Youth who smoke heavily are 30 times more likely than non-smokers to try illegal drugs. An estimated 3.7 million teenagers smoke and 3,000 young people become regular smokers every day. Each year 947 million packs of cigarettes and 26 million containers of spitting tobacco are sold illegally to minors. Nearly all first use of tobacco occurs before high school graduation. Most young people who smoke are addicted to nicotine and report that they want to quit but are unable to do so.
Tobacco is often the first drug used by young people who use alcohol and illegal drugs.
Cigarette advertising appears to increase young people's risk of smoking by conveying that smoking has social benefits and that smoking is far more common than it really is. The most effective preventive programs are community-wide efforts that combine education and public policy approaches. Each year, merchants illegally sell to minors 947 million packs of cigarettes and 26 million containers of spitting tobacco. Three quarters of young people who are daily cigarette smokers or smokeless tobacco users report that they continue to use tobacco because they find it hard to quit. Approximately 28 percent of high school students in the U.S. currently smoke, and 21 percent of high school males use smokeless tobacco.