EFFECT OF DRUGS

Effects of Smoking

Smoking is very harmful to health. It causes around 80 per cent of deaths from lung cancer, bronchitis and emphysema in the UK, and almost a fifth of UK deaths from heart disease.

Tobacco smoke contains many harmful substances. These include:

• tar
• nicotine
• carbon monoxide

Tar

Tar causes cancer of the lungs, mouth and throat. It coats the surface of the breathing tubes and the alveoli. This causes coughing and damages the alveoli, making it more difficult for gas exchange to happen.

Cells in the lining of the breathing tubes produce sticky mucus to trap dirt and microbes. Cells with tiny hair-like parts, called cilia, normally move the mucus out of the lungs.

Hot smoke and tar from smoking damages the cilia. So smokers cough to move the mucus and are more likely to get bronchitis.

Nicotine

Nicotine is addictive - it causes a smoker to want more cigarettes. Nicotine also increases the heart rate and blood pressure, and makes blood vessels narrower than normal. This can lead to heart disease.

Carbon monoxide

Carbon monoxide is a gas that takes the place of oxygen in red blood cells. This reduces the amount of oxygen that the blood can carry. This means that the circulatory system has to work harder, causing heart disease.

Drugs are substances that have effects on the body. Medicines are drugs that help people suffering from pain or disease. Other drugs, often called recreational drugs, are taken for pleasure.

Some recreational drugs are legal, such as tobacco, alcohol and caffeine. Most other recreational drugs are illegal, such as cannabis, ecstasy and heroin. Recreational drugs are addictive, and they may be depressants or stimulants.

All drugs can damage the liver, because it is the liver that breaks drugs down in the body. Any drug that is misused can cause damage to the body, as well as personal and social problems. Injecting any drug with a needle and syringe that someone else has used may lead to a number of diseases from infected blood, including HIV and hepatitis.

Alcohol

Alcohol is a depressant. Depressants slow down messages in the brain and along the nerves. It is found in beer, wines and spirits such as vodka. Solvents, cannabis and heroin are also depressants.

Here are some of the typical effects depressants have on the body:

• feelings of well-being
• lowered inhibition
• slowed thinking
• slowed muscular activity
• a distorted view of the world, or hallucinations