‘Even one cigarette can cause addiction’ warning comes in light of high youth social smoking rates

A leading public health charity have warned that even one cigarette can cause addiction, pair this with the fact that two thirds of smokers start before they reach the age of 18 and we start to see the dangerous trend of social smoking emerge.

Most young people are now very aware of the dangers smoking entails, with the majority of schools implementing educational programs and information and help more readily available than ever before, smoking is widely regarded as a very dangerous habit. So why are 30% of students doing it socially?

Amanda Sandford, ASH’s information manager said “Given the harm that smoking causes, any level of smoking is of concern, particularly among young people because addiction can begin very quickly”

With nights out, socialising and new friends, many university students have said they face a hard task in avoiding the lure of social smoking.

“It’s a bonding experience one student said, I wouldn’t think to myself ‘oh I need a cigarette I’m going to go out and have one’ but if a friend goes for one I’ll join them.”

Another student added “I would never consider myself a smoker, but on nights out or when we’re all together we all smoke, it just makes the night more enjoyable and the 2 or 3 I have a month aren’t as damaging as if I smoked every day.”

Cancer research warns smoking between 1 and 14 cigarettes a day for a year, the same amount a social smoker tends to consume, means you are at least seven times more likely to die from lung cancer than people who have never smoked.

ASH are working on eliminating the harm caused by tobacco, they aim to inform not to condemn smokers.

“The important issue is not so much the frequency of smoking but whether a child starts or not Amanda the information manager warns, “no doubt more could be done to strengthen the message about the addictiveness of nicotine”

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