Introduction
Even though almost every smoker realizes the harm caused by smoking, the number of smokers in the world remains enormous. Due to a low price, availability, legality, and the promotion of cigarettes in the media, almost every second there is a new person that starts smoking. The main reason for justifying smoking is an addiction to nicotine, the reserve of which is created in the body of a smoker and requires a constant refill. Otherwise, a person becomes irritated and craves the need to smoke. It is striking that, despite all official data on smoking impacts, governments around the globe continue to issue licenses to retailers for the sale of cigarettes. The only current regulation in our time is the restriction of age (sale is carried out to persons who have reached adulthood), as well as a ban on smoking in public places, which cannot be controlled sufficiently. It is a regrettable fact that smokers harm not only themselves but also the people around them since the harm of secondhand smoking has been proven. In this way, cigarettes should be illegal because they are addictive, they harm people around you, they offer a lot of jobs and generate income, and kids are doing it (Steinberg, Williams, " Ziedonis, 2004).
The Deadliest Threat
First, the use of tobacco brings more deaths than any other product. According to WHO, smoking kills more than seven million people worldwide every year, and according to statistics, the cause of death of every second smoker is tobacco consumption (Unger, Yan, Shakib, Rohrbach, Chen, Qian,... " Johnson, 2002). Despite these horrific data, people continue to smoke refusing to believe that this bad habit is causing severe damage to their health. Similar harm is associated only with alcohol, but this, first of all, does not produce such a heavy addiction, requiring regular use (such cases exist, but they are rare), and secondly, the number of deaths from alcohol is hundreds of times lower than from tobacco. Thus, smoking kills more people yearly than any other product. The deaths which are associated with the smoke of cigarette can affects children when they lose their parents at the tender age exposing them to poverty and struggle during their growth. They may lack basic needs and education that are key to a better living. For comparison, the mortality rate due to car accidents is almost seven times lower, and the number of deaths due to the abuse of heavy drugs is almost 40 times smaller (Grill " Voigt, 2015). Thus, smoking is the deadliest threat to the society that is still legal all over the world.
The Risk to Non-Smokers
In addition to the enormous harm to health for directly smokers, a dose of toxic substances is received by people around. Because of the enormous number of smokers on the streets, just walking for several hours around the city, a person involuntarily inhales the amount of smoke, equivalent to one or two cigarettes. Regardless of the minimal risk, official studies show that secondhand smoke can lead to cardiovascular diseases and lung cancer (Kumar, Davies, Weitzman, " Sherman, 2014). That is, even non-smokers are at risk of fatal diseases due to the commonness and legality of smoking. For instance, inhaling smoke has adverse effects on the lungs. Continuous damaging of the lungs causes more problems in the individual's body. Similarly, the individuals who smoke are exposed to high risks of acquiring nonreversible lungs conditions which may include chronic bronchitis which affects the lining breathing tubes of the lungs. Also, other problems can arise such as emphysema and lung cancer. Individual withdrawing from cigarettes smoke cause respiratory and congestion discomfort as the airways, and the lungs start to heal. These effects extend further to children whose their parents smoke increases their chance of acquiring asthma attacks, wheezing, and coughing. According to WHO's data, "more than 6 million of those deaths are the result of direct tobacco use while around 890,000 are the result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke" (Grill " Voigt, 2015). Given these facts, the government has to take tough measures to combat smoking, as it leads to deaths even among non-smokers.
Cultural, Social, and Economic Factors
Cultural, social, and economic factors also have a significant impact on the frequency of smoking in certain countries. If some states, governments severely restrict youths' access to cigarettes and monitor law enforcement, the number of smokers in these countries is much lower (Steinberg et al., 2004). The key word here is enforcement. Therefore, similar laws exist practically in all countries of the world, while their control differs significantly. Unger and his colleagues showed a cross-cultural study of this problem by comparing peer-influence and access to tobacco in California and Wuhan. Smoking-restricting laws exist in both countries, but cultural, economic, and social factors combined with weak tobacco control among youths lead to the fact that significantly more youths in Wuhan start smoking at a rather early age (Unger et al., 2002). In addition, this study provided an opportunity to understand that the factors that encourage teenagers to start smoking are similar in different countries. This is determined by the tribe's cultural practices like using tobacco to preserve traditions which may encourage or discourage the use of smoking, the social standards the teenagers are living, and the economic activities of a certain country.
Economic Considerations
There are good reasons for the former legal status of the sale and production of tobacco products. Firstly, because of the huge volumes of production that require the necessary amount of tobacco to provide the population, its plants produce jobs for millions of people. Secondly, the tax on the sale of tobacco products is heavily taxed, which brings a lot of money to the state budget. According to research, income from taxing tobacco sales brings about 10% of the profits for the state budget (Steinberg et al., 2004). Thus, states interested in this industry are very reluctant to look at the prospects for a smoking ban at the legislative level, as this will cause great damage to the economy.
Conclusion
Summarizing, it is worth noting that even though smoking is responsible for millions of deaths every year, it is still legal. Smoking has taken root in society because of the strong need that results from smoking. Besides, smoking is also capable of causing deadly diseases in adults. It is known that laws regulating and controlling smoking will not be sufficient without adequate enforcement, while cultural and economic characteristics should be considered. Finally, the main obstacle to the legalization of tobacco smoking is its key role in the economy and the providing of jobs. However, considering all negative factors of smoking on human health and society, it should be banned.
References
Grill, K., " Voigt, K. (2015). The case for banning cigarettes. Journal of medical ethics, medethics-2015.
Kumar, S. R., Davies, S., Weitzman, M., " Sherman, S. (2014). A review of air quality, biological indicators and health effects of second-hand waterpipe smoke exposure. Tobacco control, tobaccocontrol-2014.
Steinberg, M. L., Williams, J. M., " Ziedonis, D. M. (2004). Financial implications of cigarette smoking among individuals with schizophrenia. Tobacco Control, 13(2), 206-206.
Tobacco. (2018). World Health Organization. Retrieved 25 April 2018, from http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs339/en/
Unger, J. B., Yan, L., Shakib, S., Rohrbach, L. A., Chen, X., Qian, G., ... " Johnson, C. A. (2002). Peer influences and access to cigarettes as correlates of adolescent smoking: A cross-cultural comparison of Wuhan, China, and California. Preventive medicine, 34(4), 476-484.
