DOLE'S ATTACK ON DRUG REPORT INCONSISTENT [08/20]

Bob Dole's complaints about the "national tragedy" of escalating teen drug use ignores a major cause; one which Dole says he will protect.

"The Government's own reports show that every teen who begins smoking tobacco is 100 times more likely to graduate to marijuana, and 30 times more likely to go on to use cocaine," says law professor John Banzhaf, Executive Director of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH).

"Thus it's no surprise that a 30% increase in teen smoking over the past few years has also led to a 78% overall increase in the use of illegal drugs by teens during the same period. What is surprising is Dole's insistence that the tobacco industry be protected from any governmental regulation whatsoever."

According to Banzhaf, recent studies show that cigarette advertising and promotion is the major factor in persuading young people to begin smoking; it's twice as important as either peer pressure, or smoking by a parent or other family member. Moreover, almost all smokers begin their use of nicotine þ a drug we now know can be as addictive as cocaine þ when they are still children.

"For this reason, Dole's declared intention to prevent the FDA from adopting regulations to limit the sale and advertising of tobacco products to children seems inconsistent with his concern about teen drug abuse."

Nicotine is often called the "gateway drug," because its use by teens so often serves as a gateway to illegal drug use. Studies show that:

  • about 65% of cocaine users started by smoking cigarettes

  • adults who started to smoke early (before the age of 15) are 3 times (300%) as likely to be regular hard drug users as those who started smoking at 18 or older

  • children who smoke daily are 13 times (1300%) more likely to use heroin than children who smoke less often

  • adolescents believe that smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol is the first step down the path toward illegal drug use.

    "A national war on drugs can't ignore the drug which is the most deadly and addictive of all, and the one which so often leads as a stepping stone to the use of all other drugs," Banzhaf argues.

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