Smoking Ban - Clearly an Inappropriate Attempt

18 billion cigarettes are sold in one day worldwide. It is possible to see cigarettes, which are delicately made from tobacco, in everyday life. The growth of tobacco dates to 8,000 years and the consumption started nearly about 2,000 years ago. Since then, the concept of smoking has become acquainted with humanity and rather addictive. For smokers it is an essential behavior with rooted history, and they enjoy lighting up. On the other hand, non-smokers complain about smoking and state that it is a terrible action and should be ended. While the idea of a complete smoking ban might seem logical at first glance, banning cigarettes and smoking is an inadvisable policy since the sale and consumption of tobacco products have some definite benefits: first of all, smoking is responsible for human-deaths and therefore, decreases the population; the tobacco industry also has a considerable impact on the economy; and finally, banning smoking do not discourage people from smoking and it might reveal some personal problems.

The first piece of evidence that supports the continuation of smoking is the fact that cigarette causes deaths among people and as a result of this, the human population decreases. Especially in the last few decades the human population has demonstrated a huge amount of increase. According to data, humanity reached 1 billion in 200,000 years, but reached 7 billion in just 200 years and experts estimate that the population will be 8 billion in 2025, 9.6 billion by 2050. Unfortunately, this overpopulation has severe consequences regarding both the mankind and nature that are continuing to appear. Some examples to such problems concerning people are more unemployment, less educated children, food storage, lack of fresh water and limited health care. Many social problems are occurring as well, mostly in underdeveloped countries. One of the greatest negative effects of overpopulation is global warming, followed by deforestation. With the increasing number of people, the required amount of food also increases and subsequently the need for more agricultural place emerges, but 80% of deforestation is due to agriculture. The problems mentioned above are serious problems and generally because of overpopulation. Getting back to the subject, smoking cigarettes is the cause of approximately 7 million deaths per year. It may not be the best way of controlling the population, nevertheless it has an impact. In fact, it is not a number that should be underestimated, 7 million a year change the world positively in terms of population. To wrap it up, cigarettes are beneficial when thought rationally since they eliminate people and initiate a better future. Overpopulation will eventually lead to mass suffering, but smoking cigarettes have an influence on decreasing the population. Furthermore, if cigarettes were banned, the population would be 7 million more each year and gradually increasing. Therefore, banning cigarettes will have an adverse impact on population issues.

Another detriment of the smoking ban is the economic impact of the tobacco industry. The products of the tobacco industry vary from plugs, pellets to loose leaves, yet cigarettes and cigars are remaining to be the most popular ones, therefore smoking is the main illustration of the tobacco industry. Smoking, although it is usually villainized, have more advantages than disadvantages in terms of contributing to the economy. As an instance, it is proven that nonsmokers are over costing compared with smokers in the long view. Smokers, even though they have medical costs due to tobacco-related diseases, live a shorter life which means they cost the government less money. Instead of benefiting from health resources, dying early saved up to 140 billion. For another instance, the taxes that people who consume and sell cigarettes pay also influence the economy and specifically the public purse. The US government generated 43.9 billion income from tobacco tax revenue in 2013 and more than half a trillion since 1998. England also obtains a great contribution from tobacco taxes: 9.5 billion £ was gained to the county from tobacco taxes. According to researches, England would have had a loss of 22.8 billion £ if cigarettes, alcohol and obesity had not existed. In total 15 billion is added to the public purse because of tax revenues and premature deaths. In another perspective regarding the economy and cigarettes, many people earn their living by the tobacco industry, from farmers to industrial workers. In 2013 in the US 13,750 employees were working in the tobacco manufacturing industry. 77,000 people are employed in Philip Morris International and in 2003, 100 million people were working in the tobacco industry. If smoking was banned, all these people would be unemployed. To summarize it, the business of cigarettes is important for both the governments and for employees.

The last reason that advocates smoking and cigarettes is the fact that smoking bans are usually inefficient in most cases and even if they are not, smoking bans will result in unwillingness of the smokers and therefore arise several problems. There are some examples of smoking bans in the past and for many of them it turns out that banning cigarettes do not discourage people from smoking. One of the best examples of these is the smoking ban in France in 2008. Right after the ban 1,500 tons of tobacco were sold and afterwards the government decided to increase the prices instead of banning smoking. Another example to the ban took place in China/Beijing where approximately 4 million smokers lived. Many people and especially clubs ignored it, hoping that the government will not force them. Soon the ban failed to be successful just like the previous two attempts: the one in 1996 and before the 2008 Olympics. Briefly it is apparent that the smoking ban is inadequate to reduce smoking. Supposing that people did not ignore and obeyed the ban, most probably such problems as anxiety, anger, stress, and tension will occur. Because the only way to quit smoking is to make a self-made decision and have an appropriate mindset and hence it is impossible to have the mindset by forcing people to quit smoking. Besides even when individuals decide to quit smoking and have the right mindset, these problems occur through nicotine dependence. Moreover, after quitting smoking people tend to get fatter and the risk of obesity increases because nicotine suppresses the will to eat. That is why smokers, the ones that obey the ban, would be more appetent and face the risk of being obese, while obesity is as much dangerous as smoking. The smoking ban seems to be a poor idea when the human psychology is taken into consideration.

In conclusion, it is clearly apparent that the smoking ban is not logical because of several reasons just like the population growth, the industry of tobacco and the fact that it is futile. For some people the consequences of smoking might currently seem more dangerous and threatening; however, smoking can be beneficial when viewed from another perspective. Smoking has been in humans’ lives for hundreds of years meaning people are accustomed to it and do not know how to live without it. For this reason, the governments and states should reconsider this policy; however, if they insist on banning smoking, a different method should come into existence, one that does not involve a smoking ban because smoking cigarettes should not be banned in any case since the absence of it will reveal worse results.

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