Tobacco Smoking Should be Completely Outlawed.

CynicalDiogenes, you make a wonderful argument. I apologize for the terrible formatting and citations as I was writing the first round in a Skype message. You argue from a logical standpoint which In my argument I will be addressing your first point first. You say "Nevertheless, I still feel *all* drugs should not be controlled by the government" Assuming you mean literally every drug, are you willing to say you don"t think bath salts should be banned? I don"t think I need to remind anyone what bath salts have done. Drugs effect other people. You then go on to say "what poison I put inside my body is none of the Government"s business." I beg to differ, I believe there is a certain point when the government should intervene. This point is when people attempt to eat other people"s face.... Drugs should be banned by the government to ensure the safety of our nation. It should not be tolerated as a byproduct of freedom of choice like you later say. I believe we should have freedom of choice. I believe we should have the right to own a gun. However, drugs that effect other people should be banned. You bring up the argument that there are worse things than cigarettes that are legal. You bring up that fast food"s obesity is worse cause it affects children, " Obesity has a much bigger impact than tobacco smoking as it affects even small children." You fail to realize smoking also effects small children. Children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of secondhand smoke because they are still developing physically, have higher breathing rates than adults, and have little control over their indoor environments. If their parents smoke they almost always experience the parent"s second hand smoke. A lot more kids who experience second hand smoking experience asthma. Also there has been an increased rate in middle ear infections. You say, "Frankly speaking, the government is not a grandmother to tell its citizens what they can and cannot consume. Unless there is proof of a direct link between the substance and violent anti-social behaviour that can harm other citizens. It should not be banned." First, I"d like to focus in on how you say the government should not ban a substance if it does not contain something that makes someone have violent anti-social behavior that can harm other citizens. I fail to see why something needs to have violent anti-social behavior that can harm other citizens. Marijuana is banned and it doesn"t produce violent anti-social behavior that can harm other citizens. Alcohol is banned before the age of 21 in America. Alcohol if anything promotes social behavior and thus it"s banned. Overall, what I"m saying is a drug shouldn"t need to promote violent anti-social behavior to be banned. Smoking tobacco can promote anti-social behavior too. It"s banned from most public places so if one would want to smoke they are inclined to go somewhere private. Tobacco smoking also harms other citizens including family and friends and even random pedestrians walking on the street. You say, "Nicotine, the main psychoactive agent in tobacco has been used to treat certain conditions like ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) as well as certain cases of colon infections. It also improves mental function if used infrequently, provided the user does not get addicted. As much as i hate to write these things down, they are facts that cannot be ignored." Just because something has been used before to treat something doesn"t mean it should still be used. With the technology today many other things can treat ADHD. Vyvanse for example. I"m also not sure why you"d make the argument that nicotine should not be banned because it helps medicate people. Marijuana is banned in 48 states and in those 48 states can be prescribed for medical usage with a license. What I"m saying is Nicotine can still be banned for the general public and at the same time be used to treat ADHD. You create a solid point by stating, "Tobacco companies also generate a lot of Tax revenue each year. The government is already spending billions to control drug abuse, banning it will put a further strain on its resources, and will not really work. Many of those who smoke weed (like me) will tell you that banning it will actually deregulate distribution, and make it cheaper and more easily available for teens. Banning cigarettes would be a disastrous idea if you really want to reduce its effects in the country." Keep in mind, you would aid the government by banning cigarettes because there are about 92 million dollars being spent because of emergency room situations started by smoking cigarettes. However the pros of banning smoking immensely outweigh the cons. You also are forgetting Tobacco smoking hurts the environment. Just look around. They're everywhere. In 2005, an estimated 135 million pounds of cigarette butts were dumped into the U.S. environment it is estimated that 1.69 billion pounds of cigarette butts end up as waste each year. A study conducted by the California Department of Transportation found that cigarette butts make up 34 percent of the total waste captured in California. The production of cigarettes is very damaging to the environment. It is estimated that one tree is consumed for every 300 cigarettes produced - that's one tree for every one and a half cartons.12 Considering 5.6 trillion cigarettes are produced annually worldwide, tobacco devours about 18.6 billion trees every year. To sum up, smoking should be banned. Smoking hurts child health. Smoking hurts other people via passive smoking. Smoking pollutes the environment and uses valuable resources doing so. Smoking has been proven to help ADHD, however there are other methods that should be used. Doctors don"t even prescribe tobacco products for ADHD. Although it may generate tax revenue, we all should agree a ban on smoking immensely outweighs the cons. Just because we have worse issues than tobacco smoking does not mean we should still keep smoking. http://www.epa.gov... http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov... http://www.additudemag.com... http://www.helpguide.org... http://www.webmd.com... http://www.livestrong.com... http://www.pages.drexel.edu... http://www.theguardian.com... http://www.tobaccofreeca.com... http://www.youtube.com...