Smoking is defined as an activity in which a material is burned and the smoke which results from this burning is breathed in. The smoke is also tasted and absorbed into the blood stream of the user. Usually the material which is burned is dried leaves of tobacco which is rolled gently to form a round cylinder that is normally called a cigarette. Smoking cigarette is normally administered through the mouth. As the dried leaves of tobacco burn, they vaporize and release an active substance that is absorbed into the blood stream through the lungs and finally absorbed into the body tissues. Smoking is practiced so that the active substance in the cigarette will change the mental state of the user by modifying one’s feelings, consciousness, and emotions, and all this done for pleasure purposes. This essay seeks to describe smoking as a recreational drug use its effects and smoking solutions.
One can trace the history of smoking to as early as 5000 BCE. Since then the practice of smoking has been note down from many different varieties of people’s culture across the whole world. Smoking was early associated with religious practices such as ceremonies, offerings to supreme beings, and rituals such as cleansing. It was also associated with divination where people known as Shamans had access to the benevolent and malevolent world. These shamans practiced smoking so that the cigarette would alter the state of one’s mind so one could interact with spirits for enlightenment. Smoking not only applied to burning cigarettes alone but burning incense as well for religious purposes and normally the Chinese, the Indians, the Israelites, and the Catholics burned incense.
After the Europeans conquered the America, the practice of smoking by Shamans of the America was later adopted and soon the practice spread rapidly to the rest of the world. Later the Indians and the sub Saharan Africa adopted the practice by smoking cannabis and a new kind of social activity was introduced to the world. Smoking has many health setbacks because of smoking tobacco especially in the 21st century. Studies show that more than five million people have lost their lives yearly from the year 1990 to 2015. Research has recorded some of the health setbacks such as heart attack, lung cancer, birth defects, and even erectile dysfunction. Cigarette smoking is the most popular among other drugs abused. Some hard drugs such as heroine are used but not always because they are hardly found. Because of this, research shows that over one billion people burn cigarette especially the one from the developing countries.
To quit smoking is a very challenging task especially when a smoker is addicted. There have been numerous efforts applied as solutions to discourage tobacco smoking due to health hazards brought by smoking. Some of the solutions include running ads that discourage the use of cigarettes. Since cigarettes are manufactured by industries, the government has stepped up to impose high taxes on cigarette products and limiting the ads that promote the use of tobacco substances. The manufactures as well have added small cautions on their products to warn users that cigarette smoking is harmful in one’s health. Schools educate students the health hazards of smoking tobacco and also ways that will help an addict quit smoking. Cigarette users should also drink plenty of water to flush out tobacco toxins and stop drinking alcohol and caffeine as these drinks only encourage the user want to smoke.
In conclusion, smoking is harmful to one’s health and is the activity in which a material is burned and the smoke which results from this burning is breathed in. The smoke is also tasted and absorbed into the blood stream of the user through the lungs. Dried leaves of tobacco are rolled, burned and the active substance is administered orally. One smokes for pleasure because the substance in tobacco changes the state of one’s feelings and sometimes mood. European settlers introduced cigarette smoking and since then smoking has become a habit in many countries. Due to health hazards there have been solutions as outlined in the main text to discourage smoking because as studies show, there are many deaths in the 21st century due to smoking alone.
