Stop smoking uploads the possibilities of overcoming addictions

Adults who smoke cigaretrrillos and are alcohol addicts or other drugs are more likely to recover from the symptoms of their substance consumption disorder if they stop smoking, according to a study of the National Health Institutes (NIH).

To reach this conclusion, NIH scientists analyzed data of 2,652 people 18 years of age or older who had a history of substance consumption disorder and experienced a change in their state of recovery for the next four years. Participants were asked annually about their tobacco consumption and other substances.

With this analysis, the habit of stop consuming cigaretrrillos, was associated with a 42% more likely for the person to recover of its disorder for substance consumption not related to tobacco.

Previous research has suggested an association between quitting smoking and better results in other substance consumption disorders. However, the authors point out that most of them used data from treatment centers centered on the addiction to a single substance or clinical trials to quit smoking, and those who used representative samples at the national level could not properly evaluate their association with recovery. Researchers believe that this new finding is generalizable to millions of adults with substance consumption disorder and explains numerous confusion factors, which increases confidence in results.

“Although the health benefits of smoking are well known, quitting smoking have not been considered a priority in drug addiction treatment programs,” says the deputy director of the NIDA-NIH and main author of the study, the doctor Wilson Compton. Thus, “this finding reinforces the support of the inclusion of quitting smoking as part of the treatment of addiction,” he concludes.

However, the authors add that although this longitudinal analysis showed a strong suggestion that quitting smoking contributes to a better recovery of other substance consumption disorders, more research is required to definitively establish a causal relationship. More research is also required about the best ways to support the abandonment of smoking in people in treatment or recovery of substance consumption disorders.