1. SUBSTANCE ABUSE: Tobacco and Its Effects
Ms. Mai
Lawndale High School

2. Tobacco and People
All tobacco products are made from the dried and treated leaves of the tobacco plant
Cigarettes and pipe tobacco are made from crumbled tobacco leaves, while rolled leaves are used to make cigars

3. Smokeless Tobacco
Smokeless tobacco are made from leaves ground up that is inhaled or chewed rather than smoked
Snuff is finely ground tobacco that is sniffed or dipped
Chewing tobacco is coarsely ground tobacco that is chewed and held in the mouth

4. Tobacco’s Popularity
Until the late 1800s, tobacco was widely used in pipes and cigarettes
The popularity of smoking came in 1964 when 50% of all adults in the US smoked
That year, the Surgeon General linked smoking to heart disease and lung cancer, and since then smoking has decreased to about 28%

5. Health Warnings
In 1966, the government began requiring cigarette manufacturers to clearly label all packages with this caution: “Cigarette smoking may be hazardous to your health.”
In 1970, the warning statement was changed to this: “The Surgeon General has determined that cigarette smoking is dangerous to your health.”

6. Health Warnings
Today, one of the following must be printed on every cigarette package:
Smoking causes lung cancer, heart disease, emphysema, and may complicate pregnancy
Cigarette smoke contains carbon monoxide
Smoking by pregnant women may result in fetal injury, premature birth, and low birth weight
Quitting smoking now greatly reduces serious risks to your health

7. Health Warnings
Federal law also prohibits ads for tobacco products on TV and radio
State and local laws now ban smoking in many public areas
Smoking is banned on all airline flights within the United States

8. Health Warnings
In 1986, Congress passed a law requiring these warning to be put on all smokeless tobacco products:
This product may cause mouth cancer
This product may cause gum disease and tooth loss
This product is not a safe alternative to cigarettes

9. Why People Do Not Use Tobacco
As you can tell, tobacco causes serious health problems and smoking is now more socially unacceptable
Most teenagers and young adult prefer to date people who do not smoke because they think smoking shows poor judgment and is unattractive
Tobacco also leave stains on fingers and teeth, and causes bad breath

10. Why People Start Using Tobacco
Despite decreasing popularity of tobacco, there are still millions of users
Studies have shown that stress, social pressures, and advertising are important influences on teenagers

11. Stress
Stress is the body’s response to a physical or mental demand or pressure
Many young people start using tobacco as a way of coping with stress or uncomfortable feelings (boredom, anger, frustration, depression, anxiety)
For people who are jittery, it gives them something to do with their hangs

12. Social Pressures
People often start using tobacco to be like someone they admire
Many young people think that smoking is a sign of adulthood and will make them appear sophisticated and in control
Most young people start using tobacco when it is offered by a friend and refusing it would be too difficult

13. Advertising
In an effort to gain new customers, tobacco companies target advertisements towards young people
Whatever the age of their target audience, tobacco ads always show users as healthy, happy, and attractive people
They never show the coughing, wrinkled skin, stained fingers, breathing though a tube, etc.

14. How People Become Addicted
Tobacco is not just a bad habit like biting your nails, it is an addiction
An addiction is a strong physical and psychological craving for a substance
The addictive substance is tobacco is nicotine
Nicotine addiction causes tobacco users to progress from experimentation to occasional to regular use

15. Experimentation
The first few times people try using tobacco, they may experience very unpleasant effects (dizziness, nausea)
Inhaling also makes people cough, which makes people not want to smoke
Others keep trying until they overcome the unpleasant effect
Once users get used to the nicotine, each dose produces a brief “lift”

16. Occasional Use
A small percentage of people who use tobacco use it only at certain times (at a party, after meals, going out with friends)
Occasional use may seem harmless, but using tobacco in any amount can have serious health consequences
For many young people, occasional use leads to regular use

17. Regular Use
Most people who use tobacco regularly do so every day, usually in set patterns
Whenever the nicotine levels in the brain and bloodstream drop, the user craves another dose
Regular users are physically addicted to nicotine, and psychologically addicted to behaviors associated with tobacco

18. Cigarettes: The Busy Drug
No other drug keeps a user as busy taking it as does tobacco
When regular users try to quit or reduce, they become irritable, depressed, anxious, restless, and tired
These are all common symptoms of withdrawal from nicotine and reasons why people continue to use tobacco

19. Tobacco’s Effects on the Body
Tobacco contains more than 2,500 different chemicals, while its smoke contains more than 4,000 chemicals
Many of these toxic chemicals have been identified as carcinogens (substances that cause cancer)

20. Cigarettes
Tobacco smoke is a combination of hot gases and tiny particles
The three most dangerous substances in tobacco smoke are nicotine, carbon monoxide, and tars

21. Nicotine (deadly poison)
Inhaling tobacco smoke is the fastest way of getting nicotine into the blood and to the brain
Heavy smokers absorb enough nicotine in a day to kill them if it were put into their bloodstream all at once
Nicotine causes a release in adrenaline, which makes smokers feel more alert by speeding up the heart rate and making blood vessels restrict

22. Carbon Monoxide
One of the gases that cigarette smoke contains is carbon monoxide (car exhaust)
Carbon monoxide is poisoning because it is picked up by the blood and takes the place of oxygen
Lack of oxygen can affect the smoker’s vision, hearing, judgment, and shortness of breath

23. Tars
Tars are tiny particles in cigarette smoke that forms a sticky mixture in the air passages and lungs
This mixture interferes with normal air flow, and making it harder to breathe
It is estimated that each year that one cup of tar is inhaled by a smoker
This buildup of tar produces a chronic cough as the smoker tries to eliminate the mucus

24. Low-Tar, Low-Nicotine Cigarettes
As health risks of smoking became widely known, tobacco companies began developing low-tar, low-nicotine cigarettes
These are made with denser filters, thinner paper, and air hole, but do not reduce the risk of heart disease, lung disease, oral cancer, or other diseases
They simply reduce the amount of smoke that reaches the smoker

25. Pipes and Cigars
Pipe and cigar smokers do not inhale as much tobacco smoke so the risk for developing lung cancer is slightly lower
However, the risks for oral cancer is higher because they contain more tars
Pipe and cigar smokers also inhale more deeply, so there are still many health risks involved

26. Smokeless Tobacco
As smoking declines, smokeless tobacco is steadily increasing because people think that it is safer than smoking
The majority of new users each year are preteen and teenage males
Although smokeless tobacco do not inhale carbon monoxide and tars, they do take in nicotine and are exposed to more dangerous carcinogens

27. Smokeless Tobacco
Smokeless tobacco users have greater risks of developing mouth and throat cancer than smokers do
Smokeless tobacco users experience dental problems such as gum disease and tooth loss more often than smokers

28. In Conclusion… There are no safe forms of tobacco
The most dangerous substances in tobacco smoke are nicotine, carbon monoxide, and tars
People who use smokeless tobacco are exposed to nicotine and to even higher levels of carcinogens than smokers