Introduction
Tobacco is a plant with whose leaves are used to manufacture cigarettes albeit the plant has been used for other different uses. Nonetheless, the most common use of tobacco is in the manufacture of cigarettes (Hampton). The main reason why the plant is used in the manufacture of cigarettes is because it contains a drug called nicotine. This component is highly addictive and this why smokers keep smoking helplessly. Smoking in public should be banned since it exposes other people to high risks of inhaling nicotine unwillingly. Smoking should be banned in public places because it is unhealthy not only to the smoker but also to anyone around them. This research shows the negative effects of smoking that justify the decision to infringe the rights of smokers.
Qualifier
A number of reason work against smoking compared to reasons that work for the vice. Smoking for many non-smokers is a disgusting thing to see but again even to the smokers is a habit they really regret to have gotten into. Smoking is an addiction to the drug content of a cigarette called nicotine. People mistake this to a habit but it has been medically proven to be a drug addiction (Web MD). This means that anyone inhaling the smoke of cigarette is slowly getting exposed to the same addiction without their knowledge. Imagine an instance where a father smokes cigarette in the house in the presence of the children and his wife. This will expose his family to the drug and possibly addiction to smoking automatically on the kids.
Smoking to no-smokers is very uncomfortable and unpleasant. It is selfish for anyone to enjoy themselves at the expense of other in a public place. Public space is filled with all kinds of people including pregnant women, children, people with chronic diseases and other ailments. Exposing pregnant women to nicotine leads to extreme effects such as miscarriages. Study has proven that nicotine is a vasoconstrictor reducing uterine and placental blood flow and as a result depriving the fetus oxygen and other nutrients. This eventually leads to death hence miscarriage. Common sense in such situation demands anything causing harm to a helpless human being is not worth the price.
Backing
Mothers, who smoke, without their knowledge, destroy their children’s future by ignorantly smoking their way through the pregnancy period. It has been established that majority of children born of a smoking parent suffer from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (Meurs 2). Cases of rational impairment have been reported in these children. In addition, smoking women deliver light babies as smoking reduce the birth weight of a new born by 200 grams (Meurs 2). The risk is not only in the Child’s health only. As Meurs found out, there is a high risk about 33 percent of perinatal mortality. With such risks jeopardizing the lives of both the mother and the child, the most reasonable decision is to ban smoking even for pregnant women to protect the unborn.
Rebuttal
However, banning cigarettes does not degrade the tobacco plant from being useful in other circumstances. Nicotine s a drug and all drugs are good and only harmful when used without a doctor’s prescription. That’s the reason why it is referred to as drug abuse since it is not taken for any valid medicinal value but for pleasure hence abuse. Although the harmful effects of nicotine outweigh its benefits, it is important to look at these benefits as well. Scientist in the duke university center has found that nicotine is a good reliever of depression. However they still warn the fact that it is the major cause of disability in the United States. Even the smokers themselves confess the fact that smoking enhances their concentration
Warrant
Nonetheless, the drug is addictive and anything addictive means it takes control of the patient. When one can not take control of him or herself, then the best way to describe such a situation is insanity or abnormality. When a human being is not in control of him or herself, it means the normal way of functioning is not in place. This therefore shows the individual needs medical attention a situation where no one wants to get his or herself into a medical condition from seeking relief. This greatly undermines the benefits of nicotine.
The dangers of smoking are not only realized while smoking in public. Smoking wholesomely should be banned but smoking in public is the most urgent as it is harmful to more people. Smoking as a health hazard should not be allowed even when the smokers are not in public. This owes to the fact that whether in public or in seclusion, smoking effects will catch up with the nonsmokers eventually (Sherman). Take for instance a smoking father who has a family. If the man is taking ill with lung problems one of the smoking effects, and the bread winner looses his life in the worst case scenario, the family will be subjected to grievances that could have been averted. This is not about public or private issue, it’s a matter of health.
Evidently nicotine which forms the highest composition of the tobacco plant is a drug that has effects on the human system. These are extremely distressful effects that threaten even the continuity of human progeny. Smoking tobacco has no valid or unique benefits t the human race. All the benefits that tobacco provides have a remedy therefore it is not the sole source of for example relieve from depression. There are other sources of the same therefore can not be seen as beneficial as much as it seen as harmful. Smoking in public is even worse to patience suffering from some ailments such as asthma as inhaling of the smoke triggers asthmatic attacks. Smoking in public shows a selfish motive if ones action causes pain to another and still it is allowed. This presents us as an incentive nation with no respect for human rights.
Conclusion
My honest opinion is that it is illegal and immoral to allow smoking in public as it is not only unhealthy to those that have chose to harm themselves, but also to the innocent nonsmokers (Munger). It is unethical to allow one person mistakes to affect every one around him or her. The authorities should take responsibility and protect their citizens fro any harmful behavior. Public smoking will even encourage young people to do the same hence impacting negative influence on the younger generation. We want to impact good morals and fight bad behaviors. Smoking has a formidable effect on the environment as it also contributes to air pollution hence global warming.
Though the issue is debatable as some argue it interferes with smokers rights, it is important to hurt the minority in favor of the majority especially on behaviors that can cause moral break down in a society. With this understanding, I stand corrected but I think smoking should be leveled illegal for the sake of the society and the future generations. Where the environment is concerned, smoking should be justifiably banned as it hurts Mother Nature with its contribution to global warming.
Works Cited
Meurs, Krisa Van. 1999. Cigarette Smoking, Pregnancy and the Developing Fetus. Vancouver, BC. Stanford University School of Medicine. 1999. Print
Hampton, Julie. The Effects of Caffeine & Nicotine on Pregnant Women, 2010. LIVE TSRONG.COM, Web.
Sherman, Ted. Why smoking should be banned in all public places.2011. Helium, Web.
Munger, Dave. Some potential benefits of nicotine, 2007. Cognitive daily. Web.
Web MD. Smoking during Pregnancy, 2012. Web.