Banning Smoking: It’s About Time!
by Shriya K. 8th Grade (RMS)
“The true face of smoking is disease, death, and horror- not the glamor and sophistication the pushers in the tobacco industry try to portray,” said David Byrne, a Scottish musician. Although some may think that smoking is high-status, it is just the tobacco industries trying to sell cigarettes to smokers that know smoking can cause unfixable problems but still don’t care. Banning smoking would be beneficial for all because it would decrease the number of smokers, improve our world’s health, and reduce the risk of passive smoking and litter.
Decrease Number of Smokers
Firstly, banning smoking in public places would be a good strategy to decrease the number of smokers in our nation. Smokers would know that if they get caught smoking in banned places, they would get fined. According to a study published by the CDC, 6.4% of smokers in workplaces that banned smoking quit smoking completely. Even the ones who continued smoking, smoke less than they used to. Some may still secretly smoke in unknown places, but a cigarette ban would stop the majority of the smokers. Clearly, banning smoking does help reduce the use of cigarettes in public.
Reduce Diseases
Furthermore, banning smoking reduces many of the diseases that are caused by smoking. Since there will be no more smokers, there will be fewer smoking-related health problems. Cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung diseases, and diabetes are all diseases that can be caused by smoking. Banning smoking would reduce all of these ailments drastically. If a thirty-year-old person quit smoking, they would expect to live around forty more years than if they still continued smoking, according to Medical News Today. Therefore, medical issues with the lungs and heart won’t occur as often, and accordingly, people will live longer.
Release stress?
Nevertheless, some people think banning cigarettes would be wrong because they believe smoking can keep them calm. They say smoking allows them to release stress. However, this statement is not true. While smokers are smoking, they will be calm and stressless, but right when they finish that cigarette, even more stress builds up in their brain according to the Mental Health Foundation of the United Kingdom. If we ban smoking, smokers won’t have to go through the ups and downs of calm and stress, at least not after they quit for good. Overall, banning smoking is a powerful choice, even though a few people have some reasons to believe otherwise.
Passive Smoking
Moreover, banning smoking reduces the risk of passive smoking. When one is smoking a cigarette, most of the cigarette smoke goes into the air around the smoker, not into the smoker’s lungs. It goes into the air around the smoker where anyone can breathe it in. This is especially dangerous for children since their lungs are not fully developed yet because the smoke might disrupt the growth of their lungs. Other high-risk groups include the elderly and those with respiratory problems (asthma, for example). As expressed, banning smoking will reduce the risk of non-smokers facing the consequences of smoking.
Littering
Finally, banning smoking will cause a significant drop in the number of cigarette butts that are littered everywhere in green spaces, sidewalks, roadsides, and beaches. According to the Truth Initiative, 38% of the world’s litter is cigarettes. If we ban smoking, the amount will reduce to about 2%. On top of that, cities spend up to $16,ooo,ooo on cigarette cleanup. Dropped cigarettes also release toxins, including arsenic and microplastic fibers, that spread and damage wildlife. Furthermore, animals sometimes eat fallen cigarettes and cigars, thinking they are food. Most people know that cigarettes are deadly for the smoker, but not everyone knows that they contribute to the dangerously large amount of litter and also poison wildlife.
World No Tobacco Day
The solution to smoking is to ban it. This movement would be beneficial for many people because of many reasons. I am not the only one who wants to ban smoking; there is a World No-Tobacco Day on May 31, 2024. In conclusion, banning smoking decreases smokers, “healthies up” our nation, reduces the risk of passive smoking, and finally, minimizes litter. In short, I have to agree with an article describing World No Tobacco Day: “Smoking is a waste of money, a waste of time, and a waste of life.”
