Cigarettes and tobacco-based products should be legal. There are some reasons why cigarette smoking should be allowed in public according to those individuals who smoke, which I strongly agree to as well. Some of these are the following:
First of all I believe that I should not be prohibited from my liberty to smoke and my freedom to do so anytime and anywhere I want to. I am very well aware that smokers whether male or female, rich or poor, young or old believe so as well.
Second, I believe that cigarettes and tobacco-based products should be legal for the sake of businesses also. Explaining further, large companies producing cigarettes, large stores, as well as restaurant owners strongly agree that cigarette smoking should be allowed because otherwise their businesses and profits will surely decrease.
Third, smoking cigarettes and other tobacco-based products do have a calming effect on me. It plays a large role in stopping my “upset” moments.
Fourth, smoking cigarettes and other tobacco-based products is an extremely effective way for me to distress.
Fifth, smoking cigarettes and other tobacco-based products assists me in dealing with situations which are rather “hard” and “excruciating”. It actually helps me to properly think about my dilemmas and critically think about it before I reach the right decision.
Sixth, in connection to that as well, I really noticed that I concentrate better when I smoke cigarettes and other tobacco-based products.
Seventh, in my case, I lost weight, which consequently made me feel so contented because I have always felt fat.
Eighth, I feel that cigarettes and tobacco-based products should be legal because it somehow helps in terms of economic growth. Explaining further, the government obliges cigarette and tobacco companies to pay for “sin” tax.
Ninth, cigarettes and tobacco-based products are legal, thus it should stay legal no matter what. Besides, so many people enjoy cigarettes and tobacco-based products, so it should really stay legal.
Tenth, I do understand the dangers or hazards or risks linked to cigarettes and tobacco-based products and I obligingly acknowledge and recognize everything about it, thus, it is my right to do whatever I want, and so, I really feel that cigarettes and tobacco-based products should be legal.
Eleventh, I have heard that tobacco cannot impair the ability to make a decision, thus, for me, it should stay legal.
Twelfth, according to John Locke, “men are equal, free, as well as independent; thus, they possess the faculty of reason, which gives them the right to preserve their property including their life, liberty, as well as, estates” (Bennagen, 2000). This is one very clear reason why I feel that cigarette and tobacco-based products should be legal. Again, it is because men are free and independent (Bennagen, 2000).
Thirteenth, even Thomas Hobbes advocated that “self-interests” should be pursued and practiced so that freedom may be equal to everybody (Bennagen, 2000). If others can do what they want, smokers like us should be able to do so as well.
Fourteenth, an advocate of Ethical Relativism named, Jean-Paul Sartre, in fact claims that somebody’s morals, if any, will be proven only if the person follows certain social norms (Bennagen, 2000). Since so many people smoke cigarettes and tobacco-based products, it has already become a norm, and so it is moral to do so. It should then be made legal.
Last but not least, according to John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism is built on the concept or principles of utility, which he believes is the foundation of morals (Bennagen, 2000). It holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness (Bennagen, 2000). Happiness, according to John Stuart Mill, is equated to pleasure and the absence of pain, while unhappiness, for him, refers to pain and the privation of pleasure (Bennagen, 2000). Again, since it is morally right then it should be legal.
Reference
- Bennagen, P. C. (2000). Social, Economic, & Political Thought. Quezon City: UP Press.