Only now are scientists providing health officials with the data they need to confidently prescribe nicotine replacement. By year's end, Minnesota researchers plan to publish the most ambitious study on nicotine-patch use by teens, and new federal guidelines issued last summer give clinicians unprecedented leeway to prescribe nicotine replacement to teen patients. Some health officials warn nicotine replacement is risky until scientists know more. And they wonder how schools can justify giving students nicotine, a substance harmful and illegal for minors, even for a good reason. Doctors see nicotine patches, gum and similar products as useful because they deliver small, steady doses of nicotine to relieve withdrawal symptoms.
Some studies show the products can double the chances of quitting smoking.
But the users of nicotine-replacement products are almost exclusively adults. Teens can get them with a prescription, but most doctors are reluctant to prescribe patches, and teens are reluctant to ask because it would disclose their habit to their parents. Conventional wisdom holds that teens haven't been smoking long enough to become truly addicted. Scientists are learning that's not true. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say teens frequently find themselves unable to quit after as few as 100 cigarettes-five packs.