Introduction
Tobacco is a product of a species of plant that has nicotine content. Harvested as leaves of that particular plant, tobacco can be used to control pests or even as medicine.
It is however widely used as a drug through smoking, snuffing, chewing among others. This paper seeks to support the banning of the use of tobacco. The paper will give reasons in support of the opinion.
Why the use of Tobacco should be Banned
Tobacco and cardiovascular diseases
Tobacco like many other drugs has varied side effects that call for the control of its use. These negative impacts are manifested in individuals and ends up costing lives in the long run. One of the reasons why tobacco should be banned is its danger in relation to cardiovascular diseases.
Cardiovascular diseases are complications that are associated with the heart and blood vessels in the body such as arteries which carry blood to body parts. Once a cardiovascular disease is induced in a person, it manifests in different ways causing threats to a person’s health and thus life.
A significant percentage of heart complications related deaths have, for example, been associated with tobacco smoking with reports ranging this value at about thirty percent. One of the contents of tobacco, carbon monoxide, has for example been identified to have an impact on the oxygen carrying capacity of blood.
Consequently, a person who is under the influence of tobacco will suffer from insufficient supply of oxygen to vital body parts that include the “heart, lungs, brain and other vital body organs” (Wvdhhr 1).
The nicotine content of tobacco also induces increased “heart beat rate and blood pressure” (Wvdhhr 1) as a result, the blood circulatory system is over worked and exposed to risks of being damaged.
This in the long run results in cases such as “heart attacks, high blood pressure, blood clots, strokes, hemorrhages” (Wvdhhr 1) among other disorders. A person who smokes is thus endangered by a number of complications that will negatively hinder the person’s operations and subsequently his or her life due to malfunctioning body parts.
These effects can be easily transferred to aspects such as economic instability of the tobacco victim and immediate family members if the victim was the sole bread winner and is put down by such cardiovascular complications.
A government’s responsibility over the welfare of its citizens therefore calls for a step to control such cardiovascular complications and subsequent impacts and one of the primary ways to do this is by banning the consumption of tobacco.
Tobacco and cancers
Another reason why tobacco should be banned is because of its effect in causing a number of cancers in the body. Cancer is characterized by an induced growth of malignant cells in a person’s body.
These cancerous growths also have an effect of malfunctioning of specified body organs despite the level of pain that might be associated with it. Tobacco smoking has been identified to; for example, cause about “ninety percent of laryngeal cancer and lung cancer and a significant percentage of oral, esophageal and stomach cancers” (Tobacco 1).
Once the cancerous cells start to grow in the body parts, they impair the parts and might even spread causing wounds in the body with subsequent dangers such as death. Lung cancer will, for example, be characterized with growth of foreign cells in the lungs and a corresponding damage of the normal cells.
As a result, the normal functionality of the lungs such as the absorption of oxygen into the body and the elimination of carbon dioxide from the body will be impaired. Respiratory processes that require oxygen and are necessary for cellular activities of the body will therefore be compromised.
Stomach cancer may also impair digestive processes and subsequent poor supply of nutrients to the body. The other cancers such as oral or esophageal may also be associated with a level of pain that can even discourage an individual from eating.
As a result, there will be poor nutritional habit in a victim of these cancers due to insufficient supply of nutrients to the body cells and subsequent insufficient energy generated by the body.
Tobacco therefore with respect to its induced cancers affects the functionality of body organs and the overall health of an individual. These complications have been associated with significant percentage of premature deaths among tobacco users (Tobacco 1).
Tobacco and Addiction
Another reason for alarm over the use of tobacco is the threat of addiction that it poses to its users. Like in cases of other drugs, and induced by its nicotine content, tobacco compels its users into addiction which makes them to even overlook the side effects that the drug has in their lives.
Following the addiction, individual addicts together with help that they receive from social society is not sufficient to help them out of the drug. The only viable control is thus an authoritative step to ban the drug (Dugdale 1).
Conclusion
The use of tobacco is identifiably unhealthy following its risks to the user’s health that is then spread to other members of the society through social and economic costs. Since the drug is addictive, individual users can not easily and willingly stop the consumption the drug. The significant control measure therefore lies in banning usage of the drug.
Works Cited
Dugdale, David. Drug dependence. NCBI, 20101. Web.
Tobacco. Dangers of tobacco. Tobacco Facts, n.d. Web. <http://www.tobacco-facts.info/dangers_of_tobacco.htm>
Wvdhhr. Tobacco and CVD. WVDHHR, n.d. Web. <http://www.wvdhhr.org/bph/cvd/page1.htm>