These discoveries provide unique opportunities for studying the links between biology and behavior and will help identify preexisting vulnerabilities to tobacco use. By determining how these vulnerabilities interact with sociocultural and psychological influences on tobacco use, and by improving our ability to assess risks quantitatively, we can develop more effective prevention and cessation interventions and tailor these interventions to the people most likely to benefit from them. We also can identify effective new drugs and combinations of already proven drugs for treating nicotine addiction. The combination of pharmacologic and behavioral tailoring may be particularly important in accelerating major improvements in smoking cessation rates. Capitalizing on Social, Legal, and Public Policy Developments A number of social, legal, and public policy developments are converging with scientific advances to create a unique opportunity to tackle tobacco use.
Public attitudes reflect decreasing acceptance of tobacco use as a social norm.
For example, concerns have been raised about the targeted marketing of menthol cigarettes in the African American community. Government agencies, academic institutions, and professional and voluntary organizations are making major commitments to reduce tobacco use and exposure to tobacco carcinogens. Through lawsuits, states are recovering billions of dollars lost to the treatment of diseases caused by smoking. However, while state political leaders have been urged to use these funds to expand tobacco control programs, they almost certainly will use most of the funds to address other priorities. This dilemma underscores the need for NCI to expand its investment in tobacco control research to ensure that the best scientific evidence informs state and community programs.