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Across the country, billions of dollars are spent on tobacco prevention: keeping kids away from cigarettes. But what about teens who’ve already started to smoke? Experts say they get much less attention, but many need help to break their addiction.

19-year-old Ryan Soto has quit smoking – twice.

“For the first few days it’s usually not that bad,” says Ryan. “But about day four and day five I start to get a little twitchy and I start to get irritable with people.”

He’s never made it past day seven.

“It’s usually about six, seven days before I say, ‘Ugh, to heck with it, I’m not going to make it,’” he says.

Teens admit that a smoking addiction can happen fast.

It only took a month of smoking, says 22-year-old R.J. Williams, and he was hooked.

“Probably within like, maybe two to three weeks,” says R.J. “You start thinking about it more and more, and then before you know it, it’s like, ‘man, I want to smoke.’”

And that’s why experts say that, when parents discover their teen is smoking, they need to take immediate action.

“It may require more than just telling them they need to quit,” says Ramona Bennett, a tobacco cessation coordinator for the Division of Public Health in Georgia. “It may mean that they need treatment of some sort.”

Bennett says you should consult your doctor. Research from the National Institutes of Health, meanwhile, suggests teens who use nicotine gum or a patch are more likely to quit smoking than those who do not.

“Counseling and nicotine replacement therapy together can triple the rate of quitting success,” says Bennett.

What’s more, she says, a quit-smoking program can show kids what cigarettes do to their body.

“This is a tar jar,” says Bennett, holding up a mayonnaise jar full of black, semi-liquid tar. “And if you smoke a pack a day, every day for a year, a year’s worth of tar ends up in your lungs.”

Finally, she says, teens need counseling to address the triggers that encourage them to light up.

“If you wake up in the morning and you have a cigarette then, what are you going to do in place of that cigarette?” asks Bennett. “You have to have a plan, and it’s good to write it down, too.”

Smokers can also receive counseling over the phone. Just call 1-800-QUIT-NOW (1-800-784-8669) from anywhere in the country.

What We Need To Know

• Realize a smoking addiction can happen fast. Teens are at risk for becoming addicted to cigarettes soon after they learn to inhale. That’s when nicotine starts getting into their bloodstream. If you discover your child smoking, don’t dismiss the behavior as a passing phase. (Ramona Bennett, Tobacco Cessation Coordinator, Georgia Division of Public Health)




• Try to find your child a tobacco cessation program in your area. Often, the programs are based in schools. (Ramona Bennett, Tobacco Cessation Coordinator, Georgia Division of Public Health)




• If your child is trying to quit smoking, ask your doctor to consider prescribing nicotine replacement therapy. According to research from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, teens who use a nicotine patch are eight times more likely to quit smoking than those who use a placebo patch. Teens who use nicotine gum are almost three times more likely to quit than those who use placebo gum. Your doctor can determine the correct dose. (National Institute on Drug Abuse)




• Since teens are often unable to see the long-term consequences of smoking, explain to them the current effects to their health. Nicotine is a stimulant that causes their heart rate to increase and their blood pressure to go up. Also, nicotine will change the chemistry of their brain, leading to addiction. Quitting smoking can improve the shortness of breath often felt during exercise. (Ramona Bennett, Tobacco Cessation Coordinator, Georgia Division of Public Health)




• Help teens understand that if they resist the urge to smoke, eventually it will pass. The urge to smoke will come back, but they must fight the urge each and every time. (Ramona Bennett, Tobacco Cessation Coordinator, Georgia Division of Public Health)




• Teens may need counseling to help break the addiction. The counselor can help them come up with a plan to deal with the physical, mental, and social aspects of the addiction. (Ramona Bennett, Tobacco Cessation Coordinator, Georgia Division of Public Health)

Resources

• National Institute on Drug Abuse, Teen Tobacco Addiction Treatment Research Clinic
• Ramona Bennett. Tobacco Cessation Coordinator, Georgia Division of Public Health
• Centers for Disease Control

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