Tobacco Abuse

Tobacco Abuse Detail
Because tobacco is legal and heavily advertised, people often don't take it seriously as a drug.
Nicotine is the drug in tobacco that makes it addictive and habit forming. Nicotine, heroin, and cocaine have similar effects on the brain. Cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco, snuff, chewing tobacco – even nicotine gum and patches – all contain nicotine. Nicotine is a poison and it is harmful to your body.

Peer influences seem to be particularly potent in the early stages of tobacco use. The peer group may subsequently provide expectations, reinforcement, and cues for experimentation. Parental tobacco use does not appear to be as compelling a risk factor as peer use. Certainly socio-demographic, environmental, behavioral, and personal factors can encourage the onset of tobacco use, particularly among adolescents. The reason for smoking is that nicotine is a psychoactive drug. Nicotine has actions similar to cocaine and heroin in the same area of the brain. Depending on how much you smoke, nicotine can act as either a stimulant or sedative. Studies show that nicotine increases the activity of dopamine, a chemical in the brain that elicits pleasurable sensations. The first cigarette of the day is particularly rewarding, however throughout the day your nerves become desensitized to nicotine, therefore it becomes less pleasurable so you smoke more to get the reward. A tolerance to these effects develops very quickly and requires increasingly higher levels of nicotine. 

Tobacco Abuse

Tobacco Abuse

Tobacco Abuse

Tobacco Abuse

Tobacco Abuse

Tobacco Abuse

Tobacco Abuse

Tobacco Abuse

Tobacco Abuse

Tobacco Abuse

Tobacco Abuse

Tobacco Abuse