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Should Smoking Be Made Illegal?

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In his column on the BBC’s website Professor Terence Stephenson has called for parents to be stopped from smoking in cars. If his calls were enacted it would be the latest in a long line of restrictions passed on smokers. But is it time to do away completely with the tradition of having a “ciggie” so to speak and ban nicotine altogether.

All the Yes points:

  1. Eliminates a public health menace
  2. Being regulated out of existence anyway
  3. Class exploitation
  4. YES.
  5. Damaging health
  6. Can cause Lung cancer
  7. Kill
  8. Would You Smoke a Cigarette if you knew…
  9. Second hand smoke can cause lung cancer in young children with weak immune systems
  10. expensive
  11. youll get sick
  12. Peoples lives
  13. Smoking ends peoples lives when they could have had a great futurees lives
  14. YES
  15. bad

All the No points:

  1. Slippery Slope of overzealousness in other words “Nanny State”
  2. The taxes on cigarettes help fund this country
  3. Cigarettes are just as bad as cars
  4. It would never work
  5. John Stuart Mill – the principles of power and harm in Liberal Democracy
  6. The buying and selling of tobacco products should not be made illegal
  7. Why would you want to make something illegal after it has been legal for years.
  8. getting rid of something doesnt nessecerily mean that it stops.
  9. What’s wrong with enjoying life anymore?

Eliminates a public health menace

Yes because…

Let’s face facts smoking is a public health hazard whether it’s passive or done directly. With regard to smoking the damage done to lungs and other internal organs in the form of cancer and other diseases is well documented , not to mention premature aging. Passive smoking also causes problems in that as well as causing lung disease and heart cancer if done over a long time, it also reducing the functions of lungs of people with asthma as well as causing eye problems and increased sensitivity.[[ASH “Smoking and disease” http://www.ash.org.uk/files/documents/ASH_94.pdf Accessed 19.06.09]] . All of this costs the National Health Service an estimated £2.7 billion in try to deal with all the smoking related illnesses as well as hitting the UK workforce in terms of lost productivity.[[http://www.ash.org.uk/files/documents/ASH_95.pdf]]

It’s a dangerous drug and it’s high time it was treated as a narcotic and banned

So if someone was to go around poisoning peoples foods so the person dies, they would go to jail. Also, if someone tried commiting suicide, they would try to be stopped. Well everyday, thousands of people are slowly committing suicide! Helllloooo! The tobacco companies are poisoning people just to make money!! I’m 15 and have cancer and my dad smokes and I just want it to stop.

Do you want brain tumors or black lungs? Putting your kids at risk? Do you want your hair to slowly fall out while you realize you have a risk of death? What if you had to watch your baby go through cancer?

The little pleasure smoking gives you is not worth somebodys life.

No because…

Smoking is a hazard but its effects are massively overstated by the smoking lobby. For instance although lung cancer affects “0.01”% of non smokers smoking increases the likelihood of a person who started smoking in their teens have a chance of developing lung cancer at 2% if they stop at 30 and 16% if they stop at 70 [[Forest “Smoking and Health”http://www.forestonline.org/output/Smoking-and-Health.aspx Accessed 19.06.2009]] Also smoking could potentially help protect against Alzheimers disease as well as reduce stress something that can cause just as much serious problems for people as smoking does. [[Forest “Smoking and Health”http://www.forestonline.org/output/Smoking-and-Health.aspx Accessed 19.06.2009]]

Secondly it pays its way so to speak, the UK treasury gets an estimated £8,000 million from revenues that’s money that can go towards hospitals schools etc[[Ash http://www.ash.org.uk/files/documents/ASH_95.pdf Accessed]]. Why take away a good source of revenue that can help?

Being regulated out of existence anyway

Yes because…

In the UK the tobacco industry are running out of ways to advertise and sell cigarettes anyway and people are running out of options to smoke them. For example tobacco companies can’t advertise or sponsor events or teams etc. They can not sell cigarettes to people under 18 . Also people can not smoke in most “enclosed” public areas or workplaces with a few exceptions. Not to mention the major warnings on cigarette packets that companies are compelled to put on by the Department of Health [[ Ash “Ash facts at a glanceTobacco regulations”http://www.ash.org.uk/files/documents/ASH_96.pdf]]. In fact Liverpool City Council are proposing to give newly released films depicting people who smoke an automatic 18 classification over riding what ever classification the British Board of Film Classification may have for that film.[[BBC News “Smoking Actors to be rated 18” http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/8105585.stm%5D%5D

Given these restrictions isn’t it time to give it the final legal kiss of disapproval and ban them completely?.

No because…

Just because something is heavily taxed and regulated doesn’t make the activity wrong and the regulations on it working it right. The high taxes on smoking force people some people to buy illicitly whether in the form of smuggled cigarettes from France something that hits the treasury to the amount of £2 billion a year or fraud cigarettes. [[ Action on smoking and health (ash) “Facts at a glance ” [[http://www.ash.org.uk/files/documents/ASH_95.pdf]]

Class exploitation

Yes because…

Smoking and the industry just like the narcotics industry are a form of class warfare. As tobacco advertising is being banned in the UK companies are heading towards less economically developed countries exploiting the people in search of profits. This is adding to a figure of five million people who die worldwide each year as a result of smoking and is yet another strain on a continent that has enough problems to deal with HIV or Aids [[ BBC News World Africa “Why do we still smoke in Africa “http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4361837.stm Accessed 19.06.09]]

No because…

The Health secretary who was present when the ban was enacted, John Reid famously said it “was wrong for middle class politicians to ban what for many working class people was their only pleasure”. [[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3789591.stm]] This means an outright ban on smoking far from being an act of liberating people would be tightening the screw on an already strained working class by a puritanical middle class nanny state.[[Patrick Wintour http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2005/oct/27/smoking.health1%5D%5D.

YES.

Yes because…

Smoking does not just effect the smokers health, it effects the people around them. Just because they want to damage their health doesn’t mean they should damage ours.

No because…

That would certainly be an argument for regulating the circumstances in which people can smoke, like, for example, the law in Ireland that bans smoking in enclosed workplaces. But so long as smokers don’t “smoke in someone’s face” then they should not be prevented for enjoying a cigarette if they so choose.

Damaging health

Yes because…

Smoking is a very bad habit.It has many bad side effects.it causes many fatal diseases like bronchitis,liver cancer,blood cancer, breathing problems etc.which can kill people.It also causes heart related diseases.It makes infections in the internal side of our body.Because of it, every year about 50,000-1,00,000 people dies in the world.It has tobacco in it which is very very dangerous for human health.Sometimes it gets harder to breathe for the smokers.It also can be dangerous for the friends & family of a smoker.As a Substantiation we can take the matter of Hafiz who is a student of CTG. university.(-THE DAILY AJADY)..He died of cancer last year because of smoking.Smoke made his liver infected.So he died with an unbearable pain.Like Hafiz there are so many people are dying.So we should take necessary steps to make people live.We should make smoking illegal.

Cigarette smoking causes 87 percent of lung cancer deaths[[http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/tobacco/cancer]]

No because…

It is the case that smoking is an unhealthy habit, and that it harms the smoker and those physically close to the smoker when they are smoking. But that’s no argument for a government-enforced ban on smoking. Eating fast food is unhealthy, so is it up to the government to shut down all fast food restaurants? Drinking alcohol is unhealthy, and many innocent bystanders are harmed as an effect of drunk behavior (drinking and driving, drunken arguments, etc), is it up to the government in that case to eradicate all alcohol from the country? Of course not. In all of these cases, it is up to the individual to make the decision for their own health. As for preventing secondhand smoke, smoking regulations enforced by the government, ie smoking is not allowed within 50 feet of a public building or inside the workplace, etc, seem to be a good idea. But there’s no need for complete government control of tobacco products/cigarettes.

Can cause Lung cancer

Yes because…

The smoke enters your lungs and causes you to have lung cancer. Lung cancer is the leading cancer deaths among women.

No because…

Smoking does not cause Lung Cancer. It may increase your chances of getting Lung Cancer but smoking does not cause it. If smoking did cause Lung Cancer then non smokers would be unable to get it.

Kill

Yes because…

kills 1200 people a day

No because…

Assuming that cigarettes do kill 1,200 people a day, that would mean 438,000 a year. In 2001, car accidents caused 669,000 deaths. [[http://ucatlas.ucsc.edu/cause.php]] Should we outlaw driving to?

In my opinion, smokers know the risk. They choose to smoke anyway. They are adults that can do what they chose to.

Would You Smoke a Cigarette if you knew…

Yes because…

Cigarette smoke contains over 4,800 chemicals, 69 of which are known to cause cancer.
Some these chemicals include…
*Benzene-(petrol additive)- derived from coal & petroleum (you know, what you put in your car?)
*Formaldehyde-(enbalming fluid)-used to perserve DEAD bodies (if you have ever dissected before, it’s that nasty scent that comes out of the specimen)
*Ammonia-(toilet cleaner)-used for flavoring
*Acetone-(nail polish cleaner)-fragrant volatile liquid, used as a solvent
*Arsenic-(rat poisoning)
*Butane-(lighter fluid)
*Lead-(used in batteries and pencils)
And my personal favorite…
*Nepathelene-(the key ingredient in MOTH BALLS)

If that isn’t enough to ban smoking around the entire planet, then I hope that this will…
The list of diseases caused by cigarette smoking includes…
*Chronic Obstructive pulmonary diesease
*Coronary Heart Diesease
*Bladder Cancer
*Esophageal Cancer
*Laryngeal Cancer
*Lung Cancer
*Oral Cancer
*Throat Cancer
*Cervical, Cancer
*Kidney Cancer
*Stomach Cancer
*Pancreatic Cancer
*Peptic Ulcer Diesease

No because…

Second hand smoke can cause lung cancer in young children with weak immune systems

Yes because…

young children sould not have to be exposed to second hand smoke. (:

No because…

expensive

Yes because…

On top of the horrid health risks that are involved with smoking cigarettes, the cost of being a smoker is pretty hefty and might surprise the majority of people. To be a smoker not only do you have to pay weekly,you have to get yourself the right amount of expensive packs but the insurance bill of a smoker will cost more than that of a non-smoker. As you ca see a smoker a much greater chance of having health risks as mentioned above. Let,s say that you smoked one pack of Camel cigarettes a day. The pack cost $4.50, multiplied by the days in a month equals $135.00 a month, multiplied by 12 months equals $1620 a year. That is money that can be used for a better education especially for people going to college. Even agencies the cover insurance may not even cover your cost of being a smoker just because they have a smaller chance at having to spend any money on there. For example, a person that smokes will have high blood pressure and have much more frequent doctor visits and will expect his insurance to pay all the time. But the conpany will lose money if they decide to do that. So they may just decide not to cover people who are smokers with health risks.

No because…

youll get sick

Yes because…

You know how if you smoke to much, you will get very sick? Well now you have to most likely pay over a $1000 and now your broke.

No because…

Peoples lives

Yes because…

Smoking ends peoples lives when they could have had a great future

No because…

Smoking ends peoples lives when they could have had a great futurees lives

Yes because…

Peoples lives

No because…

Yes

Yes because…

you could get heart disease and lung cancer

No because…

bad

Yes because…

really bad

No because…

Slippery Slope of overzealousness in other words “Nanny State”

No because…

Banning smoking would be a yet another slippery slope down the road of overzealousness leading to a nanny state if we aren’t in one already. Given that a significant amount teachers and schools are chafing at the bit because of health and safety regulations and worrying about. What’s next alcohol? There are some groups calling for that to happen, does the government ban alcohol with all the consequences that would bring.

Yes because…

Making smoking illegal is about as much “nannying” people as making heroin illegal. During the 1800’s, opium was legal, many people were addicted to it and spent large amounts of their income on inhaling the fumes. This applied throughout society from the rich to the poor. As a result the growing and marketing of opium poppies and their products was outlawed (This step was not taken until well after 1900, the opium trade was well developed by then).

This was not considered nannying people, but rather a step to better society by trying to eliminate a habit that could destroy lives. Whilst smoking is not as expensive as opium was, it still takes a significant amount of money from people who can’t afford it, and inhibits their ability to develop as people.

The taxes on cigarettes help fund this country

No because…

Cigarettes have like a 2 dollar tax, assuming that even if 20,000,000 people in the USA alone smoke, thats 40,000,000 dollars every time they buy a pack a cigarette.

Yes because…

There is a phrase that that applies to this: “ill gotten gains”. Think about it literally we are getting money from people who are buying something that is addictive and harmful to their and other people’s health . Admittedly we do the same by taxing alcohol (whether we’re in the UK or US) and spirits but if they are drunk in moderation then they have positive effects outweighing the negative ones.

Cigarettes are just as bad as cars.

No because…

Walking outside in a polluted city like San Francisco or Karachi or LA or a city in china(16 of the world’s most polluted cities are in China) [[http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1661031_1661028,00.html]], you are already damaging your lungs from all the CO(carbon monoxide fumes) put in the air from car emissions and all the people exhaling Carbon Dioxide(why are very polluted BIG cities, very populated too? people use cars and aeroplanes/airplanes(used by people vacationing to places with cleaner air and traveling businessmen) which cause a lot more pollution than cars[[http://www.ehponline.org/qa/105-12focus/focus.html]]).

Cigarettes release chemicals that are bad of course, but they are a preferable means of getting your smoke. Electronic vaporizing cigarettes do not produce second hand smoke and are hugely unpopular but won’t be for long.

It’s better to be the smoker than to be the person whose face is being smoked into(statistically passive smokers are at a greater risk) .

Yes because…

A fair point but the chemicals in an “average” cigarette add to the effect of the CO2. We have measures to reduce CO2 emissions from cars and there are things called catalytic so why aren’t we trying to reduce the harmful effects of chemicals from cigarettes down to a minimal level.

Oh and nicotine is a poisonous drug in it’s own right. Farmers use it to kill bugs and three or four cigarettes worth of it or a single large drop would be enough to kill a person [[National Institute on Drug Abuse “Nida for Teens” http://teens.drugabuse.gov/facts/facts_nicotine1.php and Ann Meeker O Conell How Nicotine Works” How Stuff Works p7http://health.howstuffworks.com/nicotine7.htm]]. Why should we say a drug that effectively partially enslaves and kills is just as bad as your average motor or a Toyota Prius when it serves no purpose only to hook a person to their death or until they can get out again. Let me make it clear Nicotine is far worse than a Toyota Prius or your average car.

It would never work

No because…

It’s a great idea but in practice how would it work? Taking them out of the shops will leave greater problems since many people smoke because they are addicted and not because they enjoy it.

Making something illegal is of course easier than it seems. We must weigh in not only the reasons why, but also how are we going to implement a certain set of provision. We have to realise that making something illegal does not automatically solve a problem, instead it might create even more problems as a repercussion to such a decision.

Making illicit drugs such as heroine, cocaine, etc. was agreeably a good decision. However, the consequences of making such commendable decisions also involve the allocation of large amounts of state resources (read: tax payer money) to combat illegal drug trafficking. Apparently, making these drugs illegal did not really stop people from using the drugs (fyi: drugs are still a lucrative business, if not why would people risk their lives to smuggle it). That said, the same goes for cigarettes, I don’t see any strong reason that making cigarettes (or smoking them) illegal to be of any use in the context of making people quit the bad habit.

People who smoke are addicted to it, and as those people who are addicted to illicit drugs, they will always find ways to circumvent the law. Making smoking illegal does not automatically make the business less profitable. As I see it, the demand for cigarettes are still high everywhere, and this kind of policy would only create “black markets” for the item. This in turn would put burden on the law enforcement to combat such black markets (read: more personnel, more funds needed), and of course these burdens would be passed on to tax payers who pays for all the cost of faithfully enforcing such a new law.

I believe that the restrictions and requirements which are already in place (i.e. restricting smoking areas, limited advertisement methods) are sufficient enough to tackle the problem. Moreover, the current approach is right on track where the government should sponsor and support policies that would decrease the demand for cigarettes (if the demand for cigarettes were to fall substantially, the business would be less lucrative, and soon enough nobody will be in the cigarette business). This is not a policy that would effectively reduce the demand, simply making it illegal is not addressing to the demand problem.Thus, what I see in this is another burden for the state budget, with little or minimal impact on the real issue at hand.

Yes because…

Evidence suggests that in spite of possible practical difficulties of the smoking ban in pubs and bars, it has been a considerable success: if we are to believe Health dept. figures, 400,000 people quit smoking as a result of the ban being brought in ^1^. Further evidence suggests that in previous discussions, wider enforcement has been seen to be more practical than narrower enforcement: in the case of the current smoking ban, evidence from a Camden subcommittee opposed initial plans to restrict smoking bans to only those pubs and bars serving food, on the basis of enforcement difficulties ^2^. If precedent is anything to go by – and it as least as good as unsubstantiated common sense – an outright ban might be quite easily enforced.

^1^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7480856.stm

^2^ http://www3.camden.gov.uk/templates/committees/documents/14971.doc

John Stuart Mill – the principles of power and harm in Liberal Democracy

No because…

“That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant. He cannot rightfully be compelled to do or forbear because it will be better for him to do so, because it will make him happier, because, in the opinions of others, to do so would be wise, or even right. These are good reasons for remonstrating with him, or reasoning with him, or persuading him, or entreating him, but not for compelling him, or visiting him with any evil, in case he do otherwise.

Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.”

[[J. S. Mill, Utilitarianism, 1859. Chapter 1. see http://www.utilitarianism.com/ol/one.html ]]

The principle that only those actions which harm others should be legislated against is being eroded by legislation on obesity and narcotics in particular. Certainly, it is true that there is an extent to which something such as smoking falls into the category, for it has demonstrable negative effects on others in certain cases. However, these are the cases that have already been legislated against with the ban on smoking in public, indoor places. At the point at which the extension of the ban on smoking crosses the line from protecting others to controlling the behaviour of the individual, it transgresses the principles upon which a liberal democratic society is based

Yes because…

Then why are drugs illegal? Obviously, the government has a duty to protect it’s citizens from things that will definitely harm them.

The buying and selling of tobacco products should not be made illegal

No because…

The buying and selling of tobacco products should not be made illegal (as the sale of drugs has). There is no paucity in pot-smoking college students, even though the transaction is illegal. American tycoons smoke Cuban cigars despite the law in their Country. Making the sale/purchase of cigarettes/pipes/cigars/etc illegal will (as in the case of illegal narcotics) only give rise to the boom of a black market for these products , thus crime(Theft, murder and smuggling). Also, the hate (for self and others), guilt (for doing something illegal) and desperation (from addiction, loss/test of self-control and the inability to come clean/get rehabilitated without legal prosecution) will most naturally lead to a host of psychological/psychiatric problems (Prozac nation), followed by more crime(increased suicide-rate, theft etc).

However, the public use and abuse of such products SHOULD be illegal. This will permit people who choose not to smoke, to avert the health risks of passive smoking. The black market will NOT emerge, since transactions (buying and selling of tobacco products) will be legal (and the black market having to incur added costs would be unable to compete with legal prices). Smokers restricted from public circles/events will have the incentive to get rehabilitation and work towards losing the habit. Once public smoking is illegal smokers might even take the health concern seriously.

Yes because…

Public smoking IS illegal in Countries in the U.K, a host of other Countries and now Pakistan.

Making smoking illegal should on paper decrease smoking considerably and dealing with ‘BLACK MARKET’ is the law enforcement’s job.

Why would you want to make something illegal after it has been legal for years.

No because…

It has been legal for so long it does not make sense to change it now. If they hadn’t advertised cigarettes as flashy as they were advertised ( handsome people in movies smoked , while nerds had healthy pink lungs!) people would not have become addicted.

This means it is all the government’s fault!

They did not check if it was as dangerous so allowing the tobacco companies to ruin lives

Yes because…

That is the dumbest argument i have ever heard. So, because we made a mistake in the past we are not allowed to fix it? Yes they made it glamorous in the media, yes the government allowed this to happen because they didn’t do their homework on it. But that doesn’t mean that since we made a mistake in the past it is set in stone forever! If that was the case then how the hell did we get Amendments to the Constitution?
Think before you write please

getting rid of something doesnt nessecerily mean that it stops.

No because…

In the late 1920’s in America, alcohol was banned. There was something called a underground railway or something. Where people went underground and bought cans and bottles of alcoholic products. they drank it in clever ways (teacups,in/outside coffee shops) ECT ECT!

Thus meaning is if the government BANS anything, it is still not stopped in the Country
so leave people to have freedom of choice/speech!

Yes because…

First, get your facts straight. The underground railroad was used to transport slaves out of America to Canada or Mexico.

Also, there is a difference between alcohol and cigarettes.

Alcohol is easy to conceal and easily can be drunk, unlike cigarettes which require you to light them and smoke them. Obviously they would do it in secluded locations (alleyways, underground, homes, etc), but that doesn’t mean everyone is doing it.

For example, drugs such as cocaine and heroin, are banned and people do still use them, but not as much as if it was legal.

If a government was to make smoking illegal, it would limit the amount of smokers dramatically.

What’s wrong with enjoying life anymore?

No because…

People have seemed to forgotten the basis of smoking; people start, and many continue to because they enjoy it. It relieves stress, can calm people and help them focus. It is also used as a hunger suppressant by models, and assorted other people. Smoking itself is a solution to other problems, if you think you could prevent all stress in society and remove any other reasons why people start smoking then i think you need to place your feet back on the ground. Smoking itself is a solution to other problems, not just a problem itself in the eyes of social facists.

Can’t really reference that other than personal experience (no im not an addicted chain smoker) and common sense.

Yes because…

Just because people smoke to releive stress doesnt make the feeling of releif last forever. When smoking “helps you focus” it is actually destroying the brain cells inside. So over the time that you smoke your brain cells die and you can become very stupid, in other words, years of education is lost. Smoking to use as a hunger suppressant is a very unhealthy way of losing wheight. smoking is an unhealthy solution to all things. While releif of stress, your phisical apperance becomes, so to say … unnatractive. Your teeth turns yellow as so do your finger nails. your skin becomes wrinkly … so who wants to become a rasin?! not me :)

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Migz
2 years ago

Lmao

Me right (:
3 years ago

smoking should be banned, it’s really bad

Samara
9 years ago

Smoking also pollutes children’s minds. When their parents smoke, they believe that it is the right thing to do and they grow up to smoke which just results in generations of smokers. However if smoking was banned none of this would happen.

Chief
5 years ago
Reply to  Samara

If smoking was banned, the country would be left with lots of people struggling to get back on their feet. Many would have to seek help and go to rehab. Sadly, not everyone can get access to this type of treatment. Nicotine medications can be expensive. According to drugs.com, Zyban, a common medication for this addiction, costs up to $267 for 60 tablets. Another medication called Chantix can cost $129.00 for 30 tablets. Lots of cigarette users might have a low income, therefore not being able to afford these medicines. It would not be fair to prohibit cigarettes and leave these people struggling with addiction. :(

Bruh
3 years ago
Reply to  Chief

If you can afford cigarettes, then you can afford the medications.

bro
3 years ago
Reply to  Bruh

like you cut g

bro
3 years ago
Reply to  Bruh

gg bro

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