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Nicotine Addiction

Decent Essays

The smoking habit is the principal cause of illness, disability and death around the world. More than five million of people in the world die due to smoking habit every year. If we don’t take care of this in 2030 the amount will be ten million. Seven million of these deaths would be in poor countries.

It is estimated that half of all smokers die from diseases related to the consumption of tobacco and live an average of ten to fifteen years less than non-smokers.

The consumption of cigarettes negatively impact the health of smokers and nonsmokers exposed. In this section we will focus in the negative heath effects of consumption in smokers. The consequences of tobacco consumption to the health appeared in the early twentieth century. there are published thousands of articles and reviews of this theme and show us that smoking is related with alterations in all organs and systems. …show more content…

At the end we’ll arrive to a conclusion about this important harmful habit.

Addiction Mechanism

In 1988, the Ministry of Health in the United States defined the nicotine as an addictive substance. Cigarettes and other derivatives substances generate tobacco dependence. The addictive mechanisms are similar to the addiction mechanisms to drugs such as cocaine and heroin. Cigarettes are highly efficient at delivering nicotine and other addictive substances. The average smoker takes in 1 to 2 mg of nicotine per cigarette each time they inhale. Nicotine reaches the brain within 10 seconds which contributes to its great power of addiction.

The definition of addiction involves among others: the existence of tolerance (must gradually increase the dose to get the same effect); withdrawal in its absence and the compulsive use of a drug despite knowing the negative consequences on

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