How much smoking does it take to become addicted?

• A recent study (2000) published in the British Medical Association journal Tobacco Control suggests that addiction may occur much earlier in some smokers than previously suspected.

• The study followed 12 and 13 year old smokers in Massachusetts for a year.  Of the 95 students that started smoking occasionally which was defined as at least one cigarette per month.  The study found that 60% of these young smokers had one or more symptoms of addiction even at a low level of smoking.

• Approximately 25% of those students with symptoms developed them within the first two weeks of starting to smoke.  Most students with symptoms of addiction developed them before they started smoking daily. 

• The prior assumption has been that it takes daily smoking for a substantial period of time before addiction occurs.

• It now appears that there may be large portion of youth who become addicted with low levels of smoking after a short period of time. Other individuals may require a longer period of heavier smoking before addiction occurs.