Problem (s) with Nicotine

Tobacco products and e-cigarettes contain a powerful drug called nicotine. The most important thing to know about nicotine is that it’s very addictive.

When a person smokes, sniffs, chews, or inhales the vapor of tobacco and other nicotine products, it produces an adrenaline rush. The rush gives a person a lot of good feelings all at once. But it also increases a person’s blood pressure, breathing, and heart rate.

Is nicotine connected to other health problems?

Yes. Because nicotine is addictive, many people keep using tobacco products—even though:

• Using tobacco harms every organ in your body. Smoking tobacco products can cause lung, mouth, stomach, kidney, and bladder cancers. It can also cause lung problems, like coughing, and lead to heart disease, eye problems, and yellow teeth.
• Smokeless tobacco products are dangerous, too. They can cause oral cancer, and heart and gum disease.
• Just breathing other people’s smoke can lead to lung cancer and heart disease.
• Nicotine can also make other drugs, like cocaine and methamphetamine, more pleasurable to a teen’s developing brain. In plain terms, it primes the brain for some very dangerous drugs.

How does a person become addicted to nicotine?

Over time, the nicotine in tobacco can change the way a person’s brain works. If they stop using nicotine, they can have withdrawal symptoms. This can lead to addiction. This is why it’s hard to stop using tobacco products even though a person knows that the products have bad effects on health.

Do all e-cigarettes have nicotine?

The most popular e-cigarette liquid contains nicotine, even though some teens think they are simply inhaling a flavored liquid. So, when a person inhales the vapor from an e-cig, they are usually inhaling nicotine. Vaping affects the development of the brain’s reward system, so it can still lead to addiction over time.

No matter what product it’s in, nicotine is bad news.