Partnership Between Tobacco Control Programs and Offices of Mental Health Needed to Reduce Smoking Rates in the United States

In the United States, smoking rates among individuals with a mental illness are at least double those in the general population,¹ representing about one-third of the adult smokers. Persons with a current mental illness purchase and consume more than one-third of all tobacco sold.¹ If current trends continue, smokers with mental illness will become the majority of US tobacco users, yet many tobacco control efforts do not identify individuals with mental illness as a high-priority population.²