Imagine walking home one day to smell a thick scent of smoke. This isn’t the same smell left out, but of something burning. Suddenly, you think of all the possibilities. Maybe the stove was left on. Then you remember that your son is upstairs, you quickly rush up to salvage him only to find him hidden under the smoke with a cigarette in his hand. You ask him why he would make such a bad decision? He says he is under a lot of pressure and he friend told him that smoking would make him feel better. Let’s stop and think for a second, you can’t blame your child. There is a temptation and no one to stop him, wouldn’t it be better if did away with the temptation or illegalize it.

America alone has 46.2 million adults smoking cigarettes. Smoking nearly harms every organ in your body. It is the leading cause of cancer. It causes cancers of the lung, esophagus, larynx (voice box), mouth, throat, kidney, bladder, pancreas, stomach, and cervix, as well as acute myeloid leukemia. Every year 440,000 people die due to health conditions caused by smoking. Once you try one cigarette, it is hard to resist. Not only is it harmful, but it is also addictive. Because it posses nicotine that addicts, smoking and poverty go hand and hand. People will spend every last penny to buy a box of cigarettes.


Not only is smoking harmful for the smoker, but it can affect anyone inhaling the smoke. It is known as passive or second hand smoking, many people call the silent killer. Even though you might not smoke, you are still in danger. When you inhale the 4000 chemicals burning from a cigarette, you might suffer disease such as Lung cancer, asthma attacks, and breathing problems. There were 46,000 deaths from heart disease in non-smokers who live with smokers last year in American alone. Plus the 3,400 who died from lung cancer. I don’t think that is fair, there are innocent people dyeing. We as American citizens or just people on earth deserve clean air where we don’t have to worry about inhaling smoke that can endanger life.

Cigarette companies know all these facts and so does congress, then you wonder why cigarettes are legal. Why would something that can kill you be legal? There is a very simple answer, money. To stay alive cigarette companies pay money as well as allowing congress to put a special tax on cigarettes. Every year congress makes about 7.7 billion dollars and states make about 13 billion. Basically, the government’s priority is money over our health.

With all this being said, I think cigarettes should be illegalized. The world would be a safer place. We might even stop worrying that are children might take a wrong step by smoking, one less thing to worry about.