The use of smokeless tobacco or as it is most commonly referred to chew weed. This is becoming a serious problem among NCAA collegiate baseball players in the United States. The governing body of collegiate athletics in the United States is the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and this organization needs to take action on this problem immediately. Champ that substance use among college baseball players is rising at alarming rates. Many collegiate baseball players are not actually aware of the dangers of chew cigar. Many believe that chew snuff is a way to get a quick buzz without the consequence of cigarettes such as cancer and teeth`s problems. College baseball players are guilty of copying Major Leaguers and if they sit down and watch a Major League Baseball game it is astounding how many Major Leaguers are chewing crop and doing it so blatantly. Major Leaguers are not being the role models they should be and something has to be done about the problem of chew tobacco in college baseball players. Gulp shag needs to be kicked now before it totally out of hand. Future athletes need to be protected and a program needs to be implemented to help insure the safety of current college baseball players and future professional baseball players. Colleges need to be stricter and enforce a no tobacco policy so their baseball players will stay healthy and be positive role models. For instance, tobacco is free in Campbellsville University. This is a risk for athletes because tobacco can cause an addiction in them. Using tobacco can cause an insufficient development in the athletes and this is a problem for the University because decrease it performance in sports. For that reason, Campbellsville University needs to start a campaign for the athletes to avoid the using of that plant.
Young baseball players think that biting is cool and do not have any consequences in the athletes’ development. They do not have any simple idea how dangerous masticating tobacco really is. Young people are rarely taught about the dangers of chewing tobacco in school and are instead taught about the dangers of cigarettes. Many youngsters and even older folks consider gulping tobacco a safer alternative to smoke cigarettes. Something has to be done. People think that it is safer because you do not inhale chewing tobacco and there is no smoke. The truth is chewing tobacco is worse because chewing tobacco, when they put in their mouth, intentionally makes small cuts on the soft tissue of the mouth so that plant can deliver the nicotine directly to the blood stream on contact. “Chewing tobacco brings more nicotine to the body than cigarettes and it bring more nicotine far more quickly and directly than a traditional cigarette” (Ebert, 2004).
“Spitting tobacco contains many of the same toxins if not more toxins than cigarettes. Ten grams of snuff or chew 1.5 and 2.8 times has between the carcinogen nitrosamines of twenty cigarettes” (Banks, 2011). This means that chewing tobacco has the same effect that smoking cigarettes. Smokeless tobacco usually comes in two forms; a form known as snuff or dip which comes in a small circular type can and when used, the tobacco is placed between the lip and bottom teeth. The second form is known as chew or chaw. Chew comes in a small bag like pouch with long stringy flavored tobacco plant. These long stringy pieces of tobacco are used by being wadded up into a ball and placed between the cheek and the right or left upper jaw. Since tobacco is taken orally and simply placed in an individual’s mouth without smoke or the apparent dangers of inhaling, young baseball players believe that chewing tobacco is much safer than smoking cigarettes and in fact that is not the case.
Some might say they are not bothered by the health effects of tobacco. They say that there is a low chance of them getting cancer because they see so many of
