My Self

The Dangers of Tobacco, Alcohol and Drug Abuse

Tobacco is harmful to you no matter how you use it. Cigarette smoke contains over 4,000 chemicals. These include nicotine, tar, and carbon monoxide, as well as formaldehyde, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, arsenic, and DDT. Nicotine is highly addictive. Smoke containing nicotine is inhaled into the lungs, and the nicotine reaches your brain in just six seconds. In large doses, it's a lethal poison, affecting the heart, blood vessels, and hormones. Nicotine in the bloodstream acts to make the smoker feel calm.

As a cigarette is smoked, the amount of tar inhaled into the lungs increases, and the last puff contains more than twice as much tar as the first puff. Most of the chemicals inhaled in cigarette smoke stay in the lungs. The more you inhale, the better it feels—and the greater the damage to your lungs.

Tobacco

• Addictive
• 43 chemicals that can cause cancer
• A depressant

Alcohol and Drugs

• Highly addictive
• Waste of time and money
• Also a depressant

Drug Abuse Dangers

• Inability to sleep
• Feeling down, or hopeless
• Thoughts of death or suicide

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• The Dangers of Tobacco, Alcohol and Drug Abuse
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