Should the government do everything possible to protect the health of citizens? Most people might agree with this statement, but the attempts of the officials to protect public health endanger the rights of the individual. Smoking is regarded as one of the rights that adults have, which means they understand and are responsible for their well-being and acknowledge it. Though the quality of life and health does not improve in this case, the public health state aggravates annually. It is possible to hypothesize that the ban on the legal production and selling of tobacco is a positive step toward improving public health.
Tobacco use is connected with significant controversy due to the health harm it causes, which foregrounds its official ban. Perhaps most people know that tobacco causes lung cancer and triggers a considerable number of other diseases (Ukert, 2017). Therefore, permission to produce and sell tobacco is a danger to public health and the entire nation’s health. In addition, smokers’ health problems lead to significant expenses for medical help. The government finances public health institutions, and smokers are the additional burden for the budget in this case (Ukert, 2017). The legal status of tobacco makes people suffer from severe diseases and increases the expanses of the state on the public health system. It harms other individuals who might not receive adequate medical assistance if the system is overloaded.
Tobacco is a comparatively harmless habit because of its prolonged free use. People remember that smoking tobacco was always permitted in the United States. As a result, they do not see the reason why it should be prohibited. In addition, they perceive the ban on tobacco smoking as a violation of their rights. They state that adults can choose whether to buy and smoke tobacco or not. From an ethical point of view, it is not acceptable to restrict the rights of adult individuals to smoke (Ukert, 2017). The main question is whether the right to smoke tobacco belongs to the basic human rights. In both cases, this attitude to tobacco is explained by many generations of people’s chronic use of this substance.
Tobacco endangers the health of people who do not smoke themselves, which aggravates its harmful effect. Children living in a house where at least one adult smokers have more problems with memory and cognitive development compared to their peers (Ukert, 2017). In addition, children with parents who smoke are more likely to start smoking themselves when they are adolescents (Ukert, 2017). Therefore, this bad habit has long-term consequences, and the ban on tobacco production and distribution can solve this issue and stop the spread of this habit.
Making the production and selling of tobacco illegal will ensure that thousands of people will live longer and healthier. National health is a vital question that should receive much attention from policymakers. When the government thinks about the health state of people living in the country, they behave according to their moral duty. There is an official ban on producing and distributing drugs because their harmful effect on the individual’s health is a well-known fact. Therefore, the government can regulate these questions without referring to the freedom of choice to use drugs to improve the well-being of the entire nation. The legal status of tobacco is a question of tradition, making many people think it is the acceptable type of drug they can freely buy and use, which is a false assumption.
References
Ukert, B. (2017). The short- and long-run effects of smoking cessation on alcohol consumption. International Journal of Health Economics and Management, 17(4), 495–519. Web.