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Description: 
Tobacco is closely related to garden vegetables, flowers, weeds, and poisonous
herbs. Common plants such as potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, petunias,
jimson wood, ground cherries, and nightshade, as well as tobacco, are of
the family of plants called Solanaceae. The genus (sub-group of
Solanaceae) Nicotiana contains about 100 species, only two of which have
been extensively cultivated for use in tobacco products. Of those two,
Nicotiana tabacam, is the type of tobacco used today in smoking and
chewing tobacco and it is the predominant variety of crop tobacco. The
active ingredient, and the addictive substance, in tobacco of any form
is nicotine(C10H14N2).Source: http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/archives/exhibits/tobacco Background: Experts believe that, as early as 6000 B.C., the tobacco plant, as we know it today, began growing in the Americas. Throughout the 16th and 17th centuries tobacco proliferated throughout Europe and Asia. Although the negative health effects of tobacco were documented as early as 1600, it was not until the 1950s that the United States began regulating tobacco advertising and sales. Only recently has there been a widespread realization of the dangers of long-term tobacco use. Source: http://www.tobacco.org Usage: Tobacco is available in a number of forms including snuff, chewing tobacco, pipe tobacco, cigars and cigarettes. Tobacco is either chewed, in the case of snuff and chewing tobacco, or smoked in a pipe, cigar or cigarette form. Effects: Nicotine is a stimulant and smokers feel that tobacco helps relieve boredom and tiredness and also helps reduce stress and anxiety. The effects are almost immediate but fade quickly, which encourages continual use. Some people may experience nausea and dizziness when they inhale tobacco smoke for the first few times. Tobacco use has been conclusively linked to health problems including, but not limited to, heart disease, stroke, emphysema, blood clots, cancer, bronchitis, poor circulation and ulcers. Tobacco use remains the leading preventable cause of death in the United States, causing more than 400,000 deaths each year and resulting in an annual cost of more than $50 billion in direct medical costs. Each year, smoking kills more people than AIDS, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, car crashes, murders, suicides, and fires combined. Source: Center for Disease Control Dependency: Physical Dependence: Moderate to severe Psychological Dependence: Moderate Tolerance: Moderate to strong Treatment: Many more treatment facilities are beginning to institute short-term, or weekend, smoking-cessation programs. Contact the centers listed below for information on such programs.
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