Should Laws Be Passed in Order to Ban Smoking?

In this article we learn of diseases associated to smoking, compare its dangers to that of pollution and learn the history of tobacco. This article is meant to make one think and to come to their own determination with individual ideas associated with smoking.

While you read, consider this: are we making the best possible choice to ban cigarette smoking in public areas, or is this just a drop in the bucket to whats really killing us?

First, lets look at the history of tobbaco and learn how smoking this substance got started.

In 1492, our beloved explorer Christopher Columbus sets sail and lands in the Caribbean. Here he see the natives using tobacco in their ceremonies and thinks, "Hey, I can really start something with this. I am going to take some of the seeds for this plant back to Europe." And so he did.

From there we go to 1556, where Jean Nicot introduces tobacco to France; hence the addictive substance we all recognize as nicotine is derived from his name.

By 1884 people were rolling their own cigarettes and hating it. It was hard and frustrating, so along comes American inventor, James Albert Bonsack, who invents the very first cigarette rolling machine.

From there it all becomes history as they say. Smoking increased in this country ten fold, and it wouldn't be until the 1970's that the surgeon general would announce how dangerous it really is.

To be exact; 26% of the adult population in America smoke 500 billion cigarettes annually. With that kind of money spent we could end poverty in this country.

So, how dangerous is cigarette smoking?

Well, it is estimated that 30% of all cancer deaths are attributed to smoking tobacco. The various cancers associated with cigarette smoking are, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, leukemia, and cervical cancer. Along with cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, Cohn's disease and cerebrovascular disease, among others. Cigarette smoking has been thought to be the major factor in ear infections of young children, as well as colds.

How can we be sure it is cigarettes doing all this damage and not pollution? I mean, after all pollution has been linked to 200 different diseases and 37 types of cancers. Is banning cigarette smoking in our public areas even going to make that big a difference?

If this is such a major issue, instead of coming after the population and passing all these crazy laws, why doesn't our law makers go for the jugular and stop the manufacturing of cigarettes? Seems to me that would be the most logical thing to do. Stop making society feel as if they have done something wrong and go after the folks that are contributed to our addictions and diseases.

After all, we hear every day that another arrest has been made for individuals manufacturing Meth, or selling marijuana and other street drugs. Doesn't it only make sense to go after those that make and sell cigarettes? Big business can no longer be protected by making the average citizen pay for its disasters. They are the drug sellers and they should be arrested and made to stop the manufacturing of tobacco.

All the money that was made by these businesses should be seized by our government and used to pay the medical bills of all the people suffering with smoking related diseases. Part of it should go to the insurance companies to pay back all the money they had to dish out for claims associated to smoking attributed diseases.