Weed and Nicotine: I Bet You Didn't Learn This In School

When I was in the 5^th grade all students at my school were required to participate in the D.A.R.E. program that taught kids about the dangers of drug and alcohol use. The most common topic was smoking. Every time the D.A.R.E. officer mentioned smoking he would always say that everyone who smoked was addicted to it. A less talked about drug was marijuana. It was about the 8^th grade when I saw friends and classmates start to smoke weed and cigarettes. Many of those friends are addicted to smoking today. Seeing all of my friends become addicted to smoking made me wonder if there was a connection between the two substances and if so, why weren't we taught as students about the dangers of both?

A study was conducted to determine if frequent marijuana use is associated with nicotine addiction adolescents. Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit substance in the world. Studies have found that adults that co-use marijuana and tobacco have and increased risked of being a nicotine addict and have a harder time quitting smoking. Since most addicted adults develop their dependence on nicotine during adolescence, it is important to study the effects on teens. The goal of the study was to determine the relationship between marijuana use and nicotine dependence on adolescents.

200 teens from ages 13-17 participated in the study. Of the 200, 35 did not meet the requirements of the study because they either had not smoked at least once in the past 30 days or refused to answer questions about marijuana use. The participants were given in-person surveys that asked about their marijuana and nicotine smoking habits within the 30 days. The survey also included questions that pertained to race, gender, years of smoking, etc. The results concluded that 51 students reported smoking cigarettes daily while 111 reported smoking, but not daily. 79.5% of all of the participants reported marijuana use in the 30 days, 43 using weekly and 62 daily. These findings suggest that marijuana does play a role in nicotine dependence among adolescents. One of the reasons for this could be that they both have the same method of use, so smoking one substance can cue cravings for another and as a result reinforce the pattern of use.

  The results indicate a need for treatment and prevention programs that address both marijuana and tobacco use. Better education and knowledge could deter kids away from smoking either substance. As with all studies, there are some limitations in this research. There was a fairly small sample size of students who were from the same area. There was also not a lot of information on when the marijuana use started in regards to cigarette smoking. 

Abstract

Rubinstein ML, Rait MA, Prochaska JJ. Frequent marijuana use is associated with greater nicotine addiction in adolescent smokers. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2014 Aug 1; 141:159-62.