In consumption it most commonly appears in the forms of smoking, chewing, snuffing, or dipping tobacco, or snus. Tobacco has long been in use as an entheogen in the Americas. However, upon the arrival of Europeans in North America, it quickly became popularized as a trade item and as a recreational drug. This popularization led to the development of the southern economy of the United States until it gave way to cotton. Following the American Civil War, a change in demand and a change in labor force allowed for the development of the cigarette. This new product quickly led to the growth of tobacco companies, until the scientific controversy of the mid-1900s.
There are many species of tobacco in the plant genus Nicotiana. The word nicotiana (as well as nicotine) is in honor of Jean Nicot, French ambassador to Portugal, who in 1559 sent it as a medicine to the court of Catherine de Medici.
Because of the addictive properties of nicotine, tolerance and dependence develop. Absorption quantity, frequency, and speed of tobacco consumption are believed to be directly related to biological strength of nicotine dependence, addiction, and tolerance. The usage of tobacco is an activity that is practiced by some 1.1 billion people, and up to 1/3 of the adult population. The World Health Organization(WHO) reports it to be the leading preventable cause of death worldwide and estimates that it currently causes 5.4 million deaths per year. Rates of smoking have leveled off or declined in developed countries, however they continue to rise in developing countries.
Tobacco is cultivated similarly to other agricultural products. Seeds are sown in cold frames or hotbeds to prevent attacks from insects, and then transplanted into the fields. Tobacco is an annual crop, which is usually harvested mechanically or by hand. After harvest, tobacco is stored for curing, which allows for the slow oxidation and degradation of carotenoids. This allows for the agricultural product to take on properties that are usually attributed to the "smoothness" of the smoke. Following this, tobacco is packed into its various forms of consumption, which include smoking, chewing, sniffing, and so on.
Stop Smoking Today | Your Complete Information & Resources Guide. While many people use it daily in one form or another, not many people realize or consider tobacco to be a drug. Tobacco is a drug and while it remains legal it is no less harmful than some of the illegal drugs that we have all been warned about as long as we can remember. Here is a quick breakdown on tobacco:
What is Tobacco?
Tobacco is a plant that is brown in color that grows in warmer climates. The leaves from the tobacco plant are dried out and then are processed for consumption.How is Tobacco Used?
Tobacco can be consumed in several ways.- Smoked either in a cigarette, cigar or pipe.
- Chewed or “dipped” which is when it is placed in the mouth and the nicotine is taken in via the gums.
- Snuffed which is when it is ground up into a powder and inhaled through the nose.
Regardless of how the tobacco is used, it is harmful. While each of the above mentioned have their own individual risks associated with them, they all have been shown to cause cancer and therefore one should not be considered more safe than another. All forms of tobacco will contain nicotine and therefore all forms of tobacco are also addictive, making it even harder to quit.
Tobacco Contains Poisons
When people think of tobacco and why it is harmful the first thing that comes to mind is normally nicotine. Nicotine is considered to be a toxin but is in no ways the most concerning of the ingredients found in tobacco. While many of the additives in tobacco are considered to be at safe levels in their own right, when they are burned their chemical composition changes making some of them more dangerous. Some of the ingredients in tobacco that some might find shocking are:- Methane
- Hydrazine
- Carbon Monoxide
- Acetone
- Formaldehyde
- Ammonia
- Arsenic
- Hydrogen Cyanide
There are also some of the same poisons in chewing tobacco as well. While this is not burned, 43 of the chemicals in tobacco are shown to cause cancer. With those types of additives it is no wonder that tobacco caused deaths in the
Tobacco annually kills more people than AIDS, TB, car accidents, drugs, alchohol, malaria, suicide and murder put together. It is also estimated that while tobacco only killed an estimated .3 million people in 1950, and 2.1 million in 2000 that by the time we hit the year 2025 an estimated 3 million people will die annually from tobacco related deaths. That is just considering industrialized countries and the numbers are even more staggering for the non-industrialized nations.
The bottom line is that tobacco in any form in any dose is harmful. While many people would not consider taking a loaded gun and putting it to their head and pulling the trigger, millions take the same chance everyday each time they use tobacco. While the effects and harm might not be immediate, it is none the less harmful.
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