Smokers and Mental Illness
**From the AMA Wire Forty percent. That’s the percentage of cigarettes consumed in the United States that are smoked by people with mental illness. It’s a significant reason why people with mental illnesses and substance-abuse problems account for nearly half—46 percent—of the nation’s 435,000 annual tobacco-related deaths. Hundreds of thousands of these patients are dying each year not from their illnesses, but because of their tobacco use. Research shows that patients with mental illnesses and substance-abuse disorders are nicotine dependent at rates two to Continue reading →