Smoking involves an act of burning a substance for the purpose of taking in its smoke into the lungs. These substances are commonly tobacco or cannabis. Combustion releases the active substances in them like nicotine which are absorbed through the lungs. A widespread technique through which this is done is via smoking manufactured cigarettes or hand rolling the tobacco ready for smoking. Almost 1 billion people in the majority of all human societies practice smoking. Complications directly associated with smoking claim the lives of half of all the persons who have been involved in smoking tobacco or marijuana for a long time. Smoking is an addiction because tobacco contains nicotine which is very addictive. The nicotine therefore makes it difficult for a smoker to quit. A person will therefore become used to nicotine such that he/she has to smoke so as to feel normal. I therefore think that smoking should be banned because of some reasons.
One reason why smoking should be banned is because it has got several health effects. It harms almost every organ of the body. Cigarette smoking causes 87% of lung cancer deaths and is also responsible for many other cancer and health problems. Apart from this, Infant deaths that occur in pregnant women are attributed to smoking. Similarly, people who stay near smokers become secondary smokers where they may breathe in the smoke and get the same health problems as smokers do. Although not widely smoked, cannabis has also health problems and the symptoms of withdrawal include depression, insomnia, frustration, anger, anxiety, difficulty in concentration and restlessness.
Apart from causing emphysema, smoking also affects the digestive organs as well as the blood circulatory systems, especially heart arteries. Women have a higher risk of heart attack than men which exacerbates with time as one continues to smoke. The mouth is also affected by smoking whereby the teeth will become discolored, the lips will blacken and will always stay dry and also causes bad breath.
Cigarette and tobacco products are very expensive. People who smoke are therefore forced to spend their money in these products which badly waste their income which they would have otherwise spent in other things. I therefore think that smoking should be forbidden in order to reduce the costs of treating diseases related to smoking as well as the number of deaths caused by smoking-related illnesses.
However, tobacco and cigarette manufacturing nations will lose a lot if smoking was to be banned. I therefore think that it should not be banned. Some nations largely depend on exporting cigarette and tobacco products to get revenue. This revenue normally boosts the economy of such nations. If smoking was to be banned, it means that they will incur great losses since tobacco companies are multi-billion organizations. Apart from these, millions of people will be rendered jobless as a result of the ban. The process in which tobacco and cigarette products reach the consumers is very complex and it involves a chain process with several people involved in it. Banning smoking therefore means these people will lose their jobs for which most of them may be depending upon for their livelihoods.
In conclusion, the ban on smoking is a very hard step to be undertaken especially when the number of worldwide users is in the billions. Although it places a large burden on nations in treating diseases associated with smoking, it may take a very long time before a ban can work. Attempts by some nations to do this have often been met with failures.