Individuals start to smoke for many different reasons. Smokers do not consider the effects of their health first. People make a conscious decision to start smoking. But once smokers start smoking and become addicted to the nicotine the addiction overrides the wish to quit. Smoking has always been a serious and controversial topic. Cigarettes are an additive health hazard. Smoking cigarettes is additive and a health hazard. Smokers' cannot be convinced that it is a health hazard that could not only reduce the number of years in one's life but can affect one's quality of life. It is therefore important to focus on the effects of smoking because of research and explain that smoking is the cause of several health problems.
The nicotine in cigarettes is a stimulant drug. The affect of nicotine triggers the release of dopamine-a chemical found in the brain that links with feelings of pleasure. "No other substance known to man is used with such remarkable frequency.
Graph showing the differences in blood concentrati...
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NicotineEven caffeine ranks a poor second." (Brecher, 1972) Studies have shown nicotine is addicting. "The first modern scientific evidence for this conclusion appeared in the English medical journal Lancet in 1942. Dr. Lennox Johnston reported that he had given small injections of nicotine solution to 35 volunteers, including him. "Smokers almost invariably thought the sensation pleasant," Dr. Johnston declared, "and, given an adequate dose, were disinclined to smoke for a time thereafter. After a course of 80 injections of nicotine, an injection was preferred to a cigarette." If the nicotine injections were abruptly discontinued, craving arose. Dr. Johnston found that in satisfying this craving, one milligram of injected nicotine was roughly the equivalent of smoking one cigarette. He concluded that "smoking tobacco is essentially a means of administering nicotine; just as smoking opium is a means of administering morphine."...