For many alcoholics, smoking is a behavioral and chemical trigger for drinking, and getting clean from cigarettes is a major step toward reducing cravings for alcohol. Many alcoholics in recovery have successfully quit smoking after they quit drinking. Studies have shown also that alcoholics can quit drinking and smoking at the same time, and modern treatment centers are increasingly based on this principle. For the recovering alcoholic even more than for the ordinary smoker, kicking cigarettes may be a question of life or death. More than 90 per cent of alcoholics smoke, compared to about a third of non-alcoholics.
Alcoholics smoke more cigarettes per day than do nonalcoholic smokers.
Alcoholics are more likely to smoke mentholated cigarettes. The number of cigarettes a person consumes rises in tandem with the number of drinks consumed. Almost every smoker who smokes more than two packs a day is also an alcoholic. Mayo Clinic investigators led by Dr. Richard D. Hurt reviewed the records of 845 persons admitted to an inpatient addiction program for treatment of alcoholism and dependence on other non-nicotine drugs between 1972 and 1983. In 1994, Dr. Hurt's team checked the program's records to determine the current status of those patients and to obtain death certificates for any who had died.