The Production and Sale of Cigarettes Should Be Made Illegal - Essay Example

?The production and sale of cigarettes should be made illegal There are many studies trying to convince us of the peril of cigarette smoking (Shirazi& Guinet, 2006, p.167; Henricks, Givi & Folkerts, 2011, p.1104; Ward, Berenson & Breitkopf, 2011, p.213.e1). In the first place, government warning concerning the danger of cigarettes to the human health is remarkable. However, cigarettes have also addictive components that those who tried smoking for quite a long time find it hard to put it to a halt (Doweiko, 2010, p.217). Concerning this, even if the government raises tax for cigarettes, the consumption or demand of them is still higher. The only way therefore in order to control smoking is to do a move that would discourage production and sale of cigarettes. Regarding this point, it makes sense that production and sale of cigarettes should be made illegal. Smoking is perhaps for some is one of the coolest things a person could do in his entire life. For sure, the reason why some teenagers go take into the plunge to smoke is due to social influence. It always starts this way; not even including how a smoker might convince a non-smoker to go a try for it. However, due to human curiosity, there are seemingly wonderful things about smoking that one could link to it. Without question, there must be wonderful feeling or benefits linked to smoking, which particularly has become the major point why there are still many people who smoke and continue to do so even if they already knew the health hazards associated to it. Some of them are becoming dependent on smoking, that their life for the day would not be completed without puffing a smoke. The idea therefore of putting a legal act against cigarette production and distribution may sound of a discomfort to those who have become so dependent on smoking. Some remarkable hesitations and arguments may surface, proving to us how individual freedom may be undermined by emancipating law that would illegalize the production and sale of cigarettes. They might certainly react that they have freedom on what to choose for their lives. On the other hand, the cigarette manufacturers will strongly stand on their ground that the establishment of their business provides a significant income for the government from their taxes paid every year, and more justifications may possibly arise in the future. Although at certain level, those who would stand against the government’s control of production and distribution of cigarettes may have a point of opposing this policy, there is still much point to consider why it is important to take into account the production and sale of cigarettes as illegal activities. Here are the following rationale why it is necessary to put a legal action against the production and sale of cigarettes. The health of the nation is a very important concern of the government. Every year, the US government spends a remarkable amount of money for health care alone and other relevant expenses (Chisolm, 2008). The point is that we see that the government is always concerned of ensuring protection and welfare of the public, allowing it to guarantee that everybody is protected by emancipating laws and policies. Since cigarettes have negative impacts on the human health, their ultimate contribution therefore is to possibly increase the country’s health care expense and even mortality rate. Cigarettes kill. The reason they could kill is because of the high level of toxicity in some components in them (Shirazi & Guinet, 2006, p.167; Mortaz, Henricks, Givi & Folkerts, 2011, p.1104; Ward, Berenson & Breitkopf, 2011, p.213.e1). This simply means that cigarettes could not be far from potential harmful chemicals used by criminals to annihilate their subjects’ lives. Just as criminals are confined behind bars for committing crimes associated with killing particularly poisoning their targets, manufacturing cigarettes that in the end would just result to the harm of one’s life may simply be a form of crime in that same sense. Try to figure out that cigarettes are found to contain harmful chemicals. This simply does not sound logical that they would be suitable for human consumption, for sure. This also implies that they are human poison at some point. This means that if they could stand as human poison, then they could kill and the best way to ward them off is to stop their production and distribution. If they are human poison, then the one who would distribute them for consumption is technically considered committing a crime because the bottom line is a potential cost of life. Certainly, we cannot say that those who market cigarettes are the primary culprits, but those who manufacture them in the first place are. To strengthen this point further, as already mentioned cigarettes have an addictive chemical component, meaning manufacturers are trying to manipulate everything in order to leave customers with no other choice but to continue smoking once they are addicted to smoke. Unfortunately, those who are currently using cigarettes may or may not have yet known all of these. In case if they might still be oblivious of these facts, what they need for now is substantial explanation for understanding this matter. However, even if they might have known concerning the peril of smoking, they have no other choice but to most probably remain hooked to it even if it might put harm on their lives provided that they remain untreated of their prevailing addiction to cigarette smoke. It is clear that the only reason why cigarettes are still freely distributed in the market is because the government until this time is allowing manufacturers to produce and distribute them. This definitely calls a response from us, knowing the fact that various problematic medical conditions may arise from smoking. Some of us may not be that concerned of our personal health, but let us be reminded of our future generation. One important thing that we can give them is the gift of good health. We cannot expect to give them a healthy life if today’s generation is sickly and plunging into unhealthy lifestyle. The decision is ours to make. If no one will decide, who else? If not now, then when? Hope it might not be too late for us to make a move to decide which way to choose and follow. References Chisolm, S. (2008). The health professions: Trends and opportunities in US Health Care. Jones & Bartlett Publishers. Doweiko, H. E. (2010). Concepts of chemical dependency (8th ed.). Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning. Mortaz, E., Henricks, P. A. J., Kraneveld, A. D., Givi, M. E., & Folkerts, G. (2011). Cigarette smoke induces the release of CXCL-8 from human bronchial epithelial cells via TLRs and induction of the inflammasome. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA), 1812, 1104-1110. Shirazi, M. N., & Guinet, E. (2006). A possible mechanism linking cigarette smoke to higher incidence of respiratory infection and asthma. Immunology Letters, 103, 167-176. Ward, K. K., Berenson, A. B., & Breitkopf, C. R. (2011). Passive smoke exposure and abnormal cervical cytology in a predominantly Hispanic population. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 204, 213.e1-213.e6. Read More