Should Cigarettes Be Illegal?
Wednesday November 29, 2006
Category: Drug Policy
A recent Zogby poll found that 45% of respondents support a ban on cigarettes. In practical terms, what does this mean?
Not much, because public officials--swimming in money from the tobacco lobby, and not wishing to alienate the 45 million Americans who identify as smokers--certainly won't put an end to the cigarette industry. And of course I believe, as a civil libertarian, that politicians are right in this case, if only by sheer coincidence. We already have the world's highest incarceration rate; the last thing we need is for millions more to be thrown in prison, and then disenfranchised, "for their own good."
But does anyone else find it odd that when 45% of Americans support banning cigarettes, 42% support banning abortion, and 39% support a federal ban on same-sex marriage, the highest-polling ban is the only one that hasn't produced any referendums?
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Not much, because public officials--swimming in money from the tobacco lobby, and not wishing to alienate the 45 million Americans who identify as smokers--certainly won't put an end to the cigarette industry. And of course I believe, as a civil libertarian, that politicians are right in this case, if only by sheer coincidence. We already have the world's highest incarceration rate; the last thing we need is for millions more to be thrown in prison, and then disenfranchised, "for their own good."
But does anyone else find it odd that when 45% of Americans support banning cigarettes, 42% support banning abortion, and 39% support a federal ban on same-sex marriage, the highest-polling ban is the only one that hasn't produced any referendums?
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Comments
Thanks for the info
YES Cigarettes should be illegal and Marijuana should be LEGAL
We have been stripped of our rights by the goverment over the past years in an unpresidented fashion. Where does it end? The future average Americans life will be go to work, go home to watch goverment television, sleep and repeat.
Smoking is my business, not the governments.
If you just want to add another drug to to all the violence that now comes from the black market drug trade, then by all means, go ahead and ban cigarettes. Hey, ban the drug alcohol as well; that experiment worked so well in the US when tried in the past.
Legal or not. Stop smoking, people…you are paying for the priviledge of dieing sooner.
I FEEL THAT CIGARETTES & ANYTHING TYPE OF DRUG BESIDES SUBSCRIPTI0N MEDICINE SH0ULD BE ILLEGAL BECAUSE PE0PLE D0NT HAVE SELF C0NTR0L & THESE THINGS ARE PART 0F THE REAS0N WHY WE HAVE S0 MANY DEATHS AND DISEASES & CRIMES T0DAY.
illegal or not smokers will still smoke i mean its there choose if they want to have cancer or not no one is forcing then to do it at gun point so why argue when its just there problem not ours
smoking cigarrets should be illegal because smoking is harming the temple of god, doing this is a sin………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Smoking should be illegal. Yes you do have the choice to harm YOUR OWN body but what about second hand smoke. When you smoke you are causing health problems for all the people around you. And they didn’t even make that choice in the first place. I agree that the government doesn’t have the right to tell you what to do (like how I disagree with the seat belt law) but when your choice becomes harmful to someone else who don’t have any say in the matter then it should be banned.
please people, stop smoking!! I want cigaretts to be illigal. Anyways, smoking polutes the air, making global warming worst.
hey i thought i would just bring it up on the internet because i am doing a speech on it
ahhhh……… smoking is bad!!!!!!!!!
When you take away peoples right to smoke, you take away peoples rights to make decisions for themselves, and sooner or later we will become no better then nazi Germany, or communist Russia. Make it illegal.. Why? Because its bad for you? Does the government have the right to control every aspect of your life by illegalizing every known substance that is bad for the human body? i thought this was a democracy but it is soundind more and more like a dictatorship every day.
For all those that think smoking should be illegal I’m sure that you should believe that freedom should be illegal also. I believe that we should have a fair and equal tax by taxing each American by the pound. We all agree that smoking is a major health expense and justify taxing smokers for this. (Although none of the tax goes to help smokers, the tax is only used for politician pet projects.) But the health problems caused by smoking is only a drop in the bucket compaired to the health problems caused by obesity. Fat around the heart is the single #1 cause of heart attack, stroke, and death in the USA. Obesity causes diabeties, CLPD, I could go on and on. Not to mention just the simple need to build things strong enough for fat people to use without breakage. we allbear the cost of this. I say let’s keep it fair. You want to smoke? PAY!!! You want to drink? PAY!!! You want to eat till your fat? PAY!!! Keep it real and fair!!!
Yes, cigarettes should be illegal, it would lower the drug war bar a little because the harder drug will be off the streets and cigarettes would be the main drug to sell.
BS. Smoking cigarettes is not a sin SHOW ME IN THE BIBLE WHERE IT SAYS SMOKING ANYTHING IS A SIN…..!!!!!!
and second hand smoke is the same if you dont like it LEAVE…..!!!!!!!
yeah i smoke weed but if they legalized weed there would be more crack heads and stuff because thats the next step up and thats wat drug dealers would sell.
smokers will not stop smoking unless they get a disease just like me
Joel – you’re right, FREEDOM is the issue here. I should have the Freedom of CHOICE – to smoke or not to smoke. However, when you smoke, I that freedom is stripped away from me. You want to eat fried foods, drink til you drop, fine. That doesn’t mean I get fat and drunk. This is the defining difference between smoking cigarettes and other “Freedoms”. So for those who wish to enjoy nicotine I say patch it, chew it, hell shoot it up for all I care. Just don’t impose on my Freedom to breathe smoke free air. You get it now?
Smoking should at least be illegal in all public places, no one should have to suffer from second hand smoke
Smoking is up to the individual you say? How about the babies and children of smokers? If you don’t like the smoke walk away! Tell that to the infant stuck in the playpen while mommy and daddy dearest blow smoke in the poor things face. Second hand smoke causes SIDS, asthma, bronchitis, ear infections and more. Kids of smokers never have a choice. I agree with Jackie, if you have to have the nicotine, there are other ways.
so all you people saying that “people are going to smoke anyway legal or not”… does that mean that people are going to break the law anyway so lets not have any laws???? think about that a little bit SMOKING CAN KILL YOU!! SO WHY SHOULD SOMTHING THAT CAUSES DEATH BE LEGAL?
gooooooo for smoking!
You say it’s your choice to smoke, but i live with smokers and I have no choice in the matter. I hate smoking! It is disgusting and stupid. So stop saying the government has no right to stop you, because you are hurting other people. No one cares if you die of lung cancer, but if your children die from it, then the government should step it.
Um, for the idiot who said smoking isn’t a sin…God himself said that our bodies are temples, and that we are to treat them that way. in simpler words we should TAKE CARE OF OUR BODIES. God commands us to do so. And smoking directly goes against that.
i think cigarettes should be illegal and pot should be legal cuz pot is less hazordous than cigarettes!