Been using my tablets as general pointing devices since the days Windows 3.1 was still relevant (using a Wacom ArtPad, with its serial port connection and wall-wart power supply, on a 486dx75 laptop).
It's probably the reason I never went through the (some say, traumatic) adjustment of drawing while looking somewhere other than where my hand is.
Despite this I only got into doing extensive digital edits on scans with the tablet within the last decade or so, and full digital drawing (i.e. no pencil-and-paper stage) within the last year...at least doing so without the results looking like poo (in fact, I posted this during a break from working on a digital concept sketch).
That last bit of late blooming may have something to do with my never having used a screen tablet--I bought a Surface Pro 2 when their prices fell due to the release of the SP3, as a "way cheaper than Cintiq" way of testing the idea of a screen-tablet, and have yet to do a full-on digital pic with it, although that day is steadily getting closer (likely faster since I found a wireless adapter for its keyboard cover so I can place it somewhere thats not constantly in the way)
---PCJ