Tobacco is another legal drug which has both positive and negative effects. The negative effects, however, are primarily linked to health rather than the person´s whole lifestyle. Positive effects: People smoke for many and various reasons. Often it starts as a social thing. Peer pressure means that many young people have their first cigarette. It then becomes an image, a pose, a social thing. Before long it is a necessity as nicotine is physically addictive. Many people feel they need a cigarette to calm their nerves and to cope with stress. Negative effects: It is primarily physical health which suffers through a smoking habit. Lungs become filled with tar, breathing is made more difficult. All kinds of respiratory problems may ensue. The ultimate problem being lung cancer. However, perhaps more pertinent to the young person, is not their long term health, but the fact that smoking stains their teeth and fingers, their breath smells and their clothes smell. If you visit the home of a smoker their house and soft furnishings smell. It is also really bad for your complexion. Again, like alcohol, smoking is a legal drug. Although the government has taken steps towards warning people of the dangers to health, essentially smokers are not breaking the law. In addition, people do not commit crime under the influence of nicotine. As outlined above, its primary danger is to the smoker´s own health and to those who are forced to passively take in the smoke. Again, this whole area will be explored in its own section of healthm8.