By: Vincent Wang
Nicotine is a dangerously addictive drug, most predominantly found in tobacco held within cigars, cigarettes, vapes, and chewing tobacco. Now, studies have shown that nearly 40 million U.S. adults still smoke cigarettes, and an estimated 2.55 million middle and high school students have been reported using these products.
When nicotine is used, it works by first getting into your bloodstream. From there, it goes to your adrenaline gland, causing them to release adrenaline resulting in an increase in heart rate, blood pressure, and heart rate.
Not only does nicotine cause a spike in adrenaline levels, but it also goes to your brain and releases high levels of dopamine, a chemical that causes mood-altering changes and makes the user feel temporarily good.
Most, if not all, users are well aware of the harmful effects of these drugs, however, they quickly get addicted to it. Some try to quit the habit, but often it doesn’t work. The reason for this is simple: nicotine withdrawals. Without nicotine, people go through severe mood changes which can lead to depression, anxiety, anger, frustration, and insomnia just to name a few. Nicotine dependence has gone far enough that many people feel lost as to what to do or what to feel when the option of nicotine is taken away.
One such person trying to quit has reported on reddit that trying to quit is like, “Time goes slower, mentally it feels like you're trying to quit something like food, or water. It feels like you're depriving your body of something necessary to survival.”
One of the worst parts about this is that not only are adults becoming more and more dependent on nicotine, but minors in middle and high school are too. Many studies have shown that nearly 90 percent of adult smokers began smoking at or before age 18, but 1.8 percent of 10th graders and 1.1 percent of 8th graders are current smokers.
Over time, the addiction gets worse. People must start smoking more and more at a time just to even a small taste of the temporary bliss caused by drugs. Longtime users start smoking entire packs per day, trying to feel something.
Furthermore, yet another study by Nicotine & Tobacco Research, a team led by Richard A. Grucza, PhD, shows that suicide rates declined up to 15% in states that implemented higher taxes on cigarettes and stricter policies to limit smoking in public places.
States need to start implementing higher standards for who can obtain drugs, and higher restrictions on drug usage, or at least the amount of harmful chemicals are in them. However, this is very similar to the 18th Amendment in which alcohol production and consumption was banned in the US. The mafia and criminal groups grew enormously in size and influence as they smuggled alcohol in and out of the US. Criminals like Al Capone rose to power from it, and if not handled carefully, something similar might happen.