In 1996, 21.0 percent of 8th graders, 30.4 percent of 10th graders, and 34.0 percent of 12th graders had smoked cigarettes during the past month. In 1995, among college students, 39.3 percent had smoked cigarettes within the past year and 26.8 percent within the past month. Of those young adults aged 19 to 28, about 39 percent had smoked cigarettes within the past year and 29.4 percent within the past month. People aged 18 through 25 have the highest rates of smoking. In this age group, 38.3 percent had smoked cigarettes within the month preceding the 1996 survey.
Current smokers are more likely to be heavy drinkers and illicit drug users.
Nicotine is absorbed readily from tobacco smoke in the lungs. With regular use, levels of nicotine accumulate in the body during the day and persist overnight. Thus, daily cigarette smokers are exposed to the effects of nicotine for 24 hours each day. Nicotine taken in by cigarette smoking takes only seconds to reach the brain but has a direct effect on the body for up to 30 minutes. The tar in a cigarette, which varies from about 15 mg for a regular cigarette to 7 mg in a low-tar cigarette, exposes the user to a high expectancy rate of lung cancer, emphysema, and bronchial disorders.