Introduction
Pathological states of consciousness caused by drugs have been known for a long time. Everyone has heard about the possible consequences of using these drugs: the hellish dependence on heroin, the risk of overdose, the dangers of driving drunk, the mental degradation of a person who has been using drugs for a long time, about the risks of cancer as a result of smoking. Most of these warnings are justified to some extent, and yet people continue to use psychotropic drugs. Some do it to eliminate pain, others – to find sleep, others – to cheer themselves up at a crucial moment; but many – just to feel “different”, to find a state of inner well-being that helps them with the difficulties of life, and often to avoid them. Tobacco, coffee, and alcohol are undoubtedly the most common psychotropic substances consumed in our society. In our society, only alcohol and tobacco are considered acceptable (both of which are addictive).
Tobacco Definition
Tobacco is an annual plant of the Solanaceae family, the leaves of which contain nicotine. Europeans have not known about tobacco smoking for a long time. For the first time, the participants of the Christopher Columbus expedition met him. Tobacco products are prepared from dried tobacco leaves, which contain proteins, carbohydrates, mineral salts, fiber, enzymes, and fatty acids (Notley et al., 2018). Among them, it is important to note two groups of substances dangerous to humans – nicotine and isoprenoids. Nicotine is the main constituent substance of all types of tobacco (Kataoka et al., 2018). In addition to nicotine, tobacco smoke contains 6000 different components, including more than 30 toxic substances, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, prussic acid, ammonia, resinous substances, organic acids, and others. Scientists have found that nicotine extracted from 5 cigars kills a rabbit, and from 100 – a horse. The lethal dose for a person is 0.06-0.08 grams.
Process of Smoking
Why don’t people die immediately after lighting their first cigarette? The fact is that nicotine enters the body in small portions, part of it manages to be neutralized, and gradual habituation to it develops. The statistics say: compared with non-smokers, long-term smokers are 13 times more likely to suffer from heart disease, and 10 times more likely to suffer from stomach ulcers. Smokers make up 96-100% of all lung cancer patients. Every seventh smoker for a long time suffers from a serious ailment of blood vessels. Nicotine belongs to nerve poisons, in small doses, it excites nerve cells and promotes rapid breathing and heartbeat. Normally, the pulse is 65-70 beats per minute, after smoking a cigarette, it increases by 10-20 beats. In large doses, it slows down and then paralyzes the activity of CNS cells, including the autonomic system (Kaufman et al., 2020). The disorder of the nervous system is manifested by a decrease in working capacity, trembling of the hands, and weakening of memory.
Nicotine Influence
When smoking, a large amount of carbon monoxide enters the bloodstream, which forms carboxyhemoglobin with hemoglobin – a stable compound that does not participate in oxygen transport, resulting in oxygen starvation of the brain. In addition, smokers’ blood vessels gradually become less elastic, and their lumen is narrower, which also reduces the nutrition of the brain. A smoker spends 2 hours more memorizing lessons than a non-smoker. Nicotine affects the endocrine glands, in particular, the adrenal glands, which at the same time secrete the hormone adrenaline into the blood, causing vasospasm, increased blood pressure, and increased heart rate. Adversely affecting the sex glands, nicotine contributes to the development of sexual weakness in men-impotence! Therefore, her treatment begins with the fact that the patient is offered to stop smoking. In addition to nicotine, other components of tobacco smoke also have a negative effect (Grummon et al., 2020). When carbon monoxide enters the body, oxygen starvation develops, because carbon monoxide combines more easily with hemoglobin than oxygen and is delivered with blood to all human tissues and organs.
Diseases Caused by Smoking
Smoking can also be the main cause of persistent vasospasm of the lower extremities, affecting mainly men. This disease leads to malnutrition, gangrene, and eventually amputation of the lower limb. The digestive tract also suffers from substances contained in tobacco smoke, primarily the teeth and the mucous membrane of the mouth. Nicotine increases the secretion of gastric juice, which causes aching pains “in the pit of the stomach,”, nausea, and vomiting. When smoking, vitamin C is destroyed, and to restore it after smoking 20 cigarettes; you need to eat 4 kg of oranges. Smoking affects the work of the lungs (East et al., 2018). They cannot fully perform their main function – inhalation and exhalation, as tar is formed during combustion, which eventually settles in the lungs and becomes less elastic. In a smoker who smokes one pack a day, up to 1l of tar passes through the lungs for 30 years of smoking.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is a mistake to believe that if you smoke one cigarette for two or three, then the harm to the body will be less. The one who finishes smoking a cigarette gets more harm, because in the last third of the cigarette the most harmful resins, the most harmful products of tobacco distillation are concentrated, thus, offering your friend or girlfriend to finish smoking a cigarette, thereby offering them to try the most concentrated mixture of toxic substances. Therefore, think about it when you ask to leave to finish smoking or ask yourself to do it. Smoking is not just a bad habit. Over time, a person who does not stop in time develops nicotine dependence. The effect of various poisons on the human body is destructive. However, this does not manifest instantly. The consequences of smoking are formed gradually and lead to various diseases.
References
East, K., Brose, L. S., McNeill, A., Cheeseman, H., Arnott, D., & Hitchman, S. C. (2018). Harm perceptions of electronic cigarettes and nicotine: A nationally representative cross-sectional survey of young people in Great Britain. Drug and alcohol dependence, 192, 257-263. Web.
Grummon, A. H., Hall, M. G., Mitchell, C. G., Pulido, M., Sheldon, J. M., Noar, S. M.,… & Brewer, N. T. (2020). Reactions to messages about smoking, vaping and COVID-19: two national experiments. Tobacco control. Web.
Kaufman, A. R., Twesten, J. E., Suls, J., McCaul, K. D., Ostroff, J. S., Ferrer, R. A.,… & Klein, W. M. (2020). Measuring cigarette smoking risk perceptions. Nicotine and Tobacco Research, 22(11), 1937-1945. Web.
Kataoka, M. C., Carvalheira, A. P. P., Ferrari, A. P., Malta, M. B., Carvalhaes, M. A. D. B. L., & de Lima Parada, C. M. G. (2018). Smoking during pregnancy and harm reduction in birth weight: a cross-sectional study. BMC pregnancy and childbirth, 18(1), 1-10. Web.
Notley, C., Ward, E., Dawkins, L., & Holland, R. (2018). The unique contribution of e-cigarettes for tobacco harm reduction in supporting smoking relapse prevention. Harm reduction journal, 15(1), 1-12. Web.