Giving up cigarettes linked with recovery from illicit substance use disorders
Most adults who have illicit drug use disorders also smoke cigarettes. Yet while treatments for substance use disorders traditionally include and require concurrent treatment for addiction to all substances -- including treatment for and required abstinence from alcohol and any other illicit substance use -- treatment for nicotine dependence has not routinely been part of treatment for illicit substance use problems. "The thinking in clinical settings has been that asking patients to quit cigarette smoking while they try to stop using drugs is "too difficult," or that smoking may be helpful in remaining abstinent from alcohol and drugs, but it is not related whether or not one remains abstinent from illicit drug use over the long term," said Renee Goodwin, PhD, of the Department of Epidemiology , Mailman School of Public Health, who led the research. The researchers studied data from 34,653 adults enrolled in the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and R...