Why Tobacco Should Be Illegal

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Do people want to shorten their lives? Do people want to risk the chance of getting lung cancer, heart disease, and other life threatening conditions? The production and sale of tobacco products should be made illegal in the United States because the use of these products reduces a smoker’s life span approximately fourteen years. One of every five deaths in the U.S. is related to smoking each year, due to conditions such as pneumonia, bronchitis, lung cancer and emphysema (Kavanagh). Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States simply because if someone never chose to smoke or dip, then they would not have the chance of shortening their life. Future generations of people would not have to shorten their lives either, because they would not have even gotten the chance to try tobacco. More deaths are caused each year by tobacco use than by all deaths from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined. (CDC) Not only are smokers effected, but nonsmokers are also effected from cigarette smoke. Around 50,000 people per year die from secondhand smoke. If the production and sale of cigarettes alone were banned, then hundreds of thousands of lives would be prolonged and saved; approximately 450,000 lives per year (Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids). Smoking is the number one cause of death due to lung cancer, emphysema, and other life-threatening diseases (ALA). If the cause of disease and cancer was completely eliminated from the United States, then the problem would be solved. If tobacco was eliminated people’s outer appearances would also improve. Cigarettes cause yellow fingers, yellow nails, and yellow teeth. Extended use of tobacco products can make people look at least ten years older than they actually are. The solution to prevent tobacco related deaths and side

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