Smoking should be made illegal

My opponent is correct in that we agree that smoking is bad for you. My opponent referred to some interesting statistics with regard to life expectancy of smokers but the fact remains that there are approximately 43,000,000 smokers in the United States of which approximately 430,000 die each year. [1] The population of the United States is approximately 315,000,000 [2] and 50,000 people die of second hand smoke each year. With regard to my opponents statement that "smoking only ends in death", this statement is factually incorrect. "Rarely are simple messages heard, such as the fact that about half of all smokers will die from smoking..." [3] As we are not debating that smoking is bad for one"s health the amount of chemical inhaled is a moot point. "Lastly smoking indirectly hurts everyone. The people who harm themselves by smoking are a drain on both the American health care system and the American economy. Smoking cost the United States over $193 billion in 2004, including $97 billion in lost productivity and $96 billion in direct health care expenditures, or an average of $4,260 per adult smoker. [5]" Making smoking illegal will not affect the above numbers greatly. When adding in the cost to enforce a smoking ban the numbers may remain the same or may even increase. Of course there is no concrete way to prove this point but by simply looking back to prohibition one can see the path we can head down should a ban on smoking be instituted. "The government worried about Prohibition as the law increased crime rates and also made gangsters came to power. Illegal liquors were sold in higher prize and the American drinkers were desired for alcohol. Saloons were closed but more speakeasies opened." [4] "While my opponent asks for a Con vote simply because it would be similar to the Prohibition. I am willing to agree that there are some basic similarities, but fundamentally these two issues are radically different." These two issues are not fundamentally radically different. When prohibition was instituted people continued to drink, caused an increase in crime and resources needed to be directed in order to prevent the illegal consumption. It is my argument that instead of attempting to make smoking illegal and deal with the same issues that had to be dealt with during prohibition better alternatives exist. My opponent ignored my statement that "In the 1960's approximately 55% of men and 30% of women smoked. These numbers are now down to less than 25% of each category who are smoking today. [5] In addition "The tobacco industry, once a lobbying juggernaut, has watched its political influence wane as its cancer-causing products became increasingly toxic " politically speaking. The contributions to federal candidates and political committees from the tobacco industry, which includes makers of cigarettes, cigars and smokeless tobacco, as well as their trade groups, have drastically decreased since 2002." [6] The federal government and state government know all too well about the costs associated to government by smoking. In fact State Cigarette Excise Taxes have been rather successful thus far. "In addition to reducing smoking rates, cigarette excise tax increases have been shown to increase state revenue despite consumption declines, increases in the number of smokers quitting, and any increase in smuggling or tax avoidance. During 1990"2000, all states that increased their cigarette excise tax by at least $0.10 per pack also increased cigarette tax revenue. [7] One can look to the state of California to see how the Cigarette Excise Tax in combination with tobacco prevention programs is a step in the right direction. "During the first 15 years of the California tobacco control program, the state invested $1.8 billion in cigarette excise tax revenue in the program, resulting in $86 billion in health-care cost savings. [7] New York has been one of the most aggressive if not the most aggressive in taking on the anti-smoking efforts. New York has an excise tax of $4.00 per pack, a smoke-free workplace law and banned smoking in public places such as stadiums, parks and beaches. As the cigarette industry looks for replacement smokers it"s important to note that in New York from 2002-2006 35% of young adults aged 18-24 had the city's biggest drop in smoking. In closing, making smoking illegal should not happen as we will only be looking at a situation comparable to the prohibition era. Instead, we should continue on our current path of public awareness and excise taxes in combination with tobacco prevention programs. The tobacco industry is losing steam in their lobbying efforts and the numbers of smokers continue to trend downward. I thank my opponent for an excellent and well thought out debate. [1]http://www.inforesearchlab.com... [2]http://www.cdc.gov... [3]http://www.livescience.com... [4]http://library.thinkquest.org... [5]http://www.sharecare.com... [6] http://www.opensecrets.org... [7]http://www.cdc.gov...