Thursday Trauma: Light one up...

Tobacco is a strain from the nightshade genus, a deadly plant

Our huge tobacco industry began with the Native Americans introducing the plant in the 1500s to be used in religious 
ceremonies and medicine.  

Soon plantation owners from England, most of them in terrible fiscal shape, scurried off to escape their spendthrift reputation.  They changed from reckless money spenders to being prominent wealthy businessmen, growing fields of tobacco.

Sir Walter Raleigh introduced the first Virginia Tobacco into England.  This painting shows him and his pipe. It was thought then that tobacco was medicinally sound.

One of the first successful planters was John Rolfe, husband of Pocahontas, who made his fortune in exporting tobacco to England—40,000 pounds (18,000 kg). 

Virginia colony and The Carolinas saw tobacco as a "cash crop" which led to importing of the first black slaves in 1619 to work the fields.

The earliest image of a man smoking a pipe, from Tabaco by Anthony Chute.

It is almost impossible to calculate the boom in tobacco production from this increased man power.  Or to calculate the effects that tobacco has unleashed. It has been identified as powerfully addicting and a tragic carcinogenic.  

Over one billion (1,000,000,000) deaths have been attributed to tobacco use.

So, the next time one sees someone light up an expensive cigar and hop into an expensive Mercedes, one should think “There goes another one…” Tobacco harnessed another victim. 

This information was gathered from Wikipedia--worthwhile read.

The underlined italicized words are provided by Delores, a delightful blogger.