Is Banning Tobacco a Good Idea

Is Banning Tobacco a Good Idea? As smoking is reported to be one of the main causes of cancer, governments all over the world are trying to find a sure-fire way to discourage people from smoking. Some of them consider outlawing the sale and the consumption of tobacco, like it was done with heroine. But is it actually a promising measure? Firstly, it is necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of the aforementioned measures in the fight against heroine. Judging by frequent news reports about the incessant hunt after drug dealers, heroine sale and, consequently, consumption are flourishing despite the prohibition. The saying ‘The forbidden fruit is sweet’ has been characteristic of human nature since ancient times. It especially concerns teenagers, who are prone to question the existing order of things. The danger of being arrested only adds more attractiveness to smoking. If we intend to encourage people to give up smoking, we had better use an approach that would make people utterly disgusted by smoking. I believe that education is one of the ways to address this problem. Many people would argue that smokers are well aware of the dangers since they have been lectured about it hundreds of times. Dry facts can hardly convince anyone, but ‘seeing is believing’. One anti-smoking campaign will sti ck in my memory forever – nobody was teaching us why smoking is wrong, but near the entrance to the university there was a photo exhibition showing the effects it had on us. Needless to say, even the most inveterate smokers felt really uncomfortable on seeing them. All in all, prohibition policy hasn’t shown itself to advantage, so it is not worth introducing it if we want to do away with smoking. It is more advisable to focus on education and finding other effective ways to address the problem.