By Tom Still
MADISON, Wis. – I heard a word new to me the other day: It was “spliff,” which describes a rolled cigarette that is half tobacco and half marijuana – with the tobacco half being 100% harmful to the health of those who smoke them.
Despite a steady decline in the number of adults who smoke, beginning with the U.S. Surgeon General’s 1964 report linking smoking to cancer, it remains the leading cause of preventable death in Wisconsin. Nearly 7,900 people in the state die from smoking related causes each year, and such deaths and illnesses lead to $5.6 billion in annual productivity losses.
Those are figures from UW-Madison’s Center for Tobacco Research and Intervention, which is tied to the School of Medicine and Public Health and one of a half-dozen such centers in the country. One of its latest missions, according to its physician-director, is to help reverse the rising incidence of smoking, e-cigarettes and vaping among young people.
Recent surveys show 8% of high school students nationwide use electronic cigarettes or vape pens, which include nicotine and can harm the brain and cardiovascular system over time. It’s nearly twice as high (15.7%) in Wisconsin, said Dr. Hasmeena Kathuria, who runs the UW’s tobacco center.
“Early intervention is essential, especially since 90% of adults who smoke began before the age of 18,” she said. “Preventing and addressing nicotine use among youth and young adults is vital due to the strong connection to mental health challenges, addiction and long-term developmental risks.”
For adolescents, such risks include depression, anxiety and chemical “hooks” that can last a lifetime.
“Modern e-cigarettes deliver high doses of nicotine,” Dr. Kathuria continued, which can disrupt brain development and increase the likelihood of other substance abuse.
The “intervention” part of the UW’s tobacco center name is no accident. It provides training and technical assistance to behavioral health and correctional facilities as well as a free “quit-line” for people who want to stop smoking, vaping or other tobacco use in various forms. National figures show that among all people referred to treatment, there’s a 22% success rate within six months.
That quit rate isn’t high, but it can be attributed in part to the addictive nature of nicotine. “If somebody tries to quit without medication, the quit rate is about 6%,” Dr. Kathuria said.
Some smokers don’t want to quit because they fear it will lead to weight gain as they substitute one habit for another – eating too much. However, nicotine lozenges, nicotine gum and bupropion are among ways to delay or prevent weight gain associated with quitting.
I’ve witnessed the ravages of tobacco use among family members, most of whom grew up in tobacco country and saw smoking as a way of life. As a kid I helped a farmer uncle in southern Virginia “hang” ripe tobacco leaves on sticks in a ventilated barn for air curing. That process enhances those burley tobacco leaves – which ripen from bottom of the plant up – by developing the flavor and aroma that make them ideal for cigarettes.
Many non-smokers don’t have much sympathy for those who do and develop cancer, as they see smoking as a choice that could have been avoided. That’s not an unnatural reaction, Dr. Kathuria acknowledged, but the UW center still tries to break the cycle by offering treatment options for adults while “protecting our kids from the tobacco industry.”
Given that Wisconsin’s current youth tobacco and nicotine use numbers are nearly twice the U.S. average, which can trigger higher healthcare bills and a less robust workforce if the trend is unbroken, that’s a goal worth pursuing.
Still is president of the Wisconsin Technology Council. tstill@wisconsintechnologycouncil.com.