What is required is a comprehensive range of strategies which can address the many causes and dimensions of alcohol problems. The chief uncertainty is not whether these will occur, but exactly when. Of all the diseases causally associated with smoking, lung cancer is the most well known. However, smoking actually causes more deaths from diseases other than lung cancer. Nicotine has been clearly recognized as addictive and tobacco dependence has been classified as a mental and behavioural disorder according to WHO's International Classification of Diseases, ICD-10.
All tobacco products contain substantial amounts of nicotine.
Nicotine is absorbed readily from tobacco smoke in the lungs and from smokeless tobacco in the mouth or nose. Nicotine is a powerful pharmacological agent that acts in a variety of ways at different sites in the body. After reaching the blood stream, nicotine enters the brain, interacts with specific receptors in brain tissue, and initiates metabolic and electrical activity in the brain. In a vast number of countries, smoking typically begins in adolescence. Evidence suggests that the longer a person delays the onset of smoking the less likely they are to take up the habit.