Smoking Tobacco has been an American tradition since the foundation of the country. Native Americans had been smoking tobacco before Europeans arrived in the fifteenth century and shared the practice with them when they arrived (Hart & Ksir, 2018, pp. 220-221). For a long-time tobacco was considered to be medicinal herb and was viewed by the public as a safe activity. Thankfully our knowledge of the dangers of smoking tobacco have increased, but tobacco use still brings some shocking statistics. The most shocking is that tobacco use is the leading cause of “preventable disease, disability, and death in the United States (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018). If we know that death and disease caused by tobacco is a preventable problem, why hasn’t our country decided to take action? Tobacco should be a criminalized drug in our nation, because of its addictive properties and deadly health risks.
As mentioned earlier, the origins of tobacco stem from the Americas, and then spread throughout the world after Europeans arrived. Today there are over 60 species of Tobacco, Nicotiana, but there are only two main types grown. One was originally grown in South America, Nicotiana tobacum, which is the species that is primarily used in smoking and chewing tobacco (Hart & Ksir, 2018, pp. 222-223). The other was grown in both the West Indies and eastern North America; however, this species is considered to be of less quality. After European colonization of North America, tobacco planting spread throughout the states and became an important trading product in the early American economy (Hart & Ksir, 2018, pp. 222-223). Today, tobacco use and production look considerably different due to federal laws, smoking trends, and new methods of taking tobacco.
Although things might be different the effects that tobacco have on the human body are the same. The active drug in tobacco is nicotine, which has numerous negative effects on the body. Nicotine enters the body through inhalation with 90% of the inhaled nicotine reaching the brain (Hart & Ksir, 2018, p. 235). Nicotine is particularly dangerous because it is able to effectively pass the blood-brain barrier. After nicotine passes the blood-brain barrier it begins its strong effects on our bodies release process. Nicotine binds to acetylcholine receptors and acts as an agonist at the site. This stimulates the neuron and blocks any impulses through the synapse (Drug Bank, 2018). Nicotine stimulates the release of dopamine, serotonin, and epinephrine. Dopamine is what triggers the reward component of intaking nicotine through smoking or chewing tobacco. The reward pathways of the brain are part of how addiction begins to form in the brain (Psychology Today, 2017).
Physiological effects of nicotine are numerous. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention lists short term effects such as: increased heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, and alertness (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011). The seriousness of the effects of nicotine increase as exposure and toxicity do. Dizziness, nausea, and weakness are understood to be effects at low-level nicotine poisoning. Nicotine causes tremors that can lead to death in cases of acute toxicity. Death may occur because nicotine blocks the cholinergic receptor that activates the muscles needed to breath; resulting in suffocation (Hart & Ksir, 2018, pp. 235-236). There are more physiological effects of nicotine, these are just some that present the most dangerous consequences.
Smoking tobacco poses numerous health risks ranging from trouble breathing to lung cancer. As people are inhaling the smoke from the plant, there lungs are filling up with tar. The consequence so smoking on your lungs starts with wheezing and can lead to lung cancer (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have also found that smoking tobacco can lead to cardiovascular diseases and strokes. This is due smoke damage blood vessels leading to the narrowing of blood vessels; increasing blood pressure and causing clots. Smoking tobacco has also been linked to infertility in men, as well as birth defects in children whose parents were smokers (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018). Despite the overwhelming amount of health risks associated with smoking and nicotine there a few small benefits to nicotine. Nicotine has been shown to act as beneficial stimulant to increase focus and your ability to stay awake. Opposite to stimulation, nicotine inhalation has also been reported to provide relaxation. These opposing effects have been studied and seem to be influenced by the user’s history and context (Hart & Ksir, 2018, p. 236).
Smoking tobacco is an incredibly addictive act. Previously mentioned, nicotine triggers the reward circuit and a release of the neurotransmitter dopamine. Long-term effects of smoking lead many users to addiction. Inhaling nicotine is a quick acting method of taking the drug. Nicotine enters your bloodstream quickly, with effects peaking about 10 seconds after inhalation. The effects of the drug decrease quickly as well, which causes users to smoke continuously to maintain pleasurable effects and avoid withdrawal symptoms (National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2018). Nicotine usage results in a cycle of addiction, because of its quick acting and dissolving effects that stimulate the release of dopamine.
After reading about how nicotine affects the body, the amount of health risks associated with smoking, and the addictive properties of smoking there should not be any debate on the value of the drug in American society. Smoking tobacco is a dangerous drug a should be criminalized federally. The negative impacts of tobacco in our country are too wide spread to take no action. Sixteen million Americans live with diseases caused by smoking. Smoking tobacco is the cause of 480,000 annual deaths in America, and smokers die ten years earlier than non-smokers. And although the legal age to buy cigarettes is 18, it is predicted that every day 3,200 kids under the age of 18 smoke their first cigarette.
It is an American ideology that everyone should have their personal freedoms, and many believe that people should have the right to smoke or not to smoke. Except, non-smokers are also being affected by smoking Americans. The American Lung Association reports that second hand smoke, which is smoke inhaled from the environment by nonsmokers, results in 7,330 deaths from lung cancer nearly 34,000 deaths from cardiovascular disease (American Lung Association, 2017).