5.10 Other drug use

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5.1 Introduction

5.2 Stages in the uptake of smoking

5.3 Factors influencing uptake by young people—overview

5.4 Physiological aspects

5.5 Individual personality traits and psychiatric influences

5.6 Intentions, attitudes and beliefs

5.7 The home environment

5.8 The smoking behaviour of peers, and peer attitudes and norms

5.9 The educational environment: achievements, aspirations and 'school connectedness'

5.10 Other drug use

5.11 Accessibility of tobacco products to young smokers

5.12 Affordability of tobacco products

5.13 Opportunity to smoke

5.14 Cultural background

5.15 Tobacco advertising and promotion targeted at young people

5.16 Products and packaging created to appeal to new users

5.17 Factors influencing uptake of smoking later in life

5.18 Uptake—a concluding note

5.19 What is meant by prevention?

5.20 Approaches to youth smoking prevention

5.21 Mass media strategies/campaigns

5.22 Interactive technology and multimedia

5.23 School-based interventions

5.24 Peer influence and education

5.25 Parent/family/home targeted interventions

5.26 Reducing tobacco access and supply

5.27 Reducing product appeal

5.28 Promotion and visibility of tobacco

5.29 Denormalising smoking

5.30 Taxation and pricing of tobacco products

5.31 Harnessing predictors of uptake to prevent smoking

5.32 Preventing smoking in more 'at risk' groups

Acknowledgments

References

As noted in Section 5.5 tobacco use in adolescence is associated with other risky behaviours, including other drug use. Australian and international research consistently shows that smokers are more likely to drink alcohol, use cannabis and other illicit drugs39, 44, 56 and sniff glue or petrol51 than non-smokers.

In 2004, for Australians aged between 12–19 who were former or current smokers or drinkers, the average age for having their first cigarette or full glass of alcohol was very similar, at about 14 years of age. Initiation of cannabis use among those who had had a 'hit' in the same age bracket occurred at an average age of about 15 years, and first use of ecstasy occurred at an average age of 16 and a half.3 In Australian secondary schoolchildren aged between 12–17 who reported having used other substances in the previous 12 months, almost half of those using illicit drugs, have on occasion used tobacco at the same time. Forty-eight percent of cannabis users, 46% who had taken ecstasy, 45% who had used amphetamines and 41% using hallucinogens had used tobacco concurrently.116

However in some settings it appears that it is the wish to use cannabis that leads to tobacco addiction, tobacco being used initially as a means of facilitating the smoking of cannabis117, 118 (see Chapter 6, Section 6.10). This pattern of use has been reported among some Australian and Torres Strait Islander populations119 (see Chapter 8, Section 8.11.2). Victorian research has found that adolescents and young adults who use cannabis on a regular basis are more likely to progress to tobacco initiation and dependence, even after controlling for obvious potential confounding factors such as peer group and family influences.120 The authors of this study suggest a number of reasons why the behaviours may be interlinked, including the propensity for tobacco and cannabis to be used in combination, biological mechanisms, and nicotine functioning as a way of ameliorating withdrawal symptoms from cannabis use.

The connection between smoking and the use of other drugs is likely to be due to a combination of individual, social and environmental factors. There also is some evidence that the biological changes caused in the brain by early exposure to nicotine may also influence neurological response to other drugs, such as alcohol and cannabis, and other drugs of abuse, leading to a greater risk of ongoing use and addiction.39