BAN SMOKING or RECLASSIFY IT AS AN ILLEGAL DRUG

By Hope Chitambo

Smoking is a health hazard for smokers, non-smokers, children and unborn babies and should be banned or reclassified as an illegal drug. Surprisingly, smokers claim that it helps them to release stress and relax, despite knowing that they would be in worse stressed illnesses caused by tobacco. The solution would be to declare tobacco as illegal, starting from the grower.

Tobacco smoking is the major cause of respiratory diseases such as lung cancer, bronchitis as well as heart disease which are all expensive to treat. The amounts of money spent on the treatment of these diseases exceed by far, the amounts that government receives from taxing tobacco. Non-smoking tax payers, have been subjected to an unfair situation were they are forced to pay for the health of smokers.

The nicotine contained in cigarettes is a dangerous substance that is also used in liquid form as an insecticide. Furthermore, non-smokers have fallen victims of cancer, bronchitis and other smoke related diseases, as a result of passive smoking. It is difficult for anyone to avoid inhaling second hand smoke as it always finds its way in different directions. This is the case even in places where smoking areas are separated from non-smoking ones. The fact is, smoke passes through air and can therefore easily pass through the thinnest gap. For this reason, tobacco should be reclassified as an illegal substance because of the danger it causes to everyone.

Even though the government has taken noteworthy steps towards controlling tobacco, such as beefing up warnings on cigarette packets, banning advertising by tobacco companies and establishing network of smoking termination clinics, further actions need to be taken to create an environment where not smoking becomes a social standard.

The nicotine which is found in tobacco is as highly addictive as substances such as heroin and cocaine, which are classified as illegal. Tobacco should also fall in the category of illegal drugs because it is a danger to people's health.

Finally, a lot of money is being spent on treatment of tobacco related illness and as well as on campaigns to sensitise people on the dangers of tobacco. As a result of all these efforts falling on deaf ears, the innocent non-smokers who include children and unborn babies end up suffering too.

Therefore, lives of both smokers and non-smokers can only be protected if government could ban tobacco growing as is the case with marijuana, heroine and cocaine, because that is the starting point to smoking.