What it is
Made from the dried leaves of the tobacco plant, which grows in many parts of the world. Most tobacco used in this country comes from America and is sold as cigarettes. Tobacco can also come as cigars, pipe tobacco and snuff. The drug in tobacco is nicotine.
Street names
Names for cigarettes include backy, cigs, fags, rollies and snout.
How it is taken
Usually smoked as a cigarette or cigar, but sometimes smoked in a pipie. Occasionally people chew tobacco or sniff it up the nose in the form of snuff.
Extent of use
In recent years use has fallen among adults (particularly the middle classes) but risen among young people. By 15/16 years old almost 2 in 3 young people have tried a cigarette. Recent surveys have found that about 5% of 13 year olds, 20 to 30% of 15 year olds and almost one third of 16 to 19 year olds smoke regularly. These days more girls than boys smoke and more working-class than middle-class young people do so.
Effects of Use
- Nicotine is a stimulant drug that increases pulse rate and raises blood pressure.
- Smoking also involves inhaling tar, carbon monoxide and other gases.
- First time smokers may feel light headed, sick and dizzy and choke.
- Regular smokers often say smoking makes them less anxious, helps them concentrate and relieves boredom.
- Some people also find it makes them less hungry.
Risks of use
While many young children manage to be occasional smokers for a time few do so in the longer term. Most people who carry on smoking become dependent and feel anxious, restless and crave cigarettes if they try to stop.
- It tends to make the hands yellow and means people and their clothes smell.
- If often leads to breathing problems, makes it difficult to do sport and stay fit and makes asthma worse.
- Long-term smoking greatly increases the risk of serious illness, including heart attack, lung and other cancers, bronchitis and ulcers. At least 120,000 people in the UK die prematurely each year through smoking-related illnesses.
- Women who smoke during pregnancy have a greater chance of giving birth to babies of low birth weight.
- Smoking while taking the contraceptive pill increases the risk of heart and circulation problems.
- Smoking near other people, and particularly babies and children, can increase the risk of them getting asthma. Passive smoking is claimed to result in several hundred deaths a year in the UK.
The Law
It is not illegal to buy tobacco products or smoke them at any age. It is illegal for vendors to sell tobacco products to young people they know to be under 16 years old. The maximum fine for doing this is currently £2,500.
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