By Jonathan Montpetit

MONTREAL (CP) - The road from those nervous initial puffs of a cigarette to full-fledged addiction is a lot shorter for teenagers than previously thought, Montreal-based researchers say.

Dr. Jennifer O'Loughlin, a professor in McGill University's Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health, said signs of physical addiction can occur as soon as five months after a first puff.

For the past six years, O'Loughlin has been leading a study of 1,293 students from 10 Montreal-area high schools in an attempt to better understand smoking patterns among teens.

"Our work clearly shows that kids are reporting symptoms of nicotine addiction very, very early after onset," O'Loughlin said.

"I think this paper really challenges the way people have been thinking about the development of nicotine dependence."

The study, to be published Tuesday in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, suggests that signs of nicotine dependence can develop well before a teenager smokes cigarettes daily, or even weekly.

"Young people, their parents and health professionals must be made aware that symptoms of nicotine dependence can manifest long before regular smoking," the study reads.

"Once cravings are experienced, the likelihood of progression to daily use and tobacco dependence is greatly increased."

The study created a map of 12 addiction "milestones" - six for cigarette use (such as first inhalation and daily smoking) and six for symptoms of nicotine dependence (such as physical addiction and withdrawal symptoms).

"This gives a tool to practitioners ... to be able to almost diagnose where the individual is in terms of the person's trajectory towards dependence," O'Loughlin said.

Past research has suggested that the progression from first puff to daily use takes between two and three years, while full-fledged dependence takes even longer.

O'Loughlin said that given how quickly novice smokers can become addicted, public health officials need to change the focus of traditional anti-smoking campaigns.

"We need to understand the early natural forces so that we can come up with better prevention," she said. "Our prevention is just not working."

She stressed that a teenager's complaints about cigarette cravings should never be taken lightly, even if the teen doesn't smoke regularly.

"Somebody needs to be paying attention to this, or this kid is going to land up as a smoker for another 15 to 20 years."