Robert Cervantes

Mr. Gango
English 12
March 24, 2018
Should tobacco be outlawed in the United States?

An estimated 37.8 million adults smoke tobacco in the United States of America, in

addition to that more than 16 million Americans live with smoking related diseases. Smoking is

costly, both health wise and financial wise. It not only causes damage to the user’s life, but to the

lives of those around them. Tobacco users are causing damage to nearly every organ in their

body. I stand that tobacco should be outlawed in the United States. Tobacco consumption is

responsible for upwards of 480,000 annual deaths in the United States, approximately one in five

deaths ("Smoking & Tobacco Use").

Tobacco should be outlawed because it is dangerous to your health, no matter how it is

consumed. It contains harmful substances such as nicotine, tar, acetone, and carbon monoxide.

These substances not only hurt your lungs, but your entire body. The price of inhaling these

substances has ongoing effects, both immediate and long-term. Nicotine, one of the main

ingredients found in tobacco, makes you energized when it reaches your brain. This may seem

harmless, however when the energized effect wears off you become tired and start to crave more,

damaging your central nervous system (“Smoking & Tobacco use”) Therefore, smoking is hard

to quit for so many people. Withdrawal from nicotine can cause sleep problems, anxiety,

depression, headaches, and irritation.

Inhaling tobacco also has harsh effects on the lungs and leads to a variety of problems.

People who smoke are at high risks of contracting non-reversible lung conditions. One example
of an irreversible lung condition is emphysema. Emphysema is the destruction of air sacs in your

lungs. Emphysema makes it difficult for someone to breath, especially during exercise or

physical exertion (“Emphysema”). This continues to increase in respiratory problems until it is

difficult to breathe even when resting. Depression, fast heartbeat, exhaustion, and weight loss are

all symptoms of emphysema. Other effects on lungs include Chronic bronchitis, which is

permanent inflammation, that affects the lining of the lungs breathing tubes.

Smoking tobacco can lead to a variety of problems in and around your body as well.

Smoking can cause clotting throughout your entire body. These blood clots increase risk of heart

damage, pulmonary embolism, and strokes. Unhealthy teeth are a common effect of smoking.

Smoking causes staining of the teeth, and higher the risk of inflammation or infections that lead

to loss of bones and teeth (“Smoking & Tobacco use”). Smoking also increases the risk for

macular degeneration, cataracts, and glaucoma, which are all vision problems. Smoking tobacco

also increases the amount of insulin resistance in the body. This means that smoking makes type

2 diabetes increase rapidly. This leads to things such as heart attacks, kidney problems and eye

problems in smokers with diabetes.

Lung cancer is possibly the greatest side effect of smoking. Lung cancer is the number

one cause of cancer deaths in both men and woman in the United Sates (“Smoking & Tobacco

Use”). Small cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer are the two types of lung cancers

which grow and spread differently. The stages of lung cancer describe how far the cancer has

spread from the lungs. Lung Cancer comes with symptoms such as coughing up phlegm of

blood, weakness and fatigue, high blood pressure, seizures, comas, and worst of all, death. Since

smoking is responsible for 85 percent of lung cancers, statistically lung cancer caused by

smoking is responsible for nearly 135,000 U.S. deaths per year. (“Eldridge and Hughes”)
 Some may argue that even though smoking can be toxic to its users, the good out weighs

the bad. Many argue that cigarette smoking decreases the risks in diseases such as Parkinson’s,

which affects movements including tremors. According to Christopher Wanjeck, a health and

science journalist from Harvard, smoking can lower the risk of obesity, knee replacement

surgery, and increases the chance of surviving a heart attack (“Wanjeck”). Nicotine rewards

your brain with dopamine, relaxing you and making you feel good. Therefore, people can make

the argument that cigarette smoking is a good way to cope with stress or anxiety. Also, perhaps

the greatest argument that can be made is that over 100 million people are employed by the

tobacco industry, and if it is outlawed these people will lose jobs. Which means higher rates of

unemployment, and more homeless families.

The rebuttal to these reasons for which smoking could be “good” is that all of them come

with a catch or condition. For example, people that saying smoking prevents obesity should

know that the reason is because nicotine acts like an appetite suppressant (“Wanjeck”). Also, the

taste of smoking can make food just taste bad. So, smoking doesn’t directly lead to weight gain

reduction, it just makes people not want to eat as much, which can be even unhealthier to the

person. Smoking can lessen your chance of death after a heart attack, but smoking could very

well be the reason for the heart attack in the first place. Smoking creates scaring that lets in fat

and plaque in the first place. People can think they can use nicotine to help cope with anxiety or

stress. However, this is somewhat of a placebo effect. People that smoke begin to experience

withdrawal when they stop smoking. Some side effects of these withdrawals are stress and

anxiety. This means that when they smoke, they are relaxed and relieved of these feelings.

However, no actual help has been given to their real stresses and anxious feelings.
 In conclusion, consuming tobacco, no matter if it is through cigarettes, e-cigarettes, pipes,

etcetera, should be outlawed in the United States. Smoking brings great danger to those smoking

and those exposed to it through second hand smoke. Even though people who are heavy smokers

will have arguments such as smoking helps them cope, and that many people will lose jobs, that

is not justifiable for the 480,000 annual deaths. Especially when many of these deaths are from

innocent victims of second hand smoke. Eventually, the heavy smokers themselves will agree

with the outlawing of tobacco as they will benefit greatly. Without tobacco people will live

longer, save money, have better health, and protect their friends and family from innocently

contracting a smoke related illness.

 Works Cited

1. “Smoking & Tobacco Use.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention, 15 May 2017,

www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/effects_cig_smoking/index.htm

2. Eldridge, Lynne, and Grant Hughes. “How Many People Die From Lung Cancer Each Year?”

Verywell Health, www.verywell.com/how-many-people-die-from-lung-cancer-each-year-

2249414

3. Wanjek, Christopher. “5 Health Benefits of Smoking.” LiveScience, Purch, 19 July 2011,

www.livescience.com/15115-5-health-benefits-smoking-disease.html

4. “Emphysema.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 28 Apr.

2017, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/emphysema/symptoms-causes/syc-20355555.