacco Research and Treatment at Massachusetts General Hospital and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. "All tobacco products - not just cigarettes - can produce nicotine addiction. Young people who are smoking cigars may not think that they are at risk of getting hooked, but they are. Repeated
exposure to any tobacco product puts students at increased danger of becoming addicted to nicotine."
Although about 28 percent of both male and female students were current cigarette smokers, total tobacco use was much higher among males (38 percent versus 30 percent). The study shows that the difference is almost entirely due to males' much higher use of cigars. Over one-third of college students have ever smoked a cigar, including more than half of males and one quarter of females. Nine percent had smoked a cigar in the past month.
"Because of male cigar consumption, overall tobacco use rates are higher in male students than in females despite identical rates of cigarette smoking," Rigotti said.
The study finds that more than half (51 percent) of college tobacco users used more than one type of tobacco product in the past year. Cigars and cigarettes were the most frequent combination. The study shows that cigar smoking accounts for the largest share of non-cigarette tobacco use and is most popular among freshmen and sophomores and among male students with a strong interest in fraternities, parties and attending sporting events. Less common are smokeless tobacco and pipes (used by 3.7 and 1.2 percent of students respectively), but students also use these in combination with other tobacco products.
Prior to the early 1990s, cigar smoking in the United States was primarily a behavior of older men. Few young adults and few women smoked cigars. But this pattern has changed dramatically, says the study. Cigar use is now common among college students. The authors note that, after cigar manufacturers stepped up their promotional activities in the early 1990s, cigar consumption increased by 50 percent between 1993 and 1998, reversing a 30-year decline. The
authors cite studies in California reporting that cigar use is increasing most rapidly among young adults and is more common among individuals with more education and higher incomes.
"We've left college students exposed to the most addictive drug on the planet by focusing our concern only on those under 18," said Henry Wechsler, PhD, director of the HSPH College Alcohol Study. "We don't do that with alcohol, and we shouldn't do it with tobacco."
The study also found that tobacco use was significantly higher among whites, users of other substances, such as alcohol and marijuana, and among students whose priorities were social rather than educational or athletic. "Use of tobacco products goes along with a generally riskier lifestyle and a strong party orientation," Rigotti said.
On the positive side, most cigar use is occasional, with 90 percent of students who smoke cigars doing so on less than five days in the previous month. In addition, cigarette use for the previous 12 months stabilized in 1999 at 38 percent, after having increased by 28 percent between 1993 and 1997.
According to the study, the college years are a crucial time in the development or abandonment of smoking behavior. Therefore, colleges offer an important opportunity to discourage tobacco use. As a key component to discouraging cigarette and cigar use, the authors recommend making all college buildings, including dormitories and living quarters, smoke-free. "This would protect
nonsmokers from second-hand smoke and reduce the visibility of smoking on campus," said Rigotti. "Smoke-free dormitories may discourage new students from taking up smoking, make it easier for current smokers to stop and even reduce fire hazards."
"Curbing tobacco use of all types should be a national priority," Rigotti added. "Tobacco use is rising among young Americans. If this trend continues, it threatens to reverse the decline in U.S.
adult smoking that we have witnessed over the past half century."
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In addition to Rigotti and Wechsler, Jae Eun Lee, DrPH, of the department of Health and Social Behavior at HSPH was a co-author of the study.
For more information on the Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Study, please visit the website at:
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/cas.
HSPH contact: Bob Brustman, 617-432-3952
brustman@hsph.harvard.edu
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EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 8 AUGUST 2000
Contact: Jacki Flowers
617-724-2753
Center for the Advancement of Health
Tobacco use common among college students
Cigarette use most common; cigar use also substantial
CHICAGO -- Nearly half of college students surveyed report using tobacco products within the past year, according to an article in the August 9 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), a theme issue on tobacco.
Nancy A. Rigotti, MD, director of Tobacco Research and Treatment at Massachusetts General Hospital and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston, and colleagues examined data from surveys submitted by randomly selected students from 119 four-year colleges in the United States in 1999. The data were from the Harvard School of Public Health College Alcohol Survey, which was designed to assess alcohol and other substance use -- including tobacco use. The survey also includes questions about demographic and background characteristics, satisfaction with education and students' interests and lifestyle choices. Of the students randomly selected, 60 percent (14,138 students) responded.
Dr. Rigotti presented the study here today at a JAMA media briefing on tobacco during the World Conference on Tobacco OR Health.
More than half (61.0 percent) of those who responded to the survey have tried a tobacco product, nearly half (45.7) percent reported using tobacco products in the past year and one-third (32.9) percent reported using tobacco products within the past 30 days. Concerning cigarette use, 38.1 percent reported smoking in the past year and 28.5 percent reported smoking within the past 30 days. Among the students who reported being current smokers (having smoked within the past 30 days), 32.0 percent reported smoking less than one cigarette per day, 43.6 percent reported smoking one to ten cigarettes per day and 12.8 percent reported smoking one or more packs of cigarettes per day.
After cigarettes, cigars were the most commonly used tobacco products by the survey respondents. More than one third (37.1 percent) reported having ever smoked a cigar, 23.0 percent reported smoking a cigar within the past year and 8.5 percent reported smoking a cigar within the past 30 days. According to the authors, this is the first national study to report on cigar use among college students. The high rate of cigar smoking by college students is consistent with other data that show a 50 percent increase in cigar consumption in the U.S. between 1993 and 1998, following a 30-year decline. The authors note that until the 1990s, cigar use was rare in young adults and women, but this is no longer the case.
"This study contains several new findings," the researchers write. "It demonstrates that tobacco use among college students is more prevalent than previously appreciated, because tobacco use is not limited to cigarettes. Cigar smoking is substantial, and smokeless tobacco (and, rarely, pipes) are also used. Most tobacco users use more than one tobacco product, with cigars and cigarettes being the most common combination. ... This study also reports some good news. Cigarette use by college students, which increased dramatically between 1993 and 1997, stabilized between 1997 and 1999."
Of the respondents, men reported using tobacco more than women. More than half of the men (53.0 percent) reported having used tobacco in the past year compared with 41.3 percent of women; 37.9 percent of men and 29.7 percent of women reported using tobacco within the past 30 days. "The sex difference in total tobacco use is entirely attributable to a higher prevalence of non-cigarette tobacco use [greater use of cigars, smokeless tobacco products and pipes] among men, because men and women have nearly identical cigarette smoking rates," the authors write.
The researchers found that tobacco use was associated with certain demographic and background characteristics, levels of satisfaction with education and students' interests and lifestyle choices. "Male and white students are more likely to use tobacco than female and non-white students [students that are Hispanic, Asian or black]," according to the authors. "Students who use tobacco are also more likely to smoke marijuana, binge drink, have more sexual partners, have lower grades, rate parties as important and spend more time socializing with friends. Tobacco users are less likely than nonusers to rate athletics or religion as important and to be satisfied with their education."
"College appears to be a time when many students are trying a range of tobacco products and are in danger of developing lifelong nicotine dependence," the authors write. "National efforts to monitor and reduce tobacco use of all types should expand to focus on college students and other young adults."
One solution recommended by the authors is to make all college buildings, including dormitories, smoke-free. Not only would this protect nonsmoking students from the second-hand smoke exposure, but it would also reduce the visibility of smoking on college campuses. They suggest that this might discourage students from starting to smoke, help those who do smoke to stop, and even reduce the hazard of fires in dorms.
Citing other sources, the authors note that: "Tobacco use is increasing among young Americans. Cigarette smoking rates among adolescents increased by 32 percent between 1991 and 1997. Cigarette smoking by young adults (18-24 years) increased by 16 percent between 1995 and 1997. ... If this trend continues, it threatens to reverse the decline in smoking prevalence among U.S. adults that has occurred during the past half century."
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(JAMA. 2000; 284: 699-705)
Editor's Note: This study was supported by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Dr. Rigotti currently receives grant support from Glaxo Wellcome Inc. In the past, she received support from SmithKline Beecham Consumer Healthcare and received honoraria for lectures from McNeil, Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham.
Media Advisory: To contact Nancy A. Rigotti, MD, call Jacki Flowers at 617-724-2753. On Tuesday, August 8, call the Science News Department at 312-464-5374.
For more information about The Journal of the American Medical Association or to obtain a copy of the study, please contact the American Medical Association's Brian Pace at 312-464-4311 or
E-mail Brian_Pace@ama-assn.org.
Posted by the Center for the Advancement of Health
http://www.cfah.org. For information about the Center, call
Petrina Chong, pchong@cfah.org 202-387-2829.
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Did you know that every time you take a puff out of a cigarette, you put
4,700 different chemicals into your body? Well, now you do!
Let me list some of them for you:
* ammonia (a poisonous gas and a powerful
* toilet cleaner-uggh! How would it feel like to have something in common with a toilet?)
* arsenic (a potent poison), cyanide (a deadly ingredient in rat poison)
* acetone ( a poisonous solvent)
* polonium-210 (a highly radioactive element)
* carbon monoxide (a poisonous gas.)
Some of you might think "It'll only kill me if there are high contents" but once you smoke, the chemicals do not leave your body and each time you pick up that cigarette, the chemicals will build up and become very dangerous to your health. Lung cancer, throat cancer, heart disease, strokes and emphysema are just some of the painful, life threatening diseases linked with smoking. Smoking is also associated with cancer of the mouth, pharynx, esophagus, pancreas, cervix, kidney and bladder.
Here's another fact.
Each year, smoking kills more than 400,000 Americans-that's more than alcohol, cocaine, crack, heroin, homicide, suicide, car accidents, fires and AIDS combined!
Do you want to be added on to that list?
You say "Hey, those movie stars and models look cool in the ads when they're smoking, they look healthy and sexy, and even athletes smoke and they must be healthy."
Give me a break!
That's the image tobacco manufacturers promote so you can buy their products. Don't let yourself fall into that trap because all they want is your money. How cool can it be speeding up the process of your death! Let me tell you how it really looks. Your skin will wrinkle faster, your teeth will turn yellow and yucky like you haven/t brushed it for a year, your nails will also turn yellow, your breath will stink, your clothes will stink, your hair will stink, you will stink!
"I know a lot of old people who smoked since they were teens and they're still alive and smoking." They're still alive, but are they healthy? I don't think so.
For parents, did you know..?
* Each day, more than 3,000 young people begin to smoke---or more than one million each year. The majority of the new smokers who replace the old smokers who quit or died prematurely from smoking related diseases are children and teens.
* About half of adolescent smokers have parents who smoke. Teenagers are three times more likely to smoke if their parents do and if at least one older sibling smoke.
About 85% of adolescent smokers who buy their own cigarettes usually buy Marlboro, Newport, or Camel cigarettes, the most heavily marketed brands.
* Most people begin smoking during childhood or adolescence. The average age people first try smoking is 14.5 years, and 88% of persons who have ever tried a cigarette have done so by age 18. 71% of those adults who currently smoke every day started by the age of 18.
Do you want your kids to smoke? Of course not! If you don't want your daughter, your son, your babies to smoke, then maybe you shouldn't.
More Facts?
WE ARE THE TEENS AGAINST TOBACCO USE (TATU).
Smoking Facts
About TATU
Children's Story
WE ARE TOO SMART TO START AND TOO COOL TO SMOKE!
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