ISSUES RELATED TO SMOKING CESSATION AMONG SUBSTANCE-ABUSERS

Initial studies have found that stop-smoking treatments for newly reco vering substance abusers have been neither harmful to sobriety nor eff ective in achieving smoking cessation. The development of more effecti ve stop-smoking treatments for this population could be aided by delin eating their particular smoking-related characteristics, This article describes the biopsychosocial characteristics of newly recovering subs tance abusers that are relevant to smoking cessation, and suggests tha t there are notable differences between abusers and nonabusers that ma y contribute to abusers' greater difficulty in quitting smoking. It al so recommends changes in existing treatment protocols where applicable and identifies key areas for future research.