Nicotine & tobacco research : official journal of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco
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Some researchers are promoting the use of smokeless tobacco as safer than cigarette smoking and as a possible method for quitting smoking, but smokeless tobacco might be a gateway drug that leads to smoking, and the availability and marketing of smokeless tobacco may keep smokers from quitting. This study assessed 4-year initiation rates of smokeless tobacco use and cigarette smoking in relation to each other and examined switching between the products. Data were from the 1989 Teenage Attitudes and Practices Survey and its 1993 follow-up study, comprising a nationally representative U. ⋯ More than 80% of baseline current smokers were still smokers 4 years later, and more than 40% of baseline current regular smokeless tobacco users became smokers either in addition to or in place of smokeless tobacco use. It appears that smokeless tobacco may be a starter product for subsequent smoking among young U. S. males but may have little effect on quitting smoking.