Quick info
Tobacco contains over 3500 ingredients. Concomitants include tar (provides flavour), carbon monoxide, benzene, cadmium, nitrosamines, hydrogen cyanide, nitrogen and hydrogen cyanide.
The main active ingredient in tobacco is the neurotoxin nicotine, which is naturally contained in tobacco leaves. Nicotine belongs to the group of stimulants.
Nicotine promotes the release of the hormone adrenaline as well as the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin. In low quantities, nicotine thus has a stimulating effect. Nicotine briefly and reversibly accelerates the heartbeat and causes constriction of the blood vessels. The central short-term effects include above all an increase in psychomotor performance as well as attention and memory. In higher doses, nicotine has a calming and muscle-relaxing effect; it reduces feelings of hunger, anxiety and aggression. Nicotine is responsible for addiction to tobacco products.
Individual and dependent on the form of consumption. The lethal dose of nicotine for adults is about 60 mg; for children and adolescents it is significantly lower.
Onset of action
Nicotine is released immediately when the cigarette is lit. Nicotine first enters the lungs and from there into the blood. After 10-20 seconds, the nicotine molecules reach the brain and have a stimulating effect there.
Duration of action
Few minutes.
Forms of appearance
Cigarettes, vaporizers, cigars, pipe tobacco, snuff, chewing tobacco. Tobacco is mostly smoked, less often snuffed or chewed.
Reduction of the amount of oxygen in the blood and impairment of the sense of smell and taste. With regular consumption: increase in blood pressure and heart rate, increased release of adrenaline and increased activity of the gastrointestinal tract. Mostly with first or repeated consumption: drop in blood pressure, lowered body temperature, nausea and/or nausea, headache and dizziness.
Long-term risks:
The accompanying substances of tobacco smoke (not nicotine) are responsible for the known health consequences of smoking such as increased risk of heart and lung diseases (asthma, chronic bronchitis, heart attack, stroke, thrombosis, lung cancer) and damage to the stomach lining (risk of stomach ulcers). Nicotine is suspected of having a cancer-promoting effect. Nicotine is one of the drugs with the highest dependence potential with psychological and physical symptoms. Withdrawal symptoms can include depression, anxiety, restlessness, insomnia and (in the long term with abstinence) weight gain. Taking medication (e.g. birth control pills) in combination with high tobacco consumption impairs blood circulation (risk of thrombosis!). People with cardiovascular problems, lung and respiratory problems (asthma, chronic bronchitis) should not use tobacco.
Hookah, Shisha:
Any use of tobacco entails health risks, not only smoking cigarettes. Waterpipe smoking can also be addictive and harmful to health.
It has not been clearly proven how harmful smoking a hookah is. The water in the hookah cools and flavours the smoke, but does not filter out the pollutants. As a result, practically all pollutants remain and are also inhaled. Therefore, there are probably the same risks with smoking water pipes as with smoking cigarettes. Through various additives (flavours, etc.), these can possibly even be intensified. However, there tend to be fewer harmful consequences because hookahs are usually smoked less often than cigarettes.
Tobacco is a legal, freely available and socially accepted drug. However, this does not mean that this psychoactive substance is low-risk and harmless to health!
With e-cigarettes or vaporizers (vaporisers), there are ways to consume tobacco with less risk.
Nicotine is easily absorbed through all mucous membranes of the body. There are therefore lower-risk products such as snuff, chewing tobacco or nicotine gum.
If you shoot yourself, make sure you use good filtering methods.
For people with cardiovascular problems, risk of heart attack, lung and respiratory problems (asthma, bronchitis), it is recommended not to consume tobacco or to consume only small amounts.
Women who use hormonal contraception run an increased risk of circulatory disorders, thromboses, varicose veins and thus heart attacks, strokes or pulmonary embolisms (blockage of blood vessels in the lungs) when they use tobacco. Women over 30 are particularly at risk.
Smoking during pregnancy is generally not advisable, as the toxins in tobacco smoke enter the bloodstream of the foetus via the placenta.
Always press out your cigarettes well. There is a risk of fire!
Do not eat tobacco. If tobacco or tobacco dissolved in water is accidentally swallowed (especially by children), an emergency call should be made immediately. There is a danger to life!
LSD analogues are substances that are chemically very similar to LSD and can have comparable effects. Some of them have been known for a long time (e.g. ALD52, ETH-LAD, AL-LAD, PRO-LAD etc.) and have been studied pharmacologically as well as psychopharmacologically, at least in part. Others are newer "creations" (e.g. the derivatives 1P-LSD,1B-LSD, 1cP-LSD, 1V-LSDetc.), for which only few or no data are available. Certain LSD analogues can (still) be legally produced, traded and consumed in some countries, which is the main reason for their distribution.
Most LSD analogues are naturally different from LSD in their effect and/or potency (e.g. ETH-LAD, AL-LAD, LSZ etc.). In contrast, the so-called 1-acylated LSD compounds (e.g. 1P-LSD, 1V-LSD, 1B-LSD, ALD-52, etc.) are presumed, on the basis of pharmacological studies, to convert into LSD in the body (they function as so-called prodrugs) and thus have a comparable psychoactive effect to LSD.
In the case of prodrugs of LSD and LSD analogues, it has not been conclusively clarified whether, in addition to their psychoactive effect, they can produce other pharmacological effects. How potent these prodrugs are compared to the resulting substance (e.g., 1P-LSD to LSD), and to what extent a delay in onset of action occurs in each case, may be substance-dependent and cannot be generalized. Therefore, it is important to approach the dose/effect carefully to avoid overdoses.
If you or someone else needs urgent help after taking drugs or alcohol, call an ambulance on 144. Tell the emergency responders everything you know.
It could save lives.