Tobacco

What is it?

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 an ‘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.

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. Its 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.

Consequences of using tobacco

The use of tobacco has many negative consequences for the individual user and for society at large. Some of these have been exaggerated by anti-smoking campaigners in the past. There is no need for that, the facts are frightening enough.

Damage to health

Although nicotine is the addictive agent within tobacco, there are several thousand other chemicals present in the drug, many of which are harmful to health. The principle harmful substances are tar and carbon monoxide.

Illnesses such as lung cancer, duodenal ulcers, emphysema and coronary heart disease are all related to smoking.

The tar present in tobacco smoke is a known carcinogen. Several other chemicals in tobacco smoke may also cause cancer. Smokers run a higher risk of contracting lung cancer than non-smokers.

Smoking causes shortness of breath and contributes toward many respiratory diseases.

Smoking accounts for the majority of deaths from emphysema (swelling of air sacs in the lung). Once a disease that affected only men, many emphysema deaths now occur among women.

Smoking is a major risk factor for damage to blood vessels. Arteries that carry blood to leg, arm and heart muscles become narrower and if a blockage occurs muscle cells will die. This can result in muscle damage, the loss of an arm or leg, or a heart attack.

Nicotine Dependence

Nicotine addiction is the most widespread example of drug dependence in the UK and in other countries around the world. Nicotine is both physically and psychologically addictive.

Nine out of ten smokers say they want to stop smoking but have great difficulty in doing so.

Smokers who stop using tobacco experience distressing withdrawal symptoms. These include feelings of frustration, anger and anxiety, along with difficulty in concentrating and restlessness or agitation.

Social consequences

Smoking is no longer considered to be socially acceptable. It is now banned on public transport in the UK and in many commercial premises. The possible health risks associated with passive smoking (involuntarily inhaling the smoke of another person) has led to many non-smokers demanding the right to breath unpolluted air in the workplace and in some leisure venues such as restaurants. Smoking is seen as anti-social behaviour today.

Financial consequences

Smoking entails considerable financial costs for the individual and for the country as a whole.

• Smokers are more likely to be ill than non-smokers, with the associated increased costs to the UK health care system.
• Smoking is responsible for many fires each year in commercial and private premises. This destroys property and costs money - but it also costs lives.
• Smokers have twice the accident rate of non-smokers.
• Smokers are more likely to experience early retirement from work through disability.
• Smokers have higher rates of absenteeism from work than non-smoker.

Legal consequences

It is illegal to sell tobacco or tobacco products to any person under 16 years of age in the UK, although the possession or use of these products by anyone under 16 is not illegal. This law is not always adhered to by some shopkeepers etc. who sell tobacco.