Homework Help

Tobacco ABCs

Brief overview of the topic:

Tobacco comes from a tall, leafy plant that is grown all over the world including southern Ontario. Nicotine is one of the main ingredients in tobacco. It is a powerful stimulant found naturally in the tobacco leaf and is classified as a drug. In higher doses, nicotine is extremely poisonous and is even used to kill insects.

For many First Nations and Métis in Canada, tobacco is considered a sacred medicine that can be used as a way to communicate with the Creator. Although tobacco is sacred, the recreational use of tobacco with its high content of nicotine is addictive and harmful. First Nations Elders maintain that this type of use is disrespectful of the spiritual, medicinal, and traditional use of tobacco.^[1]

You can do a school project on tobacco as part of subjects such as: Health and Physical Education, History, Science and Technology and Native Studies

Here are some ideas and questions to investigate for a school project:

• What is the history of tobacco? How was it first used in North America and how did it come to be used to make cigarettes?
• What exactly do cigarettes contain? Are there chemicals that are added by tobacco manufacturers?
• What exactly is in tobacco smoke? Why is it harmful to people?
• What are the health effects of smoking? What diseases and health conditions are caused by smoking?
• Compare the performance teen smokers vs. non smokers in a race around the track.
• Sacred use of tobacco:  How does it differ from smoking cigarettes?