Tobacco
Tobacco
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Products such as cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco, chewing tobacco, and wet and dry snuff contain dried leaves from the tobacco plant. The main chemical in tobacco is nicotine, which is a stimulant drug that speeds up the messages travelling between the brain and body. Tar and carbon monoxide (a toxic gas) are also released when tobacco is burned, such as when it’s smoked. Electronic cigarettes (also known as E cigarettes) don’t contain dried tobacco leaves, but they may still contain nicotine.
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Common Names
Ciggies
Darts
Rollies
Smokes
Fags
Butts
Cancer Sticks
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How is it used?
Tobacco is usually smoked in cigarettes. It is also smoked in cigars and pipes.
Side Effects of Tobacco
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There is no safe level of drug use. Use of any drug always carries risk.
Tobacco affects everyone differently, based on:
• Size, weight and health
• Whether the person is used to taking it
• Whether other drugs are taken around the same time
• The amount taken
• The strength of the tobacco and how much is contained in the product -
The following effects may be experienced:
Feeling more alert, happy and relaxed
Coughing
Dizziness, headaches
Fast heart beat
Bad breath
Tingling and numbness in fingers and toes
Reduced appetite, stomach cramps and vomiting
If a large amount of tobacco is taken the following effects may also be experienced:
Confusion
Feeling faint
Seizures
Fast breathing
Respiratory arrest (stop breathing) and death
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Long-term effects:
Regular use of tobacco may eventually cause:
Shortness of breath
Coughing fits, asthma and lung diseases
Regular colds or flu
Loss of taste and smell
Yellow, rotting teeth
Yellow finger tips
Early wrinkles
Back pain
Slower-healing wounds
Mood swings
Eye disease and hearing loss
Stomach ulcers
Difficulty having children (males and females)
Irregular periods and early menopause (females)
Difficulty getting an erection (males)
Cancer (in many areas of the body)
Stroke and brain damage
Heart attack and disease
Needing to use more to get the same effect
Dependence on tobacco
Financial, work and social problems
Smoking
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Passive smoking
Passive smoking is when someone breathes in smoke from other people smoking. Passive smoking can cause many of the health problems listed above, so it’s important not to smoke near other people, particularly babies, children, pregnant and breastfeeding women, and people with chronic respiratory conditions.
Mixing Tobacco with other drugs
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Tobacco + Benzodiazepines
Reduced effectiveness of benzodiazepines.
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Tobacco + Contraceptive Pill
Increased risk of blood clots forming.
The effects of using Tobacco with other drugs – including over-the-counter or prescribed medications can be unpredictable and dangerous.
