Menthol Cigarettes More Addictive to U.S. Minorities

Menthol cigarettes appear to be more addictive for black and Hispanic smokers than regular cigarettes, a U.S. study has found.
Researchers from the School of Public Health at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) analyzed data on 7,815 current and former smokers who'd reported at least one attempt to quit. The information came from the 2005 National Health Interview Survey.
Among adults who smoked menthol cigarettes, just 44 percent of blacks and 48 percent of Hispanics were able to kick the habit. But blacks and Hispanics who smoked regular cigarettes had higher quit rates -- 62 percent and 61 percent, respectively. Those rates were similar to quit rates for white adults.
The data also showed that non-whites tended to smoke fewer cigarettes a day and were about three times more likely than whites to smoke menthol cigarettes, the study authors noted.
"Historically, tobacco companies have targeted minority populations when marketing menthol cigarettes," study co-author Cristine Delnevo, director of the Center for Tobacco Surveillance and Evaluation Research at UMDNJ, said in a university news release.
"Although whites and non-whites have similar smoking prevalence rates, the fact that non-whites are more likely to smoke menthols, and those who smoke menthols are less likely to quit, could explain why minority populations continue to suffer disproportionately from tobacco-caused disease and death," she said.
Study author Daniel Gundersen said in the news release that "with the substantial number of smokers smoking menthol cigarettes, particularly among minorities, this is serious cause for concern."

Are Your Teenagers Still Being Pressured Into Smoking

In the world we live in today and in the past, many of our children are exposed to smoking on a daily basis. The kids have to deal with either smoking cigarettes or the peer pressure from a lot of their friends to try marijuana for the first time. It really does not matter if it is cigarettes or marijuana, they are both bad for your lungs. Some parents think that if their kids smoke marijuana when they are young, although it may not be good for them to experiment with, studies do show that most kids that do try it, usually do not keep that habit very long.

With marijuana the kids are just trying to be cool and fit in with their class mates an a lot of them do at least try it, but studies has proven that about 80% of them never end up smoking it after high school is over. It seems as if they lose interest in those high school days and the marijuana as well. But the same thing does not apply when it comes to smoking cigarettes, most kids want to try cigarettes for the first time just trying to fit in with the crowd. This is the age, and even before, that the parent should really express the important facts about not trying cigarettes or marijuana for the first time.

It is a proven fact that about 80% of kids that try cigarettes for the first time find themselves a few years later wanting to know why they just can not seem to be able to kick the habit of smoking cigarettes. Out of the high school, kids who try smoking cigarettes in high school are now hooked on a drug that has been covered up liked classified information. This is exactly what the cigarette companies know that they have created. There is no reason to advertise any more on television because their tobacco products are so entrenched in some parts of society, peer pressure is doing it for them.

All you have to do now days is just look around out in public at how many of us are lighting up on a regular basis. The kids that see this are just kids, but that does not mean their curiosity is not gotten by what they see. So, as parents we need to make sure that our kids are not being led into smoking cigarettes because when tobacco is compared to other addictive drugs, there really is no difference in the addictive quality or the damage it can cause to your health.