Hard to Quit: Tobacco Use Among Older Americans

Featuring

Jessica Shortall, Safer From Harm Coalition and Strategic Partnerships Lead,
Integrated Harm Reduction, R Street Institute

Annie Kleykamp, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, University of Maryland, Baltimore

Skip Murray, Citizen Advocate, Tobacco Harm Reduction

Cheryl K. Olson, Consultant, Cheryl K. Olson Sc.D., LLC

Overview

Smoking prevalence among youth and young adults in the United States is at a record low. But for older adults, persistent heavy smoking and lower quit rates pose serious risks to health and longevity and incur significant costs. Beyond physical addiction, this group faces the significant and often under-discussed issues of entrenched smoking habits, psychological reliance, social triggers, and lower efficacy for medical therapies like nicotine replacement (e.g., gums and patches) and prescription medications. 

Join us for a panel discussion with experts in policy, research, and lived experience about the complex, interrelated factors that influence smoking and nicotine consumption among older Americans, including:

• Why smoking and smoking cessation are uniquely complex among older adults
• How the technological aspects of reduced-risk products impact older users
• How to balance dependence prevention with harm reduction for older adults
• Emerging evidence on how noncombustible nicotine products impact older users