Tobacco’s Most Vulnerable Victims

THE Surgeon General’s Report of 1989 indicates that the younger a person is when he starts smoking, the more likely he is to die of lung cancer. “Smokers who start after age 25 have lung cancer rates 5 times of the non-smoker; smokers starting between 20 and 24 years of age have rates 9 times higher. Smokers starting between 15 and 19 have rates 14 times higher and those starting before age 15 have cancer rates 19 times higher than non-smokers.”

In many cases smoking is just the beginning of the drug trip. Youngsters between the ages of 12 and 17 who smoke were found to be 10 times more likely to be using marijuana and 14 times more likely to be using cocaine, hallucinogens, or heroin. Many studies indicate that over 90 percent of alcoholics and heroin addicts are heavy smokers.

A recent Gallup poll showed that 64 percent of teenagers favored a ban on cigarettes for those under 21 and that “the only significant opposition to such laws in legislatures comes from adults who make money selling cigarettes to young people.”​—Psychiatric, Mental Health, and Behavioral Medicine News Update, March-April 1990, page 1.