Tobacco use in our country
is becoming an unhealthy, popular, addictive product to people across the
nation.
Tobacco is in cigarettes and
cigars. These products with tobacco contain an addictive substance called
nicotine. This addictive substance can enter the bloodstream when chewed on,
inhaled from second hand smoke or smoked upon. Inhaled smoke can cause or even
worsen symptoms for asthmatics.
Tobacco smoking can destroy
normal breathing and the function of the human lungs. After only a few days of
quitting smoking, progress of lung function may improve. A smoker may develop a
cough known as the “smoker’s cough”. This cough is developed over time
throughout a production and buildup of mucus inside the lung(s). This can
trouble air sacs in the lungs making it hard to breathe. A buildup of this
particular mucus and continued smoking can cause “COPD” which is better known
as “Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease”.
Many scientists have studied
the huge health effects of the addicting uses of marijuana and tobacco. In the
article “Cannabis, tobacco smoking, and lung function: a cross sectional
observation study in a general practice population”, the researchers examined
marijuana and tobacco use and the associated respiratory symptoms, effects, and
lung function of 500 patients who reported significant tobacco or cannabis use.
Participants within this experiment who were gathered were teens 18 or older
who have smoked before or currently are smokers. The individuals gathered were
250 tobacco only smokers and 250 cannabis only smokers. The individuals
selected did not have a history of lung diseases such as cystic fibrosis,
tuberculosis or asthma because these symptoms would not make the study natural,
balanced or fair. As you can see, the participants selected were people without
any severe lung diseases prior to the study.
I feel that this is a huge
aspect towards the outcome of this experiment because normally people who smoke
do not think of the risks that come along with smoking. This is important you
can lose your life just because of an activity you thought was “cool” or made
you “feel good”. This particular study has my interest because many
people around the world do not know, understand or care about the effects of
marijuana and/or tobacco product smoke. This study finds that the activity of
smoking marijuana can be even more of a risk than smoking tobacco, while some
may think otherwise.
Tobacco is still legal all
around our nation regardless of its risks of cancer and other lung diseases.
Cannabis has its own good uses in the medical fields but is often illegal if a
doctor does not prescribe it for medical uses only. The most common prescribed
medical treatment use of cannabis is for glaucoma. Prescribed marijuana may
also be used for treating nausea from cancer chemotherapy. In my opinion, I
believe that tobacco products should not be sold in stores, consumed or smoked
due to the respiratory diseases it will cause to mostly every person entitled
to smoke.
According to this study,
marijuana smokers were particularly surprised about their lung function
results. Although tobacco and cannabis use were associated with increased
reporting of respiratory symptoms, this was higher among those who also smoked
cannabis. Both tobacco and cannabis users had increased damages of chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease with the increased time of smoking.
To conclude, my review of
this experimental study on cannabis smokers, tobacco smokers, and the lung
effects was a learning experience. Cannabis and tobacco products are the
leading cause for respiratory damages to the lungs. These drugs will cause
respiratory diseases in the short or long term of smoking them and will have a
deadly ending. The air sacs in our lungs are very valuable to our life because
we need them to contain fresh, clean air for our everyday breathing. These
areas in the lungs will be harmed by the buildup of mucus from tobacco and
smoke particles cause a smoker’s cough. In my favor, I believe that the
disabilities that tobacco causes should be reasonable enough to make its
products illegal.
Reference:
Macleod J, Robertson R, Copeland L, McKenzie J, Elton R, Reid P. Cannabis, tobacco smoking, and lung function: a cross-sectional observational study in a general practice population. Br. J. Gen. Pract. (2015), 65:e89-95.
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