Drug Abuse Tutorial Pathology of Drug Abuse Return to the tutorial menu. Smoking Smoking leads to the greatest number of problems of any drug in use in the world today. Smoking contributes to more than 400,000 deaths each year in the United States. These deaths are mainly the result of increased numbers of lung cancers as well as increased numbers of cases of atherosclerotic heart disease and emphysema of the lung.
Smoking increases the risk for cancers of the bladder, pancreas, kidney, and cervix.
There is an increased risk for gastritis and gastric ulceration in persons who smoke. Cataracts of the crystalline lens of the eye occur with increased frequency in smokers. Young women who are pregnant and who smoke put their fetuses at increased risk for decreased birth weight, premature birth, and perinatal mortality. The risk for spontaneous abortion is increased with maternal smoking. Normal lung, gross.