The American Cancer Society says the younger you start smoking, the more addicted you become.
Rodney Benjamin, Critical Care and Pulmonary Medicine Physician at South Miami Hospital, believes younger people are more vulnerable, because they don´t have any sense of their mortality.
He points out it is a scary age for dangerous behavior and smoking is a dangerous behavior.
Transcript
Doctor, anyone who starts using tobacco can become addicted obviously to the nicotine and the American Cancer Society says the younger you start smoking, the more addicted you’ll become: True or False? >It’s true and I think young people are particularly vulnerable because they don’t have any sense of their mortality they’re invulnerable and it’s a scary age for dangerous behavior and smoking is a dangerous behavior or ‘de novo’ and if you get addicted it’s a dangerous behavior for maybe the rest of your life. So, young people really need to be protected— they need to be protected from exposure to nicotine in general these would be the vaping and they need to be protected from cigarette products tobacco products because they’re pretty callous about what can happen to them because they don’t— you don’t see it when you’re a teenager. >Which obviously, Marianne, you informed us that you started when you were 16 and at that time you probably didn’t even realize the repercussions— >And it wouldn’t have mattered if I’d heard them it’s 16 you don’t care.