Menthol Smokers Feel “Twice-Addicted” Survey Finds

cigarette smoking - credit: flikr

An online survey of 616 adult smokers was conducted earlier this month to better understand the rationale for smoking certain types of cigarettes and the likelihood of a given individuals to attempt to quit. GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare sponsored the survey which was conducted by Versta Research.

The survey group was split 50/50 between menthol and non-menthol smokers. The result was that smokers if menthol cigarettes felt that they were both addicted to the tobacco as well as the menthol itself. In fact, many of the menthol smokers said that if the government were to ban menthol cigarettes, they would be very likely to try to quit smoking altogether. Forty percent said that menthol flavoring is the only reason they smoke.

“Almost all menthol smokers in the survey reported they want to quit, but were less likely to have tried quitting than regular smokers. They are also less likely to have tried using treatment,” said Cedric Bright*, M.D., president-elect of the National Medical Association and associate professor of medicine in the Departments of Medicine and Community and Family Medicine at Duke University Medical Center. “With the high interest in quitting among these smokers, more needs to be done to educate smokers about accessible resources, such as counseling and nicotine replacement therapy, which are proven methods for improving success rates.”