(SMOKING)

1. Introduction
Smoking is a practice in which a
substance, most commonly tobacco or
cannabis, is burned and the smoke is
tasted or inhaled. [1] Smoking is a

threat to social values and it is harmful to

the environment. It has become
fashionable in the world today, to
condemn smoking. Smoking also has bad

effect on human health and it is a root cause

for many diseases associated with your
lungs and throat. The first global study
into the effects of passive smoking has
found that second hand smoke causes
600,000 deaths every year - this is
more than 1% of all deaths. One-third
of those killed are children, often
exposed to smoke at home [2].

2.0 Details
2.01. Benefits of
smoking:
1.1.1.
Smoking
Relieves Stress
This is the most common thing you hear
from smokers about the benefits of smoking.
This is because cigarettes create a myriad of
conditions that help the body deal with
anxiety, stress, and depression.
2. Smoking Relaxes Your Breathing
The way you breathe when you smoke helps
your body relax and calm down. For people
who have panic attacks or stress problems,
Doctors recommend patients practice a sort
of breathing called relaxation breathing.

Among other things, it involves taking a

deep breath into the lungs and holding it in
for a second or two before exhaling. This is
exactly like the act of smoking. This kind of
breathing slows your heart rate and relieves
tension in your muscles, especially your
neck and upper back, which tense up in
stressful situations.

2.1.1.
Nicotine is an
Anxiety and
Depression Medication
The nicotine in cigarettes is also a major
factor of stress relief. Nicotine is a chemical
which mildly and temporarily stops the
feelings of anxiety and depression. After an
inhale of cigarette smoke, the nicotine reacts
in your brain chemistry within seven
seconds. Nicotine makes the brain feel
better, and stops the chain reaction anxiety
and depression can have within the brain. It
is no surprise that 1/3 of nicotine addicts
claim to have depression or anxiety
problems. Cigarettes are a great form of self
medication.
2.1.2.
Outside Smoke
Breaks Calm You Down
If you go outside for smoke breaks, this
simple act can really help you deal with your
stress. Say if youre in a fight with your
spouse or close to the deadline on a major
project for work, leaving the house or office
to step outside for a smoke break helps you
deal with the stress

(SMOKING)
3. Smoking Is Beneficial to
health;

232), smoking decreases the risk of

ulcerative colitis. In case you didnt know,
ulcerative colitis is a form of Irritable Bowel
Disease (IBD). Basically, its a disease of
the intestine that causes open sores and
ulcers on your colon.

1. . Smoking lowers risk of kneereplacement surgery

2. While smokers might go broke
buying a pack of cigarettes; they
can at least save money by
avoiding knee-replacement
surgery. Surprising results from a
new study have revealed that men
who smoke had less risk of
undergoing total joint replacement
surgery than those who never
smoked.

1) Draws back of
smoking:
1

Smoking is indeed a threat to our social

system. Literally speaking smoking is
actually indirectly affecting our social
system, as it has provided a base for
smokers to use drugs. Bread earners of
families are destroyed by activities such as
smoking and may lead to demise in our
social and economic system.

3. Smoking lowers risk of

Parkinson's disease
Numerous studies have identified the
uncanny inverse relationship between
smoking and Parkinson's disease. Long-term
smokers are somehow protected against
Parkinson's, and it's not because smokers die
of other things earlier. [3]

4. Smoking lowers risk of obesity

Effect of smoking on health

In this section we are going to discuss

various diseases associated with smoking.
Cigarettes contain more than 4000 chemical
compounds and at least 400 toxic
substances.

Smoking and, in particular, the nicotine

in tobacco smoke is an appetite
suppressant. This has been known for
centuries, dating back to indigenous cultures
in America in the pre-Columbus era.
Tobacco companies caught on by the 1920s
and began targeting women with the lure
that smoking would make them thinner.

When you inhale, a cigarette burns at 700C

at the tip and around 60C in the core. This
heat breaks down the tobacco to produce
various toxins. As a cigarette burns, the
residues are concentrated towards the butt.
The products that are most damaging are:

5. Ulcerative Colitis
According to the Oxford Handbook of
Clinical Medicine (Fifth Edition, page

Smoking as a threat to our

social values

Tar, a carcinogen (substance that

causes cancer)

(SMOKING)

Nicotine is addictive and increases

cholesterol levels in your body
Carbon monoxide reduces oxygen
in the body
Components of the gas and
particulate phases cause Chronic
obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD).
The damage caused by smoking is
influenced by:
The number of cigarettes smoked
Whether the cigarette has a filter
How the tobacco has been prepared.

. Diseases

Following are some of the biological

disorders associated with smoking.

Bronchitis and Emphysema

Lung Cancer
Smoking and Oral Cancer
Smoking and Heart Disease
Smoking and Strokes

Bronchitis and emphysema

Chronic bronchitis and emphysema, is the

most common form of respiratory illness.
Chronic bronchitis is an inflammation of the
main air passages to the lungs, resulting in
constant coughing and difficulty breathing.
Emphysema is a degenerative disease
characterized by the destruction of lung
tissue, resulting in shortness of breath.[1]

Lung cancer

The development of lung cancer is probably

the result of irritation caused by smoking
and the accumulation of chemical dusts and
particulates. Irritation, when constantly
stimulated, triggers inflammation and this
brings about a destruction of the lung's
cleansing membrane. The replacement scar
tissue does not have the same ability to
neutralize the harmful cancer-causing
particles inhaled in smoke and this leads to
the development of cancer cells which can
multiply and replace healthy ones

(SMOKING)
6

Smoking and Oral cancer

Oral cancer is uncontrolled growth of

abnormal cells starting in the mouth cavity
leading to the formation of a tumour.
Development of oral cancer occurs
predominantly on the tongue, lower lip and
floor of the mouth.Squamous cell carcinoma
is the most common cancer of the oral
cavity. In men, most oral cancers are found
on the floor of the mouth and tongue; in
women, the most common sites are the
tongue and gums, Symptoms of oral cancer
include red or white spots in the mouth,
which may become open sores.

work harder, which can lead to heart attacks.

[1]

[3]

2.2.1.4. Smoking and Heart Disease

Heart disease refers to a number of
conditions affecting the structure and
function of the heart. Coronary heart
disease, the most common condition, occurs
when blood vessels of the heart are
narrowed or blocked, starving it of blood. It
can cause chest pain (also known as angina),
shortness of breath and a heart attack, which
may result in sudden cardiac death. Some of
the chemicals in tobacco smoke contribute to
hardening of the arteries (also called
atherosclerosis) and to a stiffening of the
heart blood vessels. These make the heart

Smoking and Stroke

A stroke is a brain injury resulting from a

burst or blocked blood vessel. This results in
a lack of oxygen to the brain which causes
permanent damage. The symptoms for
stroke develop suddenly and without
warning, and can lead to severe disabilities,
such as full or partial paralysis, loss of
speech or loss of sight. Some chemicals
contained in tobacco smoke contribute to the
progressive hardening of the arteries (also
called atherosclerosis) caused by fatty
deposits in the arteries, as well as the
scarring and thickening of the artery wall.
Inflammation of the artery wall and the
development of blood clots can obstruct
blood flow. When this occurs in the brain it
is called a stroke.[4]

(SMOKING)
Black Market:
It would encourage the black market. People
are addicted so they would find a way to
keep smoking. This would encourage
criminal activity which the government
would need to try and police. The potential
profits for criminals would be very high. It
could be a similar situation to prohibition in
the 1920s and 30s in the US. Banning
alcohol led to big rise in organized crime.

The sale of cigarettes should be

banned?

With the increased health problems that

caused by smoking, more and more people
think that the production and sale of
cigarettes should be made illegal. However,
these people tend to ignore that the positive
outcome of cigarettes business brings to the
society. They also falsely believe that
prohibition of producing and selling
cigarettes will lead people to adopt a
healthier living environment.
Cigarettes business is one of the most
profitable industries in the world. The
government receive huge amount of taxes
from cigarettes companies and it actually
uses the money to help fund the welfare
program, in which a lot of people can
benefit from. Making production and sale of
cigarettes illegal will definitely hurt the
income of the government; Some producers
of cigarettes will probably keep the business
running under the table, as they are still
attracted by the humongous profit. This will
create more problems than it actually has. It
may cause chaos to the community, since
smokers can go depressed and do harmful
things without having cigarettes.

It may also increase crime rate, since people

have to trade cigarettes illegally; it can
burden the government, since the
government needs to spend more money on
hiring people to stop the illegal sale and
purchase of cigarettes. The potential
negative effects on the illegalization of
cigarettes are clearly telling us that it is not a
desirable approach. In addition, many
smokers know that if they consume too
many cigarettes, their life will be thread with
various health problems; however, they still
choose to smoke without worrying about
their future health. If they have already
cared less of their health, they could find
way around to purchase cigarettes and
smoke anyway even knowing that is illegal.
Thus, it cannot provide people with a
healthier living environment. The
government should not make the production
and sale of cigarettes illegal because it will
harm the society economically as well as
create more problems than it actually has.
The cost of illegalization of cigarettes
outweighs the advantage of it, thus they
should not make producing and selling
cigarettes illegal.

(SMOKING)
Problems of Banning Cigarette
Sales and Consumption
1. It would encourage the black market.
People are addicted so they would find a
way to keep smoking. This would encourage
criminal activity which the government
would need to try and police. The potential
profits for criminals would be very high. It
could be a similar situation to prohibition in
the 1920s and 30s in the US. Banning
alcohol led to big rise in organized crime.
2. The government would lose all tax
revenue. This amounts to over 7 billion. It
would require other taxes to be increased.
3. It would cause unemployment amongst
cigarette companies. However, like South
Korea is suggesting bringing the complete
ban after 10 years. This gives people the
chance to change their habits.[5]
4. There are several alternative measures for
discouraging cigarette sales. For example,
banning cigarettes in public spaces has been
quite effective in reducing consumption and
discouraging people from starting to smoke.
Also advertising to make people aware of
the dangers of smoking (e.g. putting
warnings on packets of cigarettes)

3. Conclusions
Cigarettes are definitely harmful to health.
In some ways they are more likely to kill
than other drugs which are criminalized.
However, because cigarette use is so
widespread, banning cigarettes completely
would lead to very large black market and

lose the government substantial tax

revenues. It would make many ordinary
people more likely to commit a crime to
feed their habit.

4. Recommendations
As discussed earlier sale of cigarettes cannot
be illegalized because it will burden our
economy. So, one important question
remains to be answered that how the sale of
cigarettes should be controlled or limited?
To find the answer we have surfed many
websites, literature and came up with
following recommendations.

4.1. Government
As much as we wanted to exclude (THE
GOVERNMENT) out of this topic of
discussion, we had no choice but to state
that the government holds the key to the
door beyond which the solution to our dear
problem lies.
In our own opinion the government should
raise taxes on the sale of cigarettes and make
it expensive so that people should consider
their budget before becoming smokers.
Government should conduct educational
programs in different educational
institutions, villages and cities, to teach the
students, common people and Mercedes
owners about how cigarettes are affecting
their physical health and what are the
diseases associated with smoking. We
believe that this will put a little stop to
people snobbish, thinking and attitude when
it comes to smoking.

(SMOKING)

4.2. Media
The role of Media is so important in sale of
smoking. Media communications play a key
role in shaping tobacco-related knowledge,
opinions, attitudes, and behaviors among
individuals and within communities. Media
communications on tobacco include brandspecific advertising and promotion, news
coverage, depictions of tobacco use and
tobacco products in entertainment media,
public relations, corporate sponsorship,
corporate advertising, and political
advertising for ballot initiatives and
referenda, and media campaigns for tobacco
control. Media should stop publishing this
type of advertisement.[2]

References
[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smokin
g
[2]
http://doctor.ndtv.com/storypage/n
dtv/id/4843/type/news/Passive_smo
king_kills_600000_worldwide.html
[3]

[10 Easy Paths to Self-Destruction]

http://www.livescience.com/1134210-easy-paths-destruction.html
[4]
A Website of cancer on Internet
[5]http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/71/m
arkets/essay-on-banning-cigarettes/