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Nicotine as a murder weapon

Posted August. 23, 2016 06:57,   

Updated August. 23, 2016 07:03

한국어

North American Indian magicians chain-smoked tobaccos to tell fortunes. In a smoke filled tipi, a conical tent, they were unconscious and saw the vision to read their fortunes. After falling into a state of unconsciousness sufficient enough to worry that they may not awaken forever, they came back to normal on the following day. Native Indians used the same tobacco pipe altogether in rotation to start a meeting. It was a ritual for the participants to give their breath of life to thank the sacred god and to promise that they would only tell the truth. Of course, they might have wanted to be relaxed by smoking tobacco.

Nicotine components of cigarette smoking promote the release of dopamine, which helps to feel happiness and to release tension. When a cigarette is smoked, nicotine-rich blood passes to the brain within seven seconds. Thus, a deep inhalation of cigarette smoke immediately calms down the symptoms of anxiety such as hand tremor. However, nicotine has a half-life of 1 hour. To maintain such relaxed condition, one has to continue to smoke to refill the component, easily leading to the addiction. Nicotine has some positive effects. Reports say that nicotine is effective to release the symptoms of dementia and schizophrenia.

Nicotine component, which is mainly found in tobacco leaves, prevent insects from nibbling away. As nicotine is toxic enough to kill insects, it can also kill people when injected by a fetal dose. It may kill an adult when pure nicotine liquid of 30 to 40 milligrams is absorbed at once. In other words, three to four drops of pure nicotine liquid with a syringe are deadly to humans. If a person smokes 40 pieces of cigarettes, of which nicotine volume per cigarette is 1 milligram, at once, it won’t kill him. It is because the person inhaled a tiny volume of nicotine and filtered by the liver.

A woman in her 40s was arrested on charges of killing her husband by putting pure liquid nicotine into sleeping pills, conspiring with a man in relationship. It was the first time to be recognized by the forensic medicine in Korea that nicotine was used as a murder weapon. Last year, there was a mysterious death of a man in his 50s whose death was turned out to be caused by nicotine overdose after the autopsy. Some smokers purchase pure nicotine liquid and directly dilute it to smoke as electronic cigarettes are getting popular. Smokers must keep in mind the proverb, “Too much is as bad as too little.” Likewise, too much smoke will kill you.