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Joined: 04 Sep 2006
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Location: United Kingdom
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 Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2006 12:56 pm Post subject: What is it? |
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Tobacco comprises the dried leaves of plants from the genus Nicotiana that grows in many parts of the world. These leaves contain nicotine, an addictive drug that exerts a mild stimulant effect.
Medicinal uses
None.
Use of tobacco
Tobacco is usually smoked but it can also be chewed or sniffed (snuff). It's most often sold in the form of ready-made cigarettes or cigars and loose shredded leaves for roll-your-own cigarettes and pipe smoking. It is also sold in powdered form for use as snuff.
Until recent years considerable advertising by manufacturers of tobacco products extolled the 'cool' image of smoking in order to encourage purchase of their products. Most people who smoke tobacco first began doing so as teenagers, as young people are particularly susceptible to the promotion of smoking as a 'adult' thing to do.
The European parliament has recently (May 1998) voted to ban all forms of tobacco advertising throughout the European Union. Hopefully, this will reduce the incentive for individuals to begin - or continue - to use this drug.
At present about one third of people aged 16 or over in the UK smoke cigarettes. The overall number of smokers is slowly falling as earlier in this century over 50 percent of the adult population smoked. Nearly one in five men and one in ten women today are classified as heavy smokers (more than 20 cigarettes each day).
Young person smoking
Most worrying - in view of the health consequences of taking this drug - is that 26 percent of 15 year-old boys and 30 percent of 15 year-old girls are presently regular smokers.
Twelve percent of children age between 11 and 15 years smoke regularly.
What effect does it have?
Nicotine is the active drug within tobacco. When a user draws smoke into his or her lungs this drug quickly enters the bloodstream and takes effect almost immediately.
The physical effects of nicotine are to increase heart rate, thus raising blood pressure, and decrease appetite. It's mental action is to produce apparent stimulation and increased alertness.
As nicotine is an addictive substance, a regular tobacco user must maintain the level of this drug in the bloodstream in order to avoid withdrawal symptoms. As the concentration of nicotine in the bloodstream begins to fall - immediately after the last inhalation of smoke - a smoker will feel more and more uncomfortable. These withdrawal symptoms can only be relieved by taking in more nicotine - i.e. having another smoke.
And so it goes on - the vicious cycle of addiction.
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