397 Alliance Scholar Lecture - Tobacco: The Common Enemy and Gateway Drug

Tobacco use is known as public health enemy number one and is the most preventable cause of death in the U.S. Earlier research (Torabi, et al., 1993) provided evidence that tobacco serves as a gateway drug. Fifteen years later, this study shows that tobacco remains a gateway drug. The data reveal a pattern of association between increasing cigarette use quantity and increasing prevalence of using other substances. Dose response relationship was statistically significant (P <.01).