Smoking in Public

Smoking in Public

Introduction

Smoking has many adverse affects on human health. There has been an increase in awareness regarding the health repercussions of smoking. Research has concluded that passive and active smoking is amongst the major causes of preventable deaths (WHO, 2009). It is due to these concerns that many of the industrialized and developing countries have introduced bans on smoking in public places. This is done primarily to decrease the exposure of non-smokers to active smokers.

This results in decreasing the number of youth who start smoking after seeing adults and friends smoke for fun. This also helps in controlling and helping habitual smokers leave this nuisance of smoking. However, this ban on smoking is received with mixed opinions from the public due to a lack of research showing that these bans do actually help in decreasing the number of smokers. This research paper aims to provide comprehensive arguments for and against this ban.

Discussion

In Favor of Ban

In an effort to reduce the number of smokers and protect those who have not yet started smoking, many countries and states have introduced bans on smoking. These smoke free laws maintain that smoking in public places is a crime and the culprit would have to pay a fine. Many new laws are being laid out to further control the increase in smoking among the youth in the society. These laws though debatable, have led to a general realization among the public and policy makers regarding the positive impacts of these bans on the society.

These laws provide the smoker with an opportunity to rid themselves from the habit of smoking. Usually a smoker is always posed with the desire to smoke irrespective of the place or event. However, these laws force him to notice his bad habit of smoking that it affects not only him but others too. He become consciously awake and realizes that he has to take steps to rid himself from this situation that poses a threat to the society as a whole. This realization gets more affect when the smoker finds his fellow smokers also refraining themselves from smoking. This leads to a large number of habitual smokers making a collective effort to quit (Tobaccofreekids.com, 2010).

Another positive impact of these laws is that the number of cigarettes that are consumed by them on daily basis decreases. This leads to a relatively healthier society where people help each other control their desires and work together to improve the economic outlook of the society. The advocates of the smoking ban maintain that even if the hazardous affects of cigarettes are not taken into consideration, many people find tobacco smoke irritating and annoying. This is the case for almost 100 million American citizens who suffer from asthma, who can face fear of chronic death if they are exposed to tobacco smoke. Furthermore, children and adults who are sensitive to smoke can develop headaches when exposed to tobacco smoke.

Many business organizations ask the employees to go outside the office building to have ...