Free Essay: Production and Sales of Tobacco Should Be Illegal

Tobacco is an addictive product that has been in the society for decades now; its consumption has been largely related to several deaths and other related health consequences like addiction and lung cancer. Debates have been going around ever since its popularity became higher across the globe on whether its production and consumption should be made illegal because of the health risks that it posses. Health officers and production firms have had to be at loggerheads in regard to this issue of illegality of tobacco for the longest time. Smoking got the better part of American during the 90s when people smoked cigarettes like the world was coming to an end. Unlike these times, where one can play video games or use their phone texting their loved ones, during the 90s, people would light it up just for fun. Surely, at this modern age and with the health risks and death trolls that have reported due to the consumption of cigarettes, it is of note for one to state that cigarette production and consumption should be made illegal.

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A cigarette is the most dangerous product in the modernity age to be ever created. Most nations around the world have made a commitment to reduce the general consumption of the product in their country. Various ways have been used to help curb the consumption and production of tobacco; this ranges from high taxation, advertisement s banned from media outlets, the expansion of smoking free spaces, and the promotion of cessation (Bronson, 2016). These all are a means to see that production and consumption of tobacco are reduced. One of the most notable practices that have been experienced in the ban includes the ban on the sale of cigarettes by fifteen states in the US from 1890 to 1927. These jurisdictions to ban the sale of cigarettes for a period of time is a Power vested among the local people and their governments.

The above actions against cigarette smoking highly speak of how dangerous the product is and the reason why it should be made illegal in the whole globe. Consumption of the product has caused many ill risks, and various health practitioners have advocated for its ban as it is a trend that can never stop not unless the product is totally banned. Besides the reduction of suffering those consumers of the product experience, banning the sale 0f the product would be to the advantage of the health sector because they would save more on the health costs that they incur every year in the treatment and management of cancer-related patients due to cigarette consumption.

Ban on sale and production of cigarettes would also help in reducing wildfires, which are sometimes caused by cigarette smokers, reduced consumption of a scarce resource would be met, labor productivity would also increase, and a reduction in the global carbon emission would also be met. The ban in sale and production of the product would also help realize a halt in one of the main sources of modern corruption, again, its ban would see the elimination of the historical forces that stand as the main cause of global warming and the destruction of the natural resource and the environment. It is ironical that even the smokers themselves dislike their smoking habit, and this stands as the main reason why I hold the stand that the sale and production of cigarettes should be banned from our societies.

Tobacco smoking is not categorized as a recreational activity, and thus, its abolishment would not affect society in any way but rather enlarge the liberties of society. Its ban will also help fulfill the producer's promise of putting a halt into its production if the product is found to cause health problems, a case that is evident in all health centers in every part of the globe. The primary reasons why the sale and production of tobacco should be banned include the following;

The product is considered one of the deadliest products because it has been recorded top cause deaths of nearly 6 million smokers in every twelve months. It figures that I not watched well will only grow bigger instead of getting smaller. The twentieth century recorded almost a hundred million deaths solely as a result of tobacco smoking; it worries much how much people could lose their lives in this twenty-first century if tobacco is not addressed fully. A controlled consumption rate, even if installed, cannot tame the number of deaths that tobacco could cause, such a case would only reduce the number of deaths as a result of smoking, but still, the society will still lose close to 3oo million of its people due to cigarette smoking (Iglesias, 2016).

A cigarette is technically a defective product by all means. It is not only dangerous as it kills almost half of its users but also an addictive product by design. The product had no medicinal value to its users in any way; researchers have concluded that smoking is the leading cause of cancer and other health problems like diabetes, heart problems, chronic bronchitis, and others. Although that has been the case for so many users around the globe, most of them have smoked for half their lives but still live healthy with only a bad cough. Those who hold such a stand are, however, the minority and thus considering the larger population and the health risks that smoking might cause; total banning of its sale and production would be the best approach.

The toxic colorless chief active component of tobacco known as nicotine is the chief agent that causes addiction. Addiction is not a healthy practice; has it highly affects the autonomic nerve and the skeletal muscle cells of the smoker from functioning normally. Nicotine is so addictive in that seasoned consumers of the product cannot go for hours without feeling the urge to puff some smoke (World Health Organization, 2015). The thing that makes tobacco smoking a dangerous practice is that once you are an addict, the chances of withdrawal are very minimal because the consequences are very intense. It is clear in health practices and government directives that as long as something is detrimental for the user, its use should be banned made illegal with dire penalties for anyone who defies such orders like extreme fines, and jail time.

In most cases, smokers engage in the practice when they are still adolescents, a time when they much crave for attention and the pressure to fit in the society as the old. These young ages see actors, and those they consider as cool kids do it and so they crave to have a share in the practice. These are young children who cannot be even allowed to own a rifle or even vote. At an early age, tobacco smoking can be very dangerous to their health, but teens are ever impressionable and are considered not able to make good decisions on their own. They are mostly at an immature age when they cannot consider their future and the negative consequences that smoking could cause.

Teens, in this case, cannot comprehend such future negative effects of smoking. Well, if tobacco would be made illegal, fewer teens would need to smoke a cigarette, and a lesser number of people would even begin taking this addictive substance in the first place. Teens would no longer see it, so there would be no urge to want to smoke, and if the society at large does not want tobacco to be a thing to affect their children, then banning its sale and production would be the best cause of action.

Product defects and deaths are various reasons why tobacco should be made illegal. However, another reason, such as financial burden is also weigh in as complementary reasons for the product's total ban, mainly from the cost incurred in the treatment of the illness such as cancer. Cigarette users also are affected through reduced labor productivity, which in many parts of the world makes them poor. The other reason in support of the ban of the product is that the industry is a very strong corrupting entity in human civilization (Rengert, 2018).

The big tobacco industries have corrupted science through sponsoring of distraction research. The industry has also corrupted popularly known media outlets. These media outlets have been made dependant on tobacco companies as they have been very reluctant to publish the critiques of the product. The industry is reported to have corrupted even information relating to its own working environment (Meier, 2016). Tobacco firms have been reported to have bullied, corrupted, and exploited other institutions. Institutions such as the American Medical Association, Sports organizations, The American Law Institute, fire-fighting agencies, Hollywood, and even the presidency for crying out loud. President Johnson, for instance, declined to endorse the Surgeon general report of 1964, holding the fear of alienation by the tobacco friendly of the south.

The tobacco industry, in a way, also managed to thwart the Navy's move to be a smoking-free zone. The Navy in 1986 announced the mission to create a smoke-free zone for the Navy by 2000, the congressmen that were pushing the agenda were pressured to disrupt such a plan and a constitutional directive was then passed every ship should sell and allow cigarette smoking. It resulted in the American submarines not being smoke-free zones. Such corruption and alienation of institutions towards aborting tobacco usage tell just how much the production of the product has been ill in our society has it has managed to corrupt out society to the greatest heights like corrupting the presidency for their own good. These are the reasons why cigarette smoking should be illegal and its production totally banned.

Conclusion

In general, the argument for banning the production and sale of cigarettes and be made illegal is an essential discussion that could save humanity and our environment for that matter. It is important to note that tobacco is very unhealthy as it kills, the addictive substance in tobacco is dangerous to the young generation, and so its consumption is best if banned from our society. Besides the negative health risks associated with the drug, tobacco is a very disgusting drug that affects the user's fingers, tongue, and lungs. Tobacco smoking is just an unhealthy practice that every society and nation in the world should advocate for its ban, for it corrupts put not only health but also our society in general and this should not a be cancer that will eat our morals but a plague that need to be cast out.

References

Bronson, J. (2016). Alcohol, Drugs, and Tobacco. In Movements for Human Rights (pp. 57-67). Routledge.

Iglesias, R. M. (2016). Increasing excise taxes in the presence of an illegal cigarette market: the 2011 Brazil tobacco tax reform. Revista Panamericana de Salud Publica, 40, 243-249.

Meier, K. J. (2016). The Politics of Sin: Drugs, Alcohol, and Public Policy: Drugs, Alcohol, and Public Policy. Routledge.

Rengert, G. F. (2018). The geography of illegal drugs. Routledge.

World Health Organization. (2015). Illegal trade of tobacco products: What you should know to stop it (No. WHO/NMH/PND/15.3). World Health Organization.