TOBACCO AN INFORMATIONAL COMIC ON THE DANGERS

The Park Hey guys. What’s up? Hey Vin.

We need to talk to you about smoking.. Ugh… again? C’mon guys I told you I’m fine! No Vin. This is serious we’re taking you to a doctor so you can realize what danger you are in.

Doctor’s Office Darren and Angela? That’s us!

Good. And this must be Vin. Yup. I don’t have a problem; I don’t need to be here. I’m not addicted to cigarettes!

Yeah, well I’m not. Now, now. We haven’t said anything about you being addicted.

So you DO think I’m addicted! If you were addicted, though, you would be addicted to the nicotine, not the cigarette specifically. Well, duh. That’s why we’re here.

So it’s the nicotine he’s addicted to? Yes, nicotine is naturally found in tobacco.

That’s not good… It is a drug just as addictive as heroin or cocaine. There is about 1 to 2 milligrams of it in just one cigarette.

Nicotine? Yes. It’s not that bad. You’re just exaggerating ‘cause you want my money! Yeah, I’m on to you people; I bet you exaggerate half the stuff you say about tobacco for money.

What are you talking about? I know for one thing baseball players chew this stuff and they were fine. Maybe we would if we liked seeing young people die and pulling their lungs out that look like their from a cadaver.

That’s chewing tobacco. And although they may have looked fine, just avoiding tobacco altogether they may have enjoyed a longer and more successful career as an athlete. By the way, have you heard of snuff before?

I’ve never heard of that before. Well, actually you probably have. Snus is a common type of snuff and a discreet way to use tobacco.

No. It may be less lethal but has much higher nicotine content than cigarettes, which can be attributed to a shorter time in which you will become addicted, and possibly stronger withdrawal symptoms. And those are smokeless which means they’re safer than smoking!

3.6 or 4.5 milligrams right? Very good, Darren.

All right, so there’s nicotine in tobacco and nicotine is bad right? Nicotine is only the beginning! Tobacco itself is very dangerous. What does that do?

I heard it irritates your gums and destroys them, causes tooth loss, stains your teeth, and gives you bad breath.

It also causes a lot of different cancers: oral, throat, stomach, pancreatic, and lung of course.

Yuck. What the $%&! Is that?

Oh yes the marvelous prizes of smoking. Ugh… That’s so wrong! But that’s not all you know.

What?! There’s emphysema too. Emphysema. It’s some sort of lung disease. Emfi… What?

It’s a chronic lung disease. You see, in your lungs, there are very tiny air sacks called alveoli. They are chambers within your lung. Oxygen is stored in them. The smaller, more abundant they are, the better they function, which has to do with the ratio between cell size and absorption, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Emphysema destroys many of these chambers, and enlarges others, therefore making the oxygen in the remaining alveoli less efficient. Still very gross…

And bronchitis. Could you tell him about that too. Of course. Wait, wait, wait… I thought bronchitis was from a cold.

It is, but if you smoke it will improve your chances of being having the disease, and furhtermore, the severity of the disease will most likely be amplified a great deal. Your bronchial tubes become permanently inflamed and thicken. This narrows the said tubes, which are like branches on a tree linked to the alveoli, which are like tea leaves. Ultimately, bronchitis will make every breath you take a challenge.

So in a way, emphysema and bronchitis is almost like suffocating to death? Well, not really… But I guess you could put it like that if you wanted to simplify your understanding of it.

That’s lame. Really lame.

The Park Okay guys, you got me. Even though I think smoking makes me cooler- It doesn’t Well, whatever, I’ll quit. Really great! Why the sudden change of heart?

Well… After the thing at the doctors office I looked online and I found out another thing that bothered me. What’s that?

I smoke around you guys and that makes you second hand smokers… And each year about 46,000 second hand smokers die from heart disease… And you know, you might be one of those people if I keep smoking.

That’s touching Vin, we’re proud of you. It’s gonna be hard to quit…

Yeah but if you ever crave a cigarette remember your 5 Ds: delay, deep breathing, drink, do something else, and discuss.

And we can help you take part in nicotine replacement therapy, you know, the one with nicotine gum, patches, lozenges, inhalers, and nasal spray. Yeah, we’re both going to help you in any way we can. END