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Public Smoking Should Be Banned in Armenia

Sarin Sulahian

FND2-M: Freshman Seminar 2

Mr. Steven Donatelle

March 15, 2020

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Public Smoking Should Be Banned

We live in a world where smoking is so common that 20% of the population does so

(Ritchie, Roser, 2013). In Armenia, 70% of the population smokes, and it needs to be regulated.

We should lead a healthier lifestyle and ban public smoking because it affects people’s health.

Smoke affects bystanders almost as much as it does to smokers, and people deserve a clean

environment. Armenia has declared a law that bans smoking in public settings to be passed in

2022 (Meljumyan, 2019), and we should start making it easier for all us to absorb it completely.

Although banning smoking may result in invading peoples’ choices and hurt businesses, but we

should consider it anyways.

Banning public smoking can reduce the risk of heart attacks and diseases like lung cancer

(Stampfli, Anderson, 2009). It is known that it can help reduce 36% of it occurring (Sample,

2009). Also, this can lead to more healthcare costs. Exposure to second-hand smoke causes

disease and early death in non-smokers. Second-hand smoke does not pose a risk-free standard,

and even minimal exposure can cause major harm.

Studies have shown that smoke-free laws banning smoking in public areas including

restaurants and bars enhances the health of staff and the population in general. Smoking raises

the risk of a heart attack by making it easier to produce blood clots, and long-term hardening of

the arteries. Passive smokers who frequently inhale tobacco smoke from others have a high risk

of heart attack of approximately 30% (Cleveland Clinic, 2017).

The public should have a right to healthy indoor places. People should not be exposed to

smoke. Many people who visit restaurants/cafes or workplaces are affected by smokers. People

must have the freedom to go to a public place without being exposed to second-hand smoke. It

affects people in a bad way, especially in workplaces. Not every workplace allows such things,
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but still, there are, and if they do, then banning smoking will improve work productivity. If the

employees smoke less, they will at least get less sick. As in restaurants or cafes, it would be more

useful for people if they went somewhere where smoke was not surrounding the area, as it would

affect the cleanness of the place where food is being prepared.

For the bill passing in 2022 in Armenia, there should be more campaigns and

advertisements about banning smoking. Last year, the national assembly voted to accept the

governmental purpose of banning smoking in public places. Some people believe that this should

go to act immediately. Although it would be better that way to start now, we still need to make

some adjustments before starting. It will take time to get used to this new law for everyone,

especially smokers.

Therefore, it is vital to be careful about the advertisement of such issues. There needs to

be good enough anti-smoking campaigns and support, because it needs to have an overall

colossal impact. This way, when the law starts taking place, it will work better. And what I mean

by that is that people will follow these rules. Of course, there are regulations and fines for those

who will not follow these rules, but it may not stop people from smoking or help them quit (Ellis,

2013). We need strategic marketing for this campaign, so people already know what is coming in

the next few years and be prepared for it.

On the other side, banning public smoking would infer with peoples’ freedom of choice

(New York Times, 2002), and hurt businesses. People should have control in deciding what type

of lifestyle they are going to have. In spite of the fact that not entirely contradicted to forbidding

smoking, they state this ought to be an individual choice. Constraining smoking in these zones

can scare clients off, which can hurt organizations. Also, with respect to places which are as of

now anti-smoke, there will be expanded competition. Also, there has been a large amount of
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smoke/hookah cafes opening in Yerevan specifically. Those businesses will also have a hard

time adapting to an entirely new direction and may not even regain their brand back.

In conclusion, banning public smoke is still a controversial issue among many countries,

but it will save many lives by reducing the smoke created in the air. Legalizing the smoking in

public place ban will significantly improve the health of bystanders and overall population. It

will give people a right to smoke-free and clean environment. It may interfere with peoples’

choices and business, though. With these unfavorable impacts cigarettes have on both the

smokers and the individuals around them, there is a requirement for governments to set up a law

that forbids individuals from smoking out in the open.

 
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References

Aghajanian, L. (2011, August 2). Armenia: Smoking Like Crazy in All the Wrong Places.

Retrieved from https://eurasianet.org/armenia-smoking-like-crazy-in-all-the-wrong-

places

Dangers of Secondhand Smoke: Risks and Prevention. (2017, January 20). Retrieved from

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/10644-secondhand-smoke-dangers

Ellis, M. (2013, December 19). Total smoking bans effectively help smokers quit, study shows.

Retrieved from https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/270463

Meljumyan, A. (2019, November 8). Give me a smoke-free Armenia – but not yet. Retrieved

from https://eurasianet.org/give-me-a-smoke-free-armenia-but-not-yet

Sample, I. (2009, September 21). Smoking bans may reduce heart attacks by more than a third.

Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/science/2009/sep/21/smoking-bans-reduce-

heart-attacks

Ritchie, H., & Roser, M. (2013, May 23). Smoking. Retrieved from

https://ourworldindata.org/smoking

Stampfli, M. R., & Anderson, G. P. (2009). How cigarette smoke skews immune responses to

promote infection, lung disease and cancer. Nature Reviews Immunology, 9(5), 377-384 

When a Smoking Ban Limits Freedom of Choice. (2002, October 13). Retrieved from

https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/13/nyregion/l-when-a-smoking-ban-limits-freedom-

of-choice-365432.html