Should Cigarette Smoking Be Banned?

            Nowadays, smoking is one of the important opportunities for the most people. They think that they will be alive even if cannot eat any food as long as cigarette is still beside them. It may be a little bit strange but that is the fact. So far, I have never found any benefit from smoking, except many disadvantages we will get.

            In a 2007 report, West (2007) states that, each year, about 4.9 million people worldwide die as a result of smoking. I cannot imagine how harmful cigarette smoking is. Adolescence or early adulthood is the first time for the most smoker to start smoking. High-status models and peers encourage teenagers to smoke, because the highest influence comes from their peers than by adults. Someone who does not smoke will be intimidated by others with bullying, threat, and even violence. We can imagine that the small thing can really endanger someone’s life. He or she will be addicted because cigarette contains addiction substances, for example nicotine. Smokers believe that smoking reduces stressed feeling, gives sensations of pleasure, increases self-confidence and gives the spirit back.

            The smokers will get the impacts of smoking, such as in health and psychology problems. Smoking is a killer for those who consume it. According to Leslie Iverson in “Why do We Smoke?: The Physiology of Smoking”, in the United States about 500,000 deaths per year are attributed to smoking-related diseases and a recent study estimated that as much as 1/3 of China’s male population will have significantly shortened life-spans due to smoking. There are many diseases that can be caused by smoking, such as vascular stenosis, lung cancer, heart attacks and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease that all of those are very dangerous for human life. But they just keep doing it without realize that health is expensive and important. I argue that people who smoke are temperamental, cannot control their emotion when getting angry and tend to do negative behaviour, such as drinking alcohol and using drugs. However, they keep thinking that smoking makes them to be comfortable.

            The use of cigarette smoking should be banned because it is harmful. It is serious problem that need a great concern for the government, because every hour there are 46 smokers die in Indonesia. Indonesia is also the fifth largest tobacco market in the world. In 2008 over 165 billion cigarettes were sold in the country. Many factories still producing cigarette even if it is dangerous and useless. Slogans are just the way to advice the smoker, not to decrease the number of smokers. For example, in the cigarette packaging has been slogans and the diseases picture that is caused by smoking there. But there is no advantage of putting that picture there, because people tend to be ignorant and keep smoking. I suggest that the use of cigarette smoking should be equal with the use of drugs. Both of them are distructive and do not have any benefit.

            In conclusion, the law must be made by government to decrease the use of cigarette smoking because it does not give any benefit for the consumers. Smoking has become a culture from one generation to another generation. Addiction is one of the reasons why smokers keep smoking. A strong law that bans smoking will really work for decreasing the number of the smokers in this country.