In A First, Smoking Rates Fell Below 10%; CDC Missed It Due To Cuts
Only 9.9% of U.S. adults reported smoking cigarettes in 2024 — a historic low — down from 10.8% in 2023. But federal cuts put an end to the CDC's Office of Smoking and Health last year, leaving them short on experts to analyze the data they had collected.
Stat:
Cigarette Smoking Dips Below 10%. The CDC Didn't Tell You
The cigarette smoking rate among U.S. adults fell below 10% for the first time in recorded history in 2024. That’s a big deal in itself. Also remarkable is how everyone is finding out about it. (Todd, 3/17)
More on smoking, vaping, and addiction —
The Hill:
Smokeless Nicotine Seen As 'Bridge' For Military Members, Veterans Quitting Cigarettes
Smokeless nicotine products are being seen as a “bridge” to quitting cigarettes for former and current members of the military, which has an entrenched culture of tobacco use, multiple experts said during a Tuesday event for The Hill. “I’m a vascular and intervention radiologist, so, over, again, over my career, I’ve taken care of a lot of folks with critical limb ischemia, stroke to, you know, that are sequelae of cigarette smoking from past years, and so we’re trying to get folks away from the combustible cigarettes,” Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of War for Health Affairs Stephen Ferrara told The Hill’s Kathleen Koch during the event titled “Serving Those Who Serve, Embracing Tobacco Harm Reduction.” (Suter, 3/17)
Stat:
Severe Burns From Smoking Opioids A New Factor In Harm Reduction
As U.S. drug use behavior has shifted away from injecting and toward smoking, public health experts have been almost uniform in their reaction. The development, they’ve said, is almost entirely positive: Smoking drugs like fentanyl, instead of injecting, can help reduce infections, disease transmission, and potentially even overdose rates. (Facher, 3/18)
KFF Health News:
Maker Of Device To Treat Addiction Withdrawal Seeks Counties' Opioid Settlement Cash
In the early 2000s, Michelle Warfield worked at a factory, hauling heavy seats for Ford trucks on and off an assembly line. To suppress daily aches in her back and hips, her doctor prescribed opioid painkillers. They worked for a bit. But by 2011, Warfield struggled to walk. And “by that time, I was addicted,” said Warfield, now living in Shelbyville, Kentucky. (Pattani, 3/18)
The Hill:
New Study Links Vaping To Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome
Using cannabis vape cartridges could lead to faster-developing symptoms of an increasingly common marijuana-related disorder, according to a recent study. Cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome (CHS) causes recurring bouts of severe stomach pain, nausea and vomiting in some long-time chronic cannabis users. (Kaplan, 3/17)
The New York Times:
An Army Reservist Owns A Cannabis Dispensary. It May End His Career.
Last summer, William Norgard, a major in the Army Reserve, was taken into custody at the military base where he was stationed in Germany and hauled in front of a unit that investigates soldiers. Investigators asked him if he knew why he was in trouble as they ordered him to partly undress. They fingerprinted him, swabbed his cheeks for DNA and briefly locked him in a holding cell. He was sent home to New York to await his fate. (Southall, 3/18)
