Facts About Tobacco

Did you know that in the United States approximately 3000 teenagers start smoking and many of them continue this habit right into adult hood. And a survey in Australia taking by the cancer council in 1945 revealed that approximately 72% of men in Australia smoke. And about 26% of women in Australia smoke. But what makes cigarettes so addictive? And how did cigarettes begin? And how do the affect our society today?

Cigarettes first began when Europeans first met the Native Americans. That’s when they found tobacco. Native Americans used tobacco for many reasons. Religious, Medical, Social and other. The tobacco plant also known as the Nicotiana tabacum is related to other vegetation such as nightshade plants, eggplant, potato, tomato and chilli pepper. All part of the Solanaceae family of plants. The tobacco plant also belongs to the genus nicotiana family. Tobacco grows in the rainforests and deserts of both North and South America. It is consumed in many ways. It can be sniffed, smoked, chewed, eaten and drunk in a variety of forms.

Native Americans believed that burning the tobacco leaves with bearberry leaves in medicine bundles, would send their prayers up to the Great Spirit through the smoke.

Christopher Columbus reached what is now the West Indies in October 1492. Among other gifts, the natives gave him dried tobacco leaves. He then bought the dried up tobacco leaves back to Europe including tobacco seeds. Tobacco seeds are so small that about one ounce contains 300,000 seeds.

The reason tobacco is so addictive is because it contains a substance known as nicotine. Nicotine is a natural liquid alkaloid. Your body takes in about one milligram when you smoke. The nicotine stimulates the body and changes the way your body and mind work. Nicotine can also give the user a skin, lung or mouth disease. Tobacco is one of the most common forms of substance abuse. When tobacco is used in any form whether it be sniffed, inhaled, smoked, chewed or any other way it gives the body a strong sense of pleasure and dependence. And when a person stops using tobacco they then go through the process of withdrawal.

Because nicotine is so addictive it makes the person want to smoke more. The short term affect of tobacco and nicotine is that it gives the person a very strong sense of pleasure and well being. But when stopped dramatically after a long term addiction the person begins to feel some mental discomfort and physical pain. This is known as withdrawal. Many smokers continue the habit after one or two years just to avoid the pain of withdrawal. But foundations such as the cancer foundations have national programs to help people escape their addiction.