Smoking Cigarettes Should Be Illegal

Angie Funes
Prof. Cathy Cripps
English 97
May 6, 2013
Smoking cigarettes should be illegal For a long time people have different concepts and point of view about smoking. Nowadays a lot of people think that smoking is good and helps them, but others think that should be banned. “The Believing we do something when we do nothing is the first illusion of tobacco.” (Ralph Waldo). The question is what is in a cigarette? A cigarette is made of a classic white paper, and when it burns it releases about 4,000 chemicals, including 43 known cancer-causing compounds and other 400 toxins, tar, and carbon monoxide, as well as formaldehyde, ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, arsenic, and the most important nicotine. What is nicotine? Marjorie Jacobs, member of educational programs, explains that nicotine is the chemical that creates addiction ones it goes in the bloodstream. James Bonsack was the man who invented the cigarette in 1880 he made 10 million cigarettes the first year and about one billion five years later. However, cigarettes should be illegal because they cause a lot of problems such as cancer and other diseases, it is addictive, and it is really dangerous for the people that are around smokers. According to the article “Cigarette Smoking” “each year about 443,000 people in the United States die from illnesses related to tobacco use” Cigarettes smoking are the responsible of the 30% of all cancer deaths. Dr. Leroy E. Burney US Public Health Service 's, explains that lung cancer , oral cavity, stomach, bladder and pancreas are one of the first diseases caused by cigarettes smoking, and that bronchitis, heart diseases, emphysema and others are the one the diseases that follow them. In my personal experience my grandfather die of lung cancer because when he was a young boy he smoke one, two or three packet per day, and when he was getting older all this start to affect them. In addition, a report from “Smoking and Health” mentions that, for women that smoke in the future it can damage the reproductive system, and hurt the baby and it could have some problems for example, if the baby born it can have low birth weight, and born with infant death syndrome. Also men have a lot of problems by smoking cigarettes; for example, they have fertility problems, die younger, they live between 13 years, and they are more likely to die between the ages of 35 and 69 than those who have never try a cigarette. Male smokers also are sexually impotent than non-smokers. In a same way, a second fact is that cigarette smoking is not only dangerous for the person that smokes, but also for the people around this is called a “secondhand smoke”. Which it can be even more dangerous for persons that actually inhale, a secondhand smoke consist in the smoke exhaled by a person that is smoking; this is also called “sidestream and mainstream smoke.” “The article called cigarette smoking” explains that “Sidestream smoke has higher concentrations of cancer-causing agents (carcinogens) than mainstream smoke”. When a non-smoker is exposed to a side stream smoke, it is called involuntary smoking or passive smoking. Following, a non-smoker who breathe the same air when a person is smoking take in nicotine and toxins; the more you inhale the higher level that this toxin enters your body. “The International Agency For Research On Cancer IARC” reported in 2009 that parents who smoke before and during pregnancy were in more dangerous to have a child with hepatoblastoma; which is a rare cancer that star while the child is in the uterus, in contrast of parents that does not smoke the risk is higher twice if one parent inhale is five times higher if both parents smoked, it can also can cause asthma in a children since he is a baby. The question is what can be done about sencondhand smoke? Since the state and local authorities can enact public policies to protect people from sidestream smoke, it is important that they protect and prevent this action, while others smokers are around of kids and non-smokers. A third reason why should smoking be illegal is because it becomes addictive. Since a cigarette contains more than 4,000 chemicals and all these chemicals are smoke. What makes tobacco so addictive? A report from the article “cigarette ingredients” mentions, that what make tobacco or cigarette in general addictive is called nicotine. When the nicotine goes into the bloodstream, the body automatically ask for more, “the nicotine takes six seconds to get into the brain.” (Ditcher). when the nicotine and the tobacco are mixed it is considered a drug, since nicotine is a stimulant, it speed up the nervous system it makes the heart beat faster and raises the blood pressure, this is an important fact why after the first cigarette automatically the body wants more. Some people try to quit this addiction, but it is so strong that they go back to smoking; it is a habit that is very difficult to break, especially when they have been doing it for years. For example, teenagers start smoking because their friends does it too, and they see old people that does it, they want to experiment too, and then is really difficult to stop, also adults when they start smoking when they have a lot of stress and problems, since the nicotine plays with the brain, it makes them think that smoking takes away stress and that it gives them energy while going through a hard time. Moreover, nicotine also reduces a person’s appetite that is why some people that stop smoking gain weight after a while. Therefore nicotine maybe makes you feel good at first, but after a while it doesn’t bring anything good to your body and brain. Nowadays, opponents insist that smoking cigarettes is not bad; they believe that it is better than drinking and taking drugs. Since the cigarettes help people to relax after a stressing day and make them feel good, other smokers said that a cigarette before go to bed helps to have a good sleep. Another smoker agrees that "It is not the taste that counts. It 's that sense of satisfaction you get from a cigarette that you can 't get from anything else." (Ditcher). It may be true that smoking is fun since everybody does it and as people grew older, had to subordinate our pleasures to work and to the necessity for unceasing effort. Smoking takes out stress and relaxes the body; however, it takes out your problems for a while "You sometimes get tired of working intensely, and if you sit back for the length of a cigarette, you feel much fresher afterwards. It is a peculiar thing, but I wouldn 't think of just sitting back without a cigarette. I guess a cigarette somehow gives me a good excuse" said an accountant in an interview. Others said that smoking cigarettes releases pain, for example when you have a really strong headache, or something hurts really bad the nicotine makes them feel better. But what they doesn’t know is that they are killing themselves slowly, because they are a lot of different way to feel relax and take away stress after a long day at work, for example, take a walk in the park, go out with friends, watch a movie or even sleep, all that people needs to do is clear their mind and forget about the problems for a while, and without smoking. In conclusion, one of the most important reasons why smoking should be illegal is because the reasons of smoking are mostly psychological. According to Antonio Zamora, a Scientific Psychologist, People start smoking because the saw it in the movies, advertisements TV programs, or feel pressure, to be a grown up, to try to lose weight, to calm the nerves, from their friends that smoke and a lot more but since a cigarette contains a big percentages of nicotine, and since nicotine is a really strong addiction, it is very hard to quit after a while, but what these people doesn’t know is that this addiction can be overcome in two weeks when the psychological reasons of smoking are eliminated and treat them from the root, for example, when these people feel anxious for a cigarette they should do something else that makes them feel more relax, and if it is really hard for them to quit, there are a lot of associations that can help them overcome this problem, all they need to do is make sure that they really want to leave the cigarette and start living a wonderful life. “How long can you live?” “Quit smoking or die trying.”

Works Cited
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Royal College of Physicians. “Smoking and health.” Summary and report of the Royal College of Physicians of London on smoking in relation to cancer of the lung and other diseases. New York: Pitman Publishing, 1962.

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