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CHAPTER 13 DRUG AWARENESS
Smoking
There is no one reason why people smoke, but
many people say it helps them to cope with stress
when they are at work, even though they know it is NICOTINE is the drug in tobacco. People think that it
bad for their health. Nicotine helps them to relax. In fact, nicotine makes your heart
beat faster and tells your stomach to make more acid.
Do you know anyone that smokes? This can cause stomach ulcers.
If you do, ask them why they do it.
People smoke cigars and pipes, but the most
common thing to smoke is a cigarette. Cigarettes CARBON MONOXIDE is a colourless gas. Inhaling
are made from tobacco, which comes from the leaf Carbon carbon monoxide can leave you short of breath. It can
of a plant. Monoxide also stop oxygen from getting to the parts of your body
that need it.
When you light a cigarette, the tobacco burns and
gives off a lot of chemicals and gases which you
breathe into your lungs:
TAR is brown, smelly and sticky. Tar gets left behind in
your lungs when you breathe in cigarette fumes. If the tar
is allowed to build up it can kill parts of your lungs or
Tar cause cancer. Tar also makes it difficult to clear mucus
from your lungs leaving you congested and sore.
Smoking can also harm other parts of your body too.
80% of heart attacks are caused by smoking.
95% of people who have bronchitis are smokers.
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