Introduction
Tobacco is a green leafy plant that is grown in warm climates. After being picked, it can be dried, grounded and used in different ways such as smoking it, in form of cigarette or cigar; it can be chewed and snuffed. History has show that tobacco consumption has been in existence right from the time of our forefather’s dating from the 17th century.
Nicotine is one of the more than four thousand (4,000) chemical in cigarette that is being smoked. It is a chemical that promotes addiction to a substance like tobacco once it is being smoked, chewed or snuffed (Bychman, 2005).
According to Leshner (2004), nicotine addiction is a form of chronic brain disease resulting from alterations in brain chemistry and also defines drug addiction as compulsive use without medical purpose in the face of negative consequences.
Tobacco intake by individual whether young or old has been on the increase, because they take in this substance to enable them feel strong with a philosophical view that it make them feel okay. This tobacco in effect has had some significant influences on their health and their body functions.
Tobacco is the primarily known preventable causes of premature death in our society in 2000, an estimated 4.83 million people worldwide died prematurely from tobacco attributed disease (Sturmtiofel, 2007).
Conceptual framework
Tobacco is a green, leafy plant that is grown in warm climates. After it is picked, it is drench, ground up and used in different ways it can be smoked in a cigarette, pipe or cigar. It can be chewed (called smokeless tobacco or chewing tobacco) or snuffed through the nose (called snuff).
Tobacco is the primary knows causes of premature death in our society; in 2000 an estimated 4.83 million people worldwide died from prematurely from tobacco attributed disease (Sturmtiofel, 2007).
Leshner (2004) stated that nicotine in addition is a form of chronic brain disease resulting from alterations in brain chemistry and also define dry addiction as compulsive use without medical purpose in the face of negative consequences.
According to World Health Organization (WHO, 2005) tobacco is a single greatest causes of death globally, the WHO estimates that tobacco caused 5.4 million deaths in 2004 and 100 million deaths over the course of the 20th century.
Samuel (2012) stated that tobacco is a plant that contains the drugs nicotine, even though tobacco causes many health problems, people all over the world have been using it for hundreds of years.
According to Nancy (2013), tobacco is a nervous system stimulant that triggers complex biochemical and neurotransmitter disruption it elevates heart rate and blood pressure, constrictions blood vessels, irritates lung tissue and diminishes your ability to taste and smell.
Historical background of tobacco
Tobacco is a plant that grows natively in the North and South America; it is in the same family as the potato, pepper and the poisonous nightshade, a very deadly plant. The seed of a tobacco is very small; a 1 ounce sample contains about 300,000 seeds, it is believed that tobacco began growing in the Americas about 6,000 BC. As early as 1 BC, America, Indian began using tobacco in many different ways, such as in religion and medical practices.
Tobacco was believed to be a cure-all, and was used to dressed wounds, as well as pain killer, chewing tobacco was believed to relieve the pain of a toothache. On October 15/1492, Christopher Columbus was offered dried tobacco leaves as gift from the American, Indians that he encountered soon after, Sailors brought tobacco back to Europe and the plant was being grown all over Europe. The major reason for tobacco’s growing popularity in Europe was its supposed healing properties Europeans believed that tobacco could cure almost everything, from bad breath to cancer in 1571, a Spanish doctor named Nicolas Monardes wrote a book about the history of medical plants of the new world. In this he claimed that tobacco could cure 36 health problems.
In 1588, a Virginian named Thomas Harriet promoted smoking tobacco as a viable way to get one’s daily dose of tobacco unfortunately he died of nose cancer (because it was popular than to breath the smoke out through the nose). It was frequently used as money, tobacco was literally ‘’as good as gold’’ this was also a time when some of the dangerous effect of smoking tobacco were being realised by some individuals in 1610 sir Francis Bacon noted that to quit the bad habit was really hard.
In 1632, 12 years after the Mayflower arrived on Plymouth Rock, it was illegal to smoke publicly in Massachusetts; this had more to do with the moral beliefs of the day, than concerns about smoking tobacco (Vernellia, 1999).
Various method of tobacco consumption
According to James (2007), smoking tobacco is a robust variety of tobacco used as a condimental for pipe weeds; it is cured by smoking over gentle fire, in the United States it is grown in Northern middle. Tennessee, Western Kentucky and Tennessee’s is used in some chewing tobacco moist snuff, some cigarette as a condiment leaf in pipe tobacco blends, it has a rich, slightly floral taste and adds body and aroma to the blend.
Smokeless tobacco is a kind of tobacco that is placed in the cheek or between the gum and check users them to suck on the tobacco and spite out the tobacco juice, which is why smokeless tobacco is often referred to as “spit tobacco or spitting tobacco’’. Smokeless tobacco contains 28 known carcinogens users increases their risk of heart disease and stroke, the damage to the delicate lining of the mouth and throat can lead to cancer and other health problems. He further said that Agar is another type of tobacco which differs from cigarettes in both their size used. Cigars vary in size and shape and can be up to 7 inches long; large cigars contain 7-17 grams of tobacco and can take 1-2 hours to smoke, while the average cigarette contains about 1 gram and take about 10 minutes to smoke. Cigars contain about 100-200 milligrams premium cigars can contains the tobacco equivalent or an entire pack of cigarettes because of their sized, smoking a cigar is like smoking 3-8 cigarettes.
Murphy (2006) stated that passive smoking usually involuntary consumption of smoke tobacco, second hand smoke (SHS) is the consumption where the burning-end is present, environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) or third-hand smoke is the consumption of the smoke that remains after the burning-end has been extinguished because of its perceived negative implications this form of consumption has played a contra role in the regulation of tobacco products.
Hookah or water pipe smoking has been practiced for over 400 years and is often a social activity; there are variety of names for hookah including narghite, argileh, shisha, hubble-babble and doza. Hookah tobacco is available in many flavours such as apple, grape, mint and cappuccino. Using a hookah to smoke tobacco poses a serious potential health hazard to smokers and others exposed to the smoke emitted, hookah tobacco contain many toxicants that are known to cause lung cancer, heart disease and other health complications. Even after it has been passed through water, the smoke contains higher levels of toxic compound including chemicals that are masked by the sweet flavours of hookah tobacco. Although many hookah smokers believers that this habit is less harmful than smoking cigarette, hookah smoke still contains nicotine and has at least as many toxins as cigarette smoke (Pringle, 2008).
Factors that influence the intake of tobacco
Mumbor (2012) stated that the problem of drug abuse goes beyond the individual abusers’ level, it extend to the whole society which we live. The factors in drug abuse (tobacco) may therefore be categorised into:
- Individual or personal factors and
- Socio-culture or environmental factors.
- Individual or personal factors
Personal factors are those that motivate an individual to join the part of drug abuse and remain in it to be dependent these are some of the factors that influence an individual to drink or smoke tobacco.
- Acceptance by others: Man is a social animal; social grouping is an expected human behaviour, each member of group strives to remain within the group, no man wants to be rejected by his group. Therefore person may participate in the drug abuse of a drug in order to retain a ‘’sense of belonging’’ to his group. Thus teetotaller may take some alcohol or tobacco in order to remain in the club of business partners.
- Expression of independence: Young people may take tobacco in order to express independence from parents. This is more likely to be absence of parents, especially the father or when young ones are sent to school to be on their own, expression of independence in most case are genuinely expressed.
- Boredom: An idle mind seeks an occupation usually a change of mood is desired either for pleasures or thrill drugs that change mood, like alcohol, in India hemp and tobacco are therefore ready substance to break boredom by induction of change of mood.
- Need for relaxation: the part of frame and achievement is rough and rocky; the tensions associated with young peoples’ prolonged apprenticeship are not terribly pleasant, therefore people tend to seek ways of coping with this tension. Drugs that have a pharmacological relaxant are easy instruments for relieving human tension, the mood changing and sleep inducing drugs are useful vehicles for escape from undesirable life situations.
2. Socio-cultural/environmental factors
May wish to experiment with drug out of curiosity, he may even be forced to seek relaxation because of states of unbearable tension, but there are factors around him that will determine what drugs he chose. Such environmental factors are as follows:
- Availability: Drug that is easily available is most readily abused. Tobacco and alcohol is in every part of Nigeria and it is also legally obtainable therefore most people wishing to relax may go for alcohol or tobacco. In place where opium is easily available, it will be widely abused.
- Social acceptance of drugs abuse: The type of drug abuse depends on the attitude of the society to the drug. The extent of adverse publicity given depends on the acceptance of drug society. Drunken and driven with high risk of severe accidents will receive less prowl, in Nigeria, than a young person who fell from his motor bicycle under the influence of Indian-hemp. It is socially acceptable to be drunk with alcohol at a Nigeria party but young men in drowsy state after ingestion of barbiturates at students’ union disco party will be heavily reprimanded. The list of ridiculous contradictions in societal acceptance of drugs in inexhaustible.
- The peer group: In the drug abuse serve today, there are many drugs involved. Young people usually learn of the drugs through their peer groups. The peer group are also the social group that are adolescent in secondary school will wish to belong. A study suggested that young people who either use marijuana or might use it learnt of it from their friends. The peer groups are therefore very powerful factors in the initiation and propagation of drug abuse.
- The family: The attitude of the family members towards drugs tends to influence the children. A survey among secondary school students in Ilorin school, that higher proportion of children of drinking fathers does take alcohol. The finding is similar to student in other places. Attitude to tobacco, smoking is very similar to this.
- Advertisement: Different causes have been attributed to drug problems by different people. Kalpan and Keniston have identified advertisement in radio, television and magazines/news papers as one of the factors. Adolescent who watch television on the advertisement of cigarette smoking will want to try what he/she sees in or on television.
Consequences of tobacco consumption
Tobacco is the single greatest cause of preventable death globally. Tobacco use leads most commonly to disease affecting the heart, liver and lungs. With smoking being a major risk factor for heart attacks, strokes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cancer (particularly living cancer, cancers of the mouth and larynx, and pancreatic cancer).
It also causes peripheral vascular disease and hypertension, the effects depends on the number of years that a person smokes and on how much the person smokes.
In (2004) the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that tobacco causes 5.4 million death and 150 million deaths over the course of 20th century the United States centres for disease control and prevention describes tobacco use as the single most important preventable risk to human health in developed countries and an important cause of premature death worldwide. Several countries have take measures to control the consumption of tobacco with usage and sales restriction as well as warning messages printed on packaging.
Tobacco contains nicotine, which is a highly addictive psychoactive drug. When tobacco is smoked, nicotine causes physical and psychological dependency. Tobacco use is a significant factor in miscarriages among pregnant women who smoke tobacco and it contributes to a number of other threats to the health of the foetus such as premature births and low birth weight. Incidence of importance is approximately 85% higher in male smokers compared to non-smokers, and is a key factor causing erectile dysfunction (ED).
In February, 2015 a study in new England journal of medicine reported that mortality due to cigarette smoking in the united states is substantially greater than previously through (Rockville, 2014).
Strategies for preventing tobacco intake
School health programmes
According to Bryant (2013), a well designed, well implemented school programs to prevent tobacco use and addiction have proven effective in preventing tobacco use by educating the students during the years of study base on interaction involving the students, not only on tobacco abuse but on the training of life skills in general.
Media
Murphy (2006) stated that tobacco abuse can be prevented through mass media campaigns these are not effective when they are part of broader, comprehensive tobacco control programs designed to change a community prevailing attitudes concerning tobacco use. Include aids with strong negative emotional appeal that produce, for example, a sense of loss, disgust or fear, introduction of persuasive new information or new perspective about health risk to smokers and non-smokers using personal testimony or graphic-depiction formats that youth paid emotionally engaging but not authoritarian. Feature multiple message strategies, advertising executions, and media channels to consistently attract, engage, and influence diverse youth with varying levels of susceptibility to smoking. Providing adequate exposure to media messages over significant period of time. Mass-media aids contribute to the synergy produced by different campaign elements working together to change a community prevailing attitudes toward tobacco use.
References
Buchman (2005). Biomedical literature from medical lipe science. Journals.
Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (2013). Strategies on tobacco abuse through school programs.
Leshner (2004). journal of media psychology theory methods, and application, vol: 23(2).
Malter (2008). Association between CHRN genetic variance and dizziness.
Murphy, R. H. (2006). Health communications specialist office on smoking and Health/ CDC.
Mumbor. M. I (2012). Manual on substance abuse education (1st ed.) Ughelli: Iruoghene Press.
Nancy, B. (2013). consequence of tobacco intake.
Samuel, R. (2012). Mchanghlum Addition and mental Health information centre. A journal on tobacco and smoking, vol: 1-16-35.
Department of Health and Human services (2014). National Centre for chronic Disease prevention and Health promotion office on smoking and Human.
Vernellia, R. (1999) History of Tobacco. University of Dayton School of Law.
