Posts Tagged ‘tobacco’
Cannabis and tobacco use: where are the boundaries? A qualitative study on cannabis consumption modes among adolescents
The purpose of this article is to identify tobacco and cannabis co-consumptions and consumers’ perceptions of each substance. A qualitative research including 22 youths (14 males) aged 15–21 years in seven individual interviews and five focus groups. Discussions were recorded, transcribed verbatim and transferred to Atlas.ti software for narrative analysis. The main consumption mode is cannabis cigarettes which always mix cannabis and tobacco. Participants perceive cannabis much more positively than tobacco, which is considered unnatural, harmful and addictive. Future consumption forecasts thus more often exclude tobacco smoking than cannabis consumption. A substitution phenomenon often takes place between both substances. Given the co-consumption of tobacco and cannabis, in helping youths quit or decrease their consumptions, both substances should be taken into account in a global approach. Cannabis consumers should be made aware of their tobacco use while consuming cannabis and the risk of inducing nicotine addiction through cannabis use, despite the perceived disconnect between the two substances. Prevention programs should correct made-up ideas about cannabis consumption and convey a clear message about its harmful consequences. Our findings support the growing evidence which suggests that nicotine dependence and cigarette smoking may be induced by cannabis consumption.
New York Cuts Drug Reimbursements, States Trim Tobacco Prevention Funding
Crain’s New York Business: “Independent New York pharmacies say new state budget cuts will drive more drugstores out of business. Albany’s deficit reduction plan calls for $18.5 million in savings from Medicaid and Elderly Pharmaceutical Insurance Coverage (EPIC) pharmacy reimbursement rates…
A review of undergraduate university tobacco control policy process in Canada
The college years occur during the stage of life when many people develop permanent smoking habits, and approximately one-third go on to become addicted smokers. The 18–24 year demographic that makes up the majority of undergraduate attendees represents the earliest years that the tobacco industry now can legally attempt to lure new customers into smoking. This research investigated the ways in which university tobacco control policies are developed, introduced to students, faculty and staff and how they are implemented and enforced. Findings show that tobacco control initiatives at Canadian undergraduate universities face a wide range of challenges including a lack of dedicated and consistent tobacco control personnel, ownership issues, funding, enforcement and monitoring dilemmas. Participants also reported that the layout and geographic location of the campus can result in difficulties in implementation. Consequently, it appears that there may be a growing, although inadvertent, tolerance for smoking on Canadian campuses.
Do we believe the tobacco industry lied to us? Association with smoking behavior in a military population
Despite the dangers of smoking, tobacco companies continue to impede tobacco control efforts through deceptive marketing practices. Media campaigns that expose these practices have been effective in advancing anti-industry attitudes and reducing smoking initiation among young people, yet the association between knowledge of industry practices and smoking cessation and relapse has not been studied. In a large military sample entering Air Force Basic Military Training (BMT), where tobacco use is prohibited, we investigated (i) the prevalence of agreement with a statement that tobacco companies have misled the public about the health consequences of smoking and (ii) the association of this acknowledgement with smoking status upon entry into BMT (N = 36 013). At baseline, 56.6% agreed that tobacco companies have been deceptive, and agreement was a strong predictor of smoking status [smokers less likely to agree, odds ratio (OR) = 0.39, P < 0.01]. At 12-month follow-up, we examined the association between industry perception at baseline and current smoking status (N = 20 672). Recruits who had been smoking upon entry into BMT and who had acknowledged industry deception were less likely to report current smoking (OR = 0.84, P = 0.01). These findings suggest that anti-industry attitudes may affect smoking relapse following cessation.
‘Imagine all that smoke in their lungs’: parents’ perceptions of young children’s tolerance of tobacco smoke
Despite knowing the risks to their children’s health, parents continue to expose their children to tobacco smoke prior to and after their birth. This study explores the factors influencing parent’s behaviour in preventing the exposure of their (unborn) children to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) and any changes to their smoking behaviour in the home during the first years of their children’s lives. Whether or not they stopped smoking during pregnancy, the women did not protect themselves from breathing in other people’s smoke. Yet once the baby was born, parents actively protected the baby from environmental tobacco, believing that the lungs of newborn babies were too immature to tolerate smoke. This protection lasted only for a matter of weeks for some babies, or stopped when they were 6–12 months old, linked to their parent’s belief that older babies could tolerate or avoid smoke. These findings suggest that changes made to smoking during the first weeks of a baby’s life are unlikely to be sustained, and key messages about the risks if ETS exposure need to be delivered repeatedly over the first 2 years of life and re-enforced as the child gets older.
Sustaining ‘truth’: changes in youth tobacco attitudes and smoking intentions after 3 years of a national antismoking campaign
This study examines how the American Legacy Foundation’s ‘truth®’ campaign and Philip Morris’s ‘Think. Don’t Smoke’ (TDS) campaign have influenced youth’s tobacco-related attitudes, beliefs and intentions during the first 3 years of the truth campaign. We use data from eight nationally representative cross-sectional telephone surveys of 35 074 12- to 17-year olds to estimate cross-sectional time series logistic regressions that assess the association between recall of truth and TDS and attitudes, beliefs, and intentions toward smoking. An alternative measure of exposure to TDS was also used. Findings indicate that exposure to truth advertisements (ads) was associated with steady positive changes in attitudes, beliefs and intentions to smoke, whereas exposure to Philip Morris ads was associated with more favorable beliefs and attitudes toward the tobacco industry. Our findings suggest that well-executed antismoking campaigns can positively and consistently change youth’s beliefs and attitudes, whereas a tobacco industry-sponsored campaign can have a counterproductive influence.
An examination of the association between seeing smoking in films and tobacco use in young adults in the west of Scotland: cross-sectional study
The objective is to examine the association between the amount of smoking seen in films and current smoking in young adults living in the west of Scotland in the UK. Cross-sectional analyses (using multivariable logistic regression) of data collected at age 19 (2002–04) from a longitudinal cohort originally surveyed at age 11 (1994–95) were conducted. The main outcome measure is smoking at age 19. No association was found between the number of occurrences of smoking estimated to have been seen in films (film smoking exposure) and current (or ever) smoking in young adults. This lack of association was unaffected by adjustment for predictors of smoking, including education, risk-taking orientation and smoking among peers. There was no association between film smoking exposure and smoking behaviour for any covariate-defined subgroup. Associations have been found between film smoking exposure and smoking initiation in younger adolescents in the United States. In this study, conducted in Scotland, no similar association was seen, suggesting that there may be age or cultural limitations on the effects of film smoking exposure on smoking. The lack of association could be due to methodological issues or greater sophistication of older adolescents and young adults in interpreting media images or the greater ubiquity of real-life smoking instances in Scotland. If the latter, film smoking exposure could become a more important risk factor for smoking uptake and maintenants in older adolescents following the recent ban on smoking in public places in Scotland.
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