Why Illegalizing Cigarettes is a Terrible Idea

Case Study: The 40 years War On Drugs

The effects of such an attempted prohibition of cigarettes along with other drugs can be
demonstrated via historical evidence.

Namely…

The United States Federal Gov’s War On Drugs, lasting 40 years.

The War On Drugs was a drug-prohibition campaign which targeted the production, distribution,
and consumption of psychoactive drugs(drugs that changes nervous system function and
results in alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, or behavior), these include:
● Nicotine
● Cannabis
● Methamphetamine
● Cocaine
● Heroin
● LSD
● Benzodiazepines

The war was initially led by United States Secretary of State Richard Nixon but was also a
global phenomenon, with Mexico, most of Latin America, and Canada also participating in the
campaign.

Needless to say, the War on Drugs gives a historical reflection of what a global War against
Cigarettes may induce in today’s world.

Lessons from the War

1. Illegalization leads to criminalization

Shortly after US president Richard Nixon first declared drugs as “public enemy #1” in
1971. Congress declared all targeted drugs illegal. The Drugs Enforcement
Association was established soon afterwards.

What followed was the criminalization of all who possess or are addicted to controlled
substances within the United States. The Human Rights Watch estimates that only 9
years after the declaration of war against drugs, the total number of incarcerated adults
from drug related charges rose nearly 126% in the US, causing the total number of
arrests to rise by 26%.
 These incarcerated people were not considered criminals, yet nearly all were charged
with felonies and had to serve time in prison. The reincarceration rate among these
inmates after release is also disturbingly high, with 50% being reincarcerated within 3
years of release, often for the same drug charges.

The War on Drugs is a primary factor to why the United States, despite having currently
the world’s largest economy, is also the country with the most incarcerated adults per
capita, and why Nixon’s War on Drugs was the single most unpopular campaign among
Americans.

The wide-spread illegalization of cigarettes globally will lead to it being classified on the
same level as psychoactive drugs, such as heroin, LSD, and cocaine, targeted by the
War on Drugs.

The consequence will be effectively the same, except on a much larger scale - 1.1
billion is the number of smokers worldwide, that’s orders of magnitudes bigger than the
population of the entire United States during Nixon’s presidency. Assuming that the
illegalization of smoking only takes place in the relatively developed countries of the
western hemisphere, it is still expected that at least 30% of the smokers will be
criminalized and face potential jail time, 330 million new inmates worldwide, of which 165
million will be rearrested after release for drug charges.

Such an attempted prohibition of cigarettes does not address the toll that smoking has
taken on society, but instead punishes those that fell victim to tobacco use.

2. Global politics and the world economy

The War On Drugs offer new opportunities for international oppression and corruption.

It has been used as propaganda in many cases to fund and justify foreign special
operations conducted by the United States military in countries such as Mexico,
Columbia, and others. These special operations are often conducted under the cloaks of
secrecy by the United States Central Intelligence Agency, oftentimes with little regards to
international policy and the Geneva Convention. It has also been used as the excuse to
increase foreign military presence to quote-on-quote “eradicate local drug chains and
cartels.”

These excuses in many cases are of course of little relevance, as with the example of
the US invasion of Panama during Operation Just Cause. During the invasion, the US
government funded Gen. Manuel Noriega, who was the head of the government of
Panama, for the support of the Panama’s federal military assistance. The general was
known for drug trafficking, however when the DEA attempted a raid, the CIA prevented
them from doing so. The US government denied any knowledge of Noriega’s
drug-trafficking presence and this information was only leaked after a CIA aircraft was
shot down carrying classified documents about CIA activity during the invasion.

Currently, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity, the largest

exporters of raw tobacco, aside from the US and China, are countries such as Brazil,
Zimbabwe, Uganda and many other relatively poor countries In fact, 48% of all raw
tobacco exports are from the 3rd world countries of South America and Africa. Within
these countries, the tobacco industry is immensely important, accounting for the
livelihood of many. The ban on the commercial distribution of tobacco products will
certainly disrupt their economies, cause job-losses, strikes, and overall political instability
in the affected countries.

Foreign powers, such as the United States, Russia, and many parts of the European
Union will almost certainly use the opportunity to increase their foreign military presence
in these parts of the world. Destroying the basis of world peace and harming the lives of
the common people.

Therefore the prohibition of cigarettes will contribute to the decline of international

stability and peace. Foreign nations have proven to be capable of exploiting these
weaknesses, damaging international relations, and threatening the lives of people in
developing nations of the world.