topic: Tobacco, mainly in the form of cigarettes, is one of the most widely used drugs in the world. over a bilion adults legally smoke tobacco every day. The long term health costs are high- for smokers themselves, and for the wider community in terms of health care costs and lost prductivity .
Do governments have a legitimate role to legislate to protect citizens from the harmful effects of their own decisions to smoke, or are such decisions up to the individual?
my essay:(thank you!!)
Tobacco is a prevalent drug attracting over a billion of adult every day. However, long-term consuming tobacco will harm our health condition, what's worse, will have adverse effect on wider society in terms of health care cost and lost productivity. Thus some voices criticize that governments are obligated to legislate to protect citizens from the harmful effects of their own decision to smoke. Yet, as far as I am concerned, it is totally a personal decision which should not be interfered by government.
Citizens have freedom to choose their own personal things only if the things are legal. Without any doubt, many uncertainties underlie each choice that accompanied with both risk and benefits. Once we have decided, we should be responsible for the results. For this reason, after enjoying the fantastic illusion made by tobacco, citizens should accept the undesirable effects of that, such as lung diseases or even cancer. The government, which is merely a public department elected by citizens, has no right to prohibit tobacco from the public.
From another perspective, cigarette industry also has brought government a huge amount of taxes each year. In terms of that, if cigarette were forbidden by government, their finances would not be operated as well as previous years. In fact, finances are critical for government to address a host of other social issues. Moreover, it is clear that in some developing countries the priority goal is economy growth but not health care. Hence, tobacco, which brings huge fortune to citizens and country, should not be forbidden.
To sum up, government should respect each individual's personal choice. Also, government still relies on cigarette industry to boost their economy. So whether using tobacco or not is a personal choice, government have no right to change it by legislate anything.
Do governments have a legitimate role to legislate to protect citizens from the harmful effects of their own decisions to smoke, or are such decisions up to the individual?
my essay:(thank you!!)
Tobacco is a prevalent drug attracting over a billion of adult every day. However, long-term consuming tobacco will harm our health condition, what's worse, will have adverse effect on wider society in terms of health care cost and lost productivity. Thus some voices criticize that governments are obligated to legislate to protect citizens from the harmful effects of their own decision to smoke. Yet, as far as I am concerned, it is totally a personal decision which should not be interfered by government.
Citizens have freedom to choose their own personal things only if the things are legal. Without any doubt, many uncertainties underlie each choice that accompanied with both risk and benefits. Once we have decided, we should be responsible for the results. For this reason, after enjoying the fantastic illusion made by tobacco, citizens should accept the undesirable effects of that, such as lung diseases or even cancer. The government, which is merely a public department elected by citizens, has no right to prohibit tobacco from the public.
From another perspective, cigarette industry also has brought government a huge amount of taxes each year. In terms of that, if cigarette were forbidden by government, their finances would not be operated as well as previous years. In fact, finances are critical for government to address a host of other social issues. Moreover, it is clear that in some developing countries the priority goal is economy growth but not health care. Hence, tobacco, which brings huge fortune to citizens and country, should not be forbidden.
To sum up, government should respect each individual's personal choice. Also, government still relies on cigarette industry to boost their economy. So whether using tobacco or not is a personal choice, government have no right to change it by legislate anything.