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Studies have shown that people who are addicted to alcohol are also highly likely to smoke cigarettes. A report in the June 2008 issue of the Harvard Mental Health Letter showed that experts tended to believe that it’s imperative to counsel alcohol-dependent individuals to quit smoking as well as drinking not only to improve their health, but also to increase their chances of staying sober.

It is a widespread fear that attempting to quit smoking and drinking simultaneously will undermine treatment for alcohol dependence.

You should be aware, however, that most studies have shown that attempts to quit smoking have either no impact on sustaining abstinence or actually increases the success of alcohol treatment.

Currently there is no smoking cessation strategy exclusively for alcohol-dependent adults. For now, the wisest choice is to follow the federal guidelines for treating tobacco addiction, which advocates a combination of counseling and medication.

A major and still unresolved question is whether it’s better to give up smoking and drinking together, or whether it’s better to tackle one addiction at a time.

Researchers have found that when smoking cessation support was delayed by six months, study participants were more likely to remain sober compared with those who received concurrent treatment for both addictions. But a follow-up analysis found that this may have been true only for white people in the study.

Editor in chief of the Harvard Mental Health Letter, Dr. Michael Miller, remarks that no particular approach is best for every person struggling with both alcohol and nicotine addiction. It’s a net health gain whether an individual quits smoking during alcohol treatment or later.

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