One drag turns two thirds of people into smokers
JUST one experimental cigarette leads to two thirds of people going on to be daily smokers, a study has found.
Researchers at Queen Mary University London found that 69 per cent of people who had ever tried a cigarette had gone on to become a daily smoker, even if they later gave up.
The authors said the study showed “the remarkable hold that cigarettes can establish after a single experience”.
They said that the study, published in the journal Nicotine And Tobacco Research, provided support for encouraging teenagers not to experiment with cigarettes. Researchers searched global databases for studies examining cigarette experimentation and smoking habits. Data from eight surveys – with information on more than 215,000 people – were included for analysis.
The team found that 60.3 per cent of respondents said they had tried a cigarette, and among those, 68.9 per cent had progressed to daily smoking.
Prof Peter Hajek, the lead researcher from Queen Mary, said: “This is the first time that the remarkable hold that cigarettes can establish after a single experience has been documented from such a large set of data.
“The conversion rate from ‘first-time smoker’ to ‘daily smoker’ is surprisingly high, which helps confirm the im-
‘Very few who try e-cigarettes become daily vapers. Nicotine is not the whole story’
portance of preventing cigarette experimentation in the first place.
“The UK is seeing a dramatic reduction in smoking at the moment and this tallies with recent findings that only 19 per cent of 11 to 15-year-olds have ever tried a cigarette, so the good news is that we are on the right track.”
Prof Hajek added: “Concerns were expressed that e-cigarettes could be as addictive as cigarettes, but this has not been the case. It is striking that very few non-smokers who try e-cigarettes become daily vapers, while such a large proportion of non-smokers who try conventional cigarettes become daily smokers. The presence of nicotine is clearly not the whole story.”