The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA), October 2007

The Citizens’ Commission to Protect the Truth asked CASA to assemble the scientific evidence of the impact of nicotine on the adolescent brain, conduct original analyses of data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) on the relationship between teen smoking, alcohol and illegal drug abuse and addiction and mental health, and issue a report on its findings.  The study found that the nicotine in tobacco products poses a significant danger of structural and chemical changes in developing brains that can make teens more vulnerable to alcohol and other drug addiction and to mental illness.

The study also found that:

• Compared to 12- to 17- year olds who don’t smoke, those who do are more than five times likelier to drink and 13 times likelier to use marijuana than nonsmokers;
• Compared to those who never smoked, those who began smoking at 12 or younger are nearly 15 times likelier to smoke marijuana;
• Compared to those who never smoked, those who began smoking at 12 or younger are nearly seven times likelier to use other illegal drugs such as heroin and cocaine.
• Compared to those who never smoked, those who began smoking at 12 or younger are sixteen times likelier to meet the medical criteria for marijuana abuse and dependence;
• Among teens ages 12 to 17, twice as many smokers as nonsmokers suffered from symptoms depression in the past year; and
• Teens who reported early initiation of smoking were more likely to experience serious feelings of hopelessness, depression and worthlessness in the past year.

The full report can be found at http://www.casacolumbia.org