Should Cigarette Smoking Be Banned?

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The knowledge of cigarettes and their harmful nature is expanding all the time. Studies and experiments are being performed all the time to figure out what cigarettes are really all about. There is influence from media and entertainment that promote smoking more than ever, even though we know more than ever how harmful they are. We already know smoking cigarettes is detrimental to health, yet people continue smoking them. We are becoming more aware of the awful chemicals put into cigarettes that should be nowhere near our bodies. And still, cigarettes continue to be legal.
There are four requirements established by the surgeon general that define addiction are as follows: 1) despite negative effects, repeated use happens because of addiction, 2) There is a psychoactive substance that reinforces behavior involved with addiction, 3) tolerance for the addictive substance is developed, 4) withdraw and relapse are evidence of physical dependence of an addictive substance (Critical insights into the nature of nicotine addiction: A summary of key learnings to date, 2006).
The Journal of Family Practice released an article that stated seventy percent of smokers say they want to quit, but only five percent who try to quit succeed without medical assistance (Critical insights into the nature of nicotine addiction: A summary of key learnings to date, 2006). In addition, those who quit, usually only succeed after somewhere between six and nine unsuccessful attempts. The article “Critical Insights Into The Nature of Nicotine Addiction: A Summary of Key Learnings to Date” presented the idea that even when aware of the negative health effects, people will commonly continue smoking (2006). Additionally, people will continue to smoke ev...

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...accoism. American Journal of Public Health, 92(6), 932-934. Retrieved from http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/AJPH.92.6.932
Lin, P. N., Hanos Zimmerman, M., Bover Manderski, M. T., Schmeizer, A. C., & Steinberg, M. B. (2011). Evaluation of graphic cigarette warning images on cravings to smoke. Journal of Smoking Cessation, 6(2), 85-88. Retrieved from http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=8494408
Protano, C., & Vitali, M. (2011). The new danger of thirdhand smoke: Why passive smoking does not stop at secondhand smoke. Environmental Health Perspectives, 119(10). Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3230455/
Smethurst, W., Wales, J., & Arcelus, J. (2010). Puff the magic slimmer? European Eating Disorders Review, 18(6), 431-433. Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/erv.1059/full

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