The active ingredient in tobacco is nicotine which gives the consumer a temporary lift by stimulating the pleasure centre in the brain thus making him fell high. As he takes this he soon craves for more. Tobacco is consumed as cigarette and cigar which are smoked. Other ways of consuming tobacco include chewing tobacco leaves, sniffing ground tobacco leaves to powder and mouth gargling with ground tobacco. Tobacco is a narcotic, although its first effect upon the nervous system is stimulating. The first use of tobacco is usually accompanied by symptoms of poisoning-nausea, dizziness and headache-but smokers soon develop tolerance through use. Smokers with sedentary habits suffer heart and nerve effects more severely than those more active. People inclined to nervousness easily develop the smoking habit and soon find themselves unable to resist it for long. The effect upon mental activity varies, in some it calms the nerves while in others it produces headache and nervous irritability. It is also known that certain physiological changes are caused such as increase in pulse rate and blood pressure, with a lowering of the temperature in the fingers and toes. There is also a loss of appetite usually accompanied by a loss in weight.
Prolonged excessive smoking sometimes produces disturbances in the locomotor system of the body manifested by fine tremor of the hands, clumsy movements with diminishing manual dexterity and detoriation in usual activity. In addition the delicate and important lining of the respiratory passages are chronically irritated and the individual becomes far more inclined to develop chest infection. Most important of all statistics show a higher incidence of and death rate from lung cancer and coronary artery disease among heavy smokers than in other people. It is considered that cigarette smoking is now as important a cause of death as were the great epidemic disease such as typhoid, cholera and tuberculosis. Researchers have also shown that mothers who smoke during pregnancy retard the growth of the unborn children especially after the third or fourth month of pregnancy. Babies so affected may be described as dysmature, they are small and in addition have low blood sugar levels.
In recent years important medical reports have brought to the attention of the public dangers associated with smoking, particularly to those responsible for the well being young people. It is important to persuade young people particularly boys not to acquire the habit do what parentsor admired adults do. Many of those who start in these way give up quickly without acquiring the habit while others may become more moderate or heavy smokers. Among those belonging to the later group are those who smoke to pass the time away because they are committed for life to a dull and dreary job
or because tension created by living requires damping down by some form of tranquilizers and smoking seems to be one of the least harmful.
For those of any age who need to be convinced a study of tobacco and its constituents is a worthwhile exercise. Tobacco is made by fermenting and drying the leaf of the plant and its chief component is a drug called nicotine this is a volatile alkaliod (a colourless oily compound) and one of the most violent poison known. The amount of nicotine in tobacco smoke varies not only with the kind of tobacco but with its dryness and the form in which it is burned. The amount that is absorbed by the body is influenced to some degree by the intent to which the smoke is inhaled because cigar and pipe smokers are less incline to inhale they are considered to be less exposed to danger. In addition to nicotine there are other irritating substances in tobacco smoke such as tar and carbon monoxide.
Preventive measures
The government should inact laws to protect the children by inflicting self penalties for selling tobacco to person under the age of sixteen. Government should also set up anti-smoking clinics for those who wish to stop smoking but have developed the habit. Publicity materials, posters, films and publicity vans should be made available. Social surveys should be carried out to access the effect of the campaign and provide information to assist its development in future. The ban on smoking in places of entertainment and public transport should be enforced.
Healing words
“He that commiteth sin is of the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil.” 1 John 3:8.
The root of all sin is satan. He does not only sin he leads people to sin so that they can suffer the same fate as himself. Sin leads to sickness and sickness lead to death. Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil. For us to enjoy life in its fullness we need to identify ourselves with the work Christ came to do on earth by believing Him.
