Cigarettes Should be Illegal

Food: My opponent does not answer my essential assertion that eating unhealthy food is a choice much like smoking cigarettes are a choice. So I'll rephrase my argument again, My opponent's objections to cigarettes being illegal are that it is unhealthy, but why do we necessary have to live healthy lives? The meaning of life varies among many people, there are those who seek to live as long as possible, there are others who choose to live for the moment. If a man decides that smoking a cigarette is worth the risk of the illnesses and a short life, then who are we to prohibit that? Health care: My argument isn't limited to merely abortions, there are plenty of taxes that we pay for things we don't believe in. There are plenty of wasted U.S. dollars, at least in the case of cigarettes the money is used for the right to smoke. "Proving we sometimes pay for things we don't do is not a good justification for legality." Which is my point. My opponent asserts that cigarettes should be illegal because it is expensive. Marketing to kids: The manufacturers that advertise the products is of fault, not the product itself. It is asinine to make cigarettes illegal because the manufacturers are subtly breaking the law. The product cannot be blamed for the fault of the producer. "A lot of peer pressure happens older to younger, meaning an 18 year old, who can now legally purchase cigarettes, pressuring someone younger than him to start smoking. Illegality makes peer pressure more difficult." Almost half of the teens in the US have tried marijuana [1]. It is illegal, and yet does nothing to deter peer pressure or abuse. Making cigarettes illegal will provide minimal efficiency in deducing peer pressure. The same is with Alcohol, which is legal. Furthermore, an older teen distributing cigarette to younger kids is an illegal act, and therefore the older teen should be responsible in accordance to the law. Making cigarettes illegal because of an illegal act committed by teens is nonsensical. "Many people (90%) get hooked as children when they think smoking is really cool, and they are less likely to worry about their health. They then find it hard to quit. Remember the Gallup poll that 3 out of 4 smokers want to quit but feel that they can't because cigarettes are too addictive." "My opponent points out that people can choose to quit. I would assert that it's not as easy as he makes it sound. The fact that he cites a forum where people who are trying to quit congregate and help each other proves how difficult quitting actually is. If it were easy, no such forum would be necessary." I never said quitting was easy, but my opponent makes it sound like it's impossible. There are smokers that quit, meaning there is a choice factor involved. If one is resolute in his decision to quit, then one can do it. Secondhand smoke There are unhealthy particles all over the atmosphere. Forgive the informality, but sh!t happens. Secondhand smoke isn't deliberate, and usually smokers have the decency to flick the cigarette or distance themselves, if you ask them to. Cars drive by and spray smoke all over the atmosphere; it doesn't mean we are going to ban cars. Also, my opponent has yet to answer my Electronic Cigarettes alternative, which produces no secondhand smoke. Right to smoke: Heroin can be overdosed very easily, which leads to death. Long time users develop a tolerance for it, to a degree where the user needs to inject have amounts just to feel "normal". People do not overdose on nicotine, and neither does cigarette have nearly the potency to do what heroine does. I have already given my response as to why heroine is illegal in contrast to cigarettes. No one has ever overdosed on cigarettes, and the effects of cigarettes, which is at best, a "buzz". In the case of heroine, you feel something completely different that is incomparable to cigarettes. This is why heroine is illegal, while cigarettes remain legal. Prohibition: "Also, keep in mind that unlike alcohol, which is usually consumed once a day, at night, inside a building, cigarettes are usually consumed multiple times a day, outside." Many smokers smoke indoors, in the privacy and comfort of their homes. My opponent asserts that quitting cigarettes is no easy deal, and yet he believes that all it will take to make people quit is to simply ban them. If it were that easy, there would be no crimes regarding drugs. Which brings me back to my initial point that banning cigarettes has no guarantee that smokers will quit. $7.18 My argument was that there are things that we spend money on that we don't agree on, such as the wars in the Middle East, along numerous others. My opponent might not agree with how his tax dollars are spent, but we must remember that there are those who do agree with them. "My opponent must mis-cite his source (his #4), because I can't find any reference to tax dollars, but I also assume that $157 billion a year is much more than what he is referencing." I cited source #4 in reference to the amount of tax that is wasted. Employment My opponent has no answers for the unemployment that banning cigarettes would cause, such as the damage to tobacco farmers and cigarette companies, which harbor innumerable employees. My summary will be extended with additional details, In summary, banning cigarettes won't make people quit. If anything, it will become "cool" and more daring to try, especially for teens, which is counterproductive. At the same time, we lose all tax revenue from cigarettes, if we were to ban the product, while still having to pay for loss productivity and smoking related illnesses, in the case that cigarettes are banned, and smokers continue to smoke. Not to mention, myriads would be unemployed as a result. All of us are accountable for the choices we make in our lives, some choices will be bad, others good. It is ideal to make only good choices in life, but once we start enforcing the "good" choices, we have no choices to make at all. Regarding my opponent's objection that smoking is not a choice, if a smoker really wants to quit, they can do it. There are numerous ex-smokers, who CHOSE to quit. I thank my opponent for a good debate, and leave the rest to the voters. Sources: [1] http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov...