The Armed Forces and tobacco have a long history, going back to World War II. For relaxation, the military provided cigarettes to soldiers, triggering massive nicotine addiction. Cigarettes were issued as daily rations throughout World Wars I and II, as well as during the Vietnam War. This unhealthy trend came to a formal end in 1975. Smoking by World War II veterans led to a nine-fold increase in lung cancer deaths by 1980. Military personnel dealing with repeated deployments often rely on tobacco products as a form of "stress release." Some service members dealing with mental health issues use tobacco to self-medicate. Rates of smoking in the military are higher than in the civilian population. According to a June 2009 Institute of Medicine (IoM) report commissioned by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the DoD, 32 percent of active duty military and 22 percent of all veterans smoke, compared with about 20 percent of the civilian adult population. Tobacco use in the military has increased since the start of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The smoking rates among military personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan may be 50% higher than rates among non-deployed military personnel.
Military personnel are more than twice as likely as civilians to use smokeless tobacco (ST), and recent studies indicate that military prevalence rates are rising. However, few studies have examined factors related to ST use in the military. The present study evaluated the characteristics of ST use in 785 active duty military personnel. The results indicated that the average age of initiation was 17.7 years, participants had used ST for 12.3 years, and they used approximately four tins or pouches of tobacco per week. Army personnel were more likely than Air Force personnel to be older, to have used ST longer, and to be heavier users. Officers had used ST longer than enlisted personnel and were more likely to have had a recent quit attempt. Enlisted personnel were more than three times as likely to report concurrent cigarette smoking. These results indicate that there are significant differences in ST use patterns in military personnel, and cessation programs should be tailored to meet these differences.
Quit Tobacco—Make Everyone Proud is an educational campaign for the U.S. military, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense. Launched in February of 2007, the mission of the campaign Web site is to help U.S. service members and Veterans enrolled for care in the VA health care system quit tobacco—for themselves and for the people they love.
The West Virginia Tobacco Quit Line is a free service that offers phone coaching and nicotine replacement therapy (patches, gum, lozenges) at no cost for those ready to quit tobacco use. For more information about services, watch the webinar below.
Please watch the webinar (8 mintues), fill out the survey (15 questions), and you will be entered into a drawing for a chance to win $100 Amazon Card on July 30, 2011.
Southern Coalfields Tobacco Prevention Network
307 Federal Street | Suite 305
Bluefield, WV 24701
Phone: 304-324-0456