| Inhaling the vaporized gas form
of substances into the lungs is a quick and very effective way
of delivering drugs into the bloodstream and affects the user
within seconds of the first inhalation. The lungs consist of
several million tiny bulbs called alveoli that altogether have
an area of over 70 m² (about the area of a tennis court). This
can be used to administer useful medical as well as recreational
drugs such as aerosols, consisting of tiny droplets of a
medication, or as gas produced by burning plant material with a
psychoactive substance or pure forms of the substance itself.
Not all drugs can be smoked, for example the sulphate derivative
that is most commonly inhaled through the nose, though purer
free base forms of substances can, but often require
considerable skill in administering the drug properly. The
method is also somewhat inefficient since not all of the smoke
will be inhaled. The inhaled substances trigger chemical
reactions in nerve endings in the brain due to being similar to
naturally occurring substances such as endorphins and dopamines,
which are associated with sensations of pleasure. The result is
what is usually referred to as a "high" that ranges between the
mild stimulus caused by nicotine to the intense euphoria caused
by heroin, cocaine and methamphetamines.
Inhaling smoke into the lungs, no matter the substance, has
adverse effects on one's health. The incomplete combustion
produced by burning plant material, like tobacco or cannabis,
produces carbon monoxide, which impairs the ability of blood to
carry oxygen when inhaled into the lungs. There are several
other toxic compounds in tobacco that constitute serious health
hazards to long-term smokers from a whole range of causes; lung
cancer, heart attacks, strokes, impotence, low birth weight of
infants born by smoking mothers.
Smoking substances >>
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History
1. The tobacco revolution
2. Europe
3. The Middle East
4. East Asia
5. South Asia
6. Sub-Saharan Africa
7. Opium smoking
8. The social stigma
Physiology
1. Smoking substances
Smoking
tools and paraphernalia
Social effects
1. Public health and
crime
Smoking in culture
1. Art
2. Film
3. Literature
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