Question: Is tobacco a gateway drug?
Answer: The simple answer is yes. Teens who smoke are more likely to try much stronger drugs, including marijuana, cocaine and heavy alcohol drinking. Here are the findings from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA):
Find out how this advice prevents teen smoking.
- 95% of high school seniors who smoke, tried illicit drugs, while only 27% of non-smokers tried illicit drugs;
- 94% of smoking seniors tried marijuana compared to 20% of non-smoking seniors;
- 49% of smoking seniors tried cocaine, while 5% of non-smoking seniors tried it;
- 18.4% of smoking seniors drank daily compared to 1.7% of non-smoking seniors; and
- 67.9% of smoking seniors did some heavy drinking, while only 17.2% of non-smoking seniors did some heavy drinking.
Take this article one step further:
Parenting Poll: Have you talked to your teen about smoking?
- Yes.
- No..
- Not yet, but I will today.
Parenting Quizzes for Parents of Teens
