Should cigarette smoking be banned?

First of all, I am not a smoker, but I am a person who believes that the

prohibition it is not the answer for many things, that is the reason why it is hard to me

write this. If you had asked me two days ago: Should cigarette smoking be banned? I

would had answered “No, it is ridiculous that a law avoids the consume of cigarettes,

it wouldn’t work”. But, after a deep research looking for sources that support my ex-

point of view, I just found few aspects that did it, not enough to be convince. If you

are like me, a person who doesn’t feel comfortable telling to other people what to do,

and also believes that a prohibition is most of the cases is just an assault against our

human freedom I will suggest you to read this article until the end, because if I

changed my mind you could change it too. Now get sit and prepare you a cup of

coffee because I am going to tell why cigarettes should be banned from the

perspective of someone who hates prohibition.

The enterprise of the cigarette industry is old, Philip Morris was founded in

1885 and before them de consume of nicotine and tobacco already existed. During

the first decade of the XX century the cigarette had its golden years. In the XX

century smoke was symbol of power, freedom, and wisdom. The cigarette was inside

every lay of our society. According to the historian Robert Protocor: “T he 1964

Surgeon General’s report, which recognized smoking as a cause of lung cancer in men,

is often regarded as a turning point in the recognition of health harms from smoking.”

(89). In the next middle of the XX century many cigarettes company made a list of all

the chemical components inside their product that cause cancer, the companies knew

that they were selling some kind of poison, but they negated everything until de end of
the century. Now at days it is not a secret that cigarettes are dangerous, even the same

companies tell you that.

The first reason why I believe that banned the cigarettes is an option is because it

is dangerous, everyone knows that it is related with many diseases like lung cancer,

mouth cancer, hearts attacks, a reduction of our physical force and erectile dysfunction.

The cigarettes have more than 7000 chemical substances, 250 are harmful substances

and 69 are carcinogenic and if this was not enough cigarette is addictive too. (Harms of

Cigarette). Also, many studies show that cigarette is not only harmful for the people

who smokes, it is dangerous for the people who is around him or her. This people also

known as secondhand smokers have a high risk of have some diseases. Every year 7,330

secondhand smokers die by lung cancer and 33,950 by a heart disease (Health Effects).

Cigarettes has a negative impact in the environment the smoke that a smoker release

affect the ozone layer and the “cigarette buts” is poisonous trash that murder the

environment.

Many governments known that if they want to stop the habit of smoke in their

population. They don’t only have to ban the cigarettes, also they must change the mind

of their people, show them that it is dangerous and nothing good, otherwise, a black

market to supply the demand will appear. That is the reason why many governments

invest in campaign to explain to the new generation that cigarettes are more than bad.

These campaigns want to reduce the demand of cigarettes, but how we can know that it

works? Simple, Many governments has include taxes in the selling of cigarettes, in 2008

an studied in South Africa shows that a rising of 10% in the price of the tabaco reduce

about a 4% of the consumption, this model could be applied in high income countries

too (Ekpu. 13) . What this it means? It means that taxes in cigarettes is usually well
accepted, fewer people consume cigarettes and the ones who still consuming it consume

less. This shows that the campaigns against cigarettes creates consciences inside their

users and reduce the demand of cigarettes.

Now, we are going to aboard another point, the tabaco industry generate a lot of

taxes and a lot of money, so If the government ban cigarettes it would affect the

economy of the country? This is a tricky one If the government ban cigarettes it will

affect the economy of enterprises, their CEOs and pitifully their workers, but if we

don’t banned cigarettes, it will affect us all. Let me explain you, the tobacco industry in

the USA generated amount of 32 billion in 2015, but the numerous cases of lung cancer

and other health problems generated by the cigarettes caused an invest of 151 billons

(Ekpu, 15). This means that the health problem created by cigarettes are more expensive

that the profit of the industry.

Also, another controversial point against the bans is the history. The prohibition

inside the U.S.A was an era when the alcohol was banned from the country. In 1933 this

ban was removing, because it caused more problems than solutions. A black market was

created, many people died for the illegal selling of methyl alcohol, and the people drank

anyway so how can I be sure that this will not happen again if we banned the cigarette?

I don’t know, it is impossible to know the future, right? But there are many things that I

known and make me believe that this time will be different. According to Stephen Moss

a historian of the U.K “Prohibition ultimately failed because at least half the adult

population wanted to carry on drinking”. We don’t live in the same context of the

prohibition era, times has change. If you read this article carefully you will notice that

when you increase the taxes of cigarettes the people will decrease de consumption of it,

that happened because they understand that cigarettes is harmful, this kind of mentality
didn’t exist with alcohol in the prohibition era, people want to stop smoking and the

prohibition is an opportunity to make this.

As conclusion my dear reader if you didn’t get bored or angry in the middle of

this text is that ban the smoke is a huge way to stop the negatives effects that causes

around the work. The ban would work, as I said before many studies show that actual

generations are ready to leave the cigarettes and all its problems. The demand of

cigarettes is getting low and if we stop the offer there would not be problems of black

markets or illegal cigarettes in the long play. I understand that it is difficult to believe

that ban something could works, but when people are informed about the cigarette and

understand it, prohibition may be an option for better times. It is time to join to the

winner team MARIHUANA.

Cited worked

Ekpu, Victor U, and Abraham K Brown. “The Economic Impact of Smoking and of

Reducing Smoking Prevalence: Review of Evidence.” Tobacco Use Insights, Libertas

Academica, 28 Aug. 2014, pp 1-20, doi:10.4137/TUI.S15628. Accessed 30 March

2020.

“Harms of Cigarette Smoking and Health Benefits of Quitting.” National Cancer Institute,

19 Dec. 2017, https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-

prevention/risk/tobacco/cessation-fact-sheet#r1, Accessed 30 March 2020.

“Health Effects of Secondhand Smoke.” American Lung Association, www.lung.org/quit-

smoking/smoking-facts/health-effects/secondhand-smoke. Accessed 30 March 2020.

Moss, Stephen. “Why Didn't Prohibition Work? You Asked Google – Here's the

Answer.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 30 Mar. 2016,

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/30/prohibition-google-autocomplete.

Accessed 30 March 2020.

Proctor, Robert N. “The History of the Discovery of the Cigarette-Lung Cancer Link:

Evidentiary Traditions, Corporate Denial, Global Toll.” Tobacco Control, vol 22, no. 1,

U.S. National Library of Medicine, 16 Feb. 2012, pp. 87-9, doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-

2011-050338. Accessed 30 March 2020.