Since the mid-1960s, cigarette manufacturers have been targeting youth, ages 12 to 21, to smoke cigarettes by adding different flavors, such as menthol, to their cigarettes. The flavored cigarette business has continued to add new, “cool” flavors such as cinnamon and spice, vanilla, lemon menthol, berry, watermelon, and mocha. Additionally, the cigarettes are packaged in shiny, colorful tins with cartoons or hip-hop images, making it very appealing to youth.

The fruit- and candy-flavored enhanced cigarettes are just as addicting and harmful as traditional cigarettes and can provide a gateway for youth to develop severe tobacco addiction or to start using alcohol and other illicit drugs. According to the American Lung Association, approximately 4,000 kids smoke their first cigarette each day and one-third of those will become addicted.

The good news is that on June 22, 2009, President Obama signed a new anti-tobacco law, the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, to allow the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to help monitor and control the advertising and sale of tobacco products, including flavored cigarettes, to youth.

For more info:
Smoking and Teens Fact Sheet - American Lung Association site

http://www.lungusa.org/atf/cf/%7B7A8D42C2-FCCA-4604-8ADE-7F5D5E762256%7D/candyreport.pdf

Obama signs bill putting tobacco products under FDA oversight - CNN.com


Tarzana Treatment Centers in Los Angeles provides smoking cessation programs in alcohol and drug treatment as part of our commitment to integrated behavioral healthcare.  For more information, please call us now at 800-996-1051 or contact us here.

Southern California Locations for Alcohol and Drug Treatment
Tarzana Treatment Centers has locations all over Southern California in Los Angeles County. Other than our central location in Tarzana, we have facilities in Lancaster in the Antelope Valley, Long Beach, and in Northridge and Reseda in the San Fernando Valley.

For individuals with alcoholism or drug addiction who also consume tobacco products, nicotine is typically the last drug that they decide to give up.  There are various reasons why individuals in recovery from alcohol and drugs may decide to delay quitting tobacco use.  One of those reasons may be fear of gaining weight.  While some weight gain is normal (between 5 and 10 pounds during the first few months of tobacco cessation), there are several strategies that can be implemented to successfully keep weight under control.  Fear of weight gain should in no way impede a person's recovery from all harmful addictions.

Similar to other types of stimulant use, weight is affected because nicotine acts as an appetite suppressant.  If a person decides to quit smoking, they will need to be mindful of not replacing their smoking behavior with an increased consumption of food.  Food should not be used as a replacement for smoking.  Instead, a person can reach for a healthy snack or a piece of fruit and as much as possible remove tempting, high fat foods from the home.  With some attention to eating behavior, particularly the types and amounts of foods consumed, someone can safely make adjustments to minimize weight gain.  If a person's eating habits remain the same as they were when they smoked, any extra weight gain could be easily taken off with a daily 30 minute brisk walk or other type of exercise activity.  Always avoid alcohol consumption, which is not only high in calories, but can be a significant trigger back to smoking behavior.

Weight gain when you quit smoking shouldn’t prevent your determination to stay off all drugs and substances. Be good and patient with yourself because quitting smoking and recovering from alcohol and drugs is a process over time. The benefit of quitting now is that you will significantly increase your odds of having a healthy long-term recovery.  Don't let the fear of weight gain keep you chained to an addiction that will kill you, given the chance.  

For more information, please visit:

http://www.smokefree.gov/pubs/FFree3.pdf

http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/health/w8quit-smoke/

Tarzana Treatment Centers in Los Angeles makes a daily effort to find treatment news articles that we can share with our readers in the alcohol and drug treatment community.  The external content was found among other articles of equal informational and educational quality.

Southern California Locations for Alcohol and Drug Treatment
Tarzana Treatment Centers has locations all over Southern California in Los Angeles County and Orange County. Other than our central location in Tarzana, we have facilities in Lancaster in the Antelope Valley, Long Beach, in Northridge and Reseda in the San Fernando Valley, and in Santa Ana.

You might know someone engaged in alcohol and drug treatment or recovery who is trying to quit smoking, and want to help them achieve that goal.  Sometimes we don’t know what to say, how to motivate, how to deal with relapse, etc. when it comes to helping someone in alcohol and drug treatment or recovery quit and maintain a non-smoking status.  Click on the following link for some simple “Do’s and Don’ts” that everyone can use in helping someone undergoing alcohol or drug treatment or in recovery quit smoking.

Here is the link:

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/PED/content/PED_10_3x_Help_Someone_Quit.asp

Tarzana Treatment Centers is dedicated to educating tobacco smokers and assisting in smoking cessation programs.  Along with in-house programs and policies for patients and staff, we develop projects aimed at assisting other alcohol and drug treatment centers and primary care clinics to develop their own.

Southern California Locations for Alcohol and Drug Treatment
Tarzana Treatment Centers has locations all over Southern California in Los Angeles County and Orange County. Other than our central location in Tarzana, we have facilities in Lancaster in the Antelope Valley, Long Beach, in Northridge and Reseda in the San Fernando Valley, and in Santa Ana.

It should come as no surprise that U.S. military personnel and veterans use tobacco at higher rates than the general public.  The common picture, film, or portrait of soldiers typically includes someone smoking a cigarette, pipe or cigar.  There are several reasons for this long-term trend, and knowing them can help reduce future harm.  But those who are already tobacco addicts need to be educated and treated.

Education is needed to correct misconceptions among smokers.  The great majority of U.S. citizens, including smokers, know that cigarette smoking is harmful to one’s health and those around them.  But smokers also believe that tobacco brings relaxation, or an escape.  This belief leads a nicotine addict to ignore the harms and cherish the imagined benefits.

Tobacco smoking habits typically begin during military service for veterans.  Upon returning to civilian life, addicted to nicotine, the “learned behavior” that smoking cigarettes calms discourages them from quitting for health reasons.  It is so deeply engrained that education is necessary to change the thought process.

Education is a part of the whole nicotine addiction treatment process.  Treatment also needs to include individual and group counseling, as well as replacement therapy with nicotine patches, gums, or lozenges.  These can be included in an alcohol and drug treatment program, offering convenience and better health outcomes.

Tarzana Treatment Centers offers smoking cessation programs for interested patients in alcohol and drug treatment.  Our integrated behavioral healthcare program allows U.S. Veterans to receive alcohol and drug treatment, tobacco addiction treatment, and mental health treatment all under one roof, when the need arises.

The Department of Veterans Affairs offers some good information for veterans about tobacco use.  A portion of an article is below.  

-- Begin external content --

Veterans who receive their health care through VA are much more likely to smoke and use tobacco than the rest of the U.S. population. They also are heavier smokers and have higher rates of smoking-related illnesses. Many veterans have told us that they first began smoking in the military. In fact, during World War II and the Korean War, cigarettes were often provided free as part of K- rations. Many in the military thought then that smoking was a good way to help keep soldiers alert and awake in the battlefield and the command, "smoke 'em if you got 'em" is one that many older veterans remember. Recruits may have even been able to earn smoking breaks during military training and boot camp. Unfortunately, this early tobacco use led quickly to a lifetime addiction and a wide list of health-related problems.

-- Source: https://www.myhealth.va.gov/mhvPortal/anonymous.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=healthyLiving&contentPage=healthy_living/smoking_cessation_intro.htm --

Tarzana Treatment Centers in Los Angeles makes a daily effort to find treatment news articles that we can share with our readers in the alcohol and drug treatment community.  The external content was found among other articles of equal informational and educational quality.

Southern California Locations for Alcohol and Drug Treatment
Tarzana Treatment Centers has locations all over Southern California in Los Angeles County and Orange County. Other than our central location in Tarzana, we have facilities in Lancaster in the Antelope Valley, Long Beach, in Northridge and Reseda in the San Fernando Valley, and in Santa Ana.