General Medicine

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It depends on the standpoint from which you're looking at it. Ethically, I would say the sale of cigarettes is comparable to the sale of narcotics. Whatever objections a person might make to the sale and casual use of such drugs as marijuana and cocaine, one can usually make similar objections to the sale and use of cigarettes.

However, the question also has to be looked at from a legal standpoint. In marketing their product, the cigarette companies are doing nothing against the law. They can openly sell their products--and each packet of cigarettes they sell does contain the surgeon general's warning of its potential fatality. Though it is evident that a significant number of kids get their hands on cigarettes, the tobacco companies are ostensibly marketing to adults--and in including the warning label on the packet, they have done their legal duty in educating the adults about the effects of using their product. Therefore, they have legally removed the burden of responsibility from their own shoulders and placed it on those of the adults who use their products. In the mean time, laws exist to protect minors from themselves by restricting their ability to buy cigarettes.

Still, three thousand deaths per year from second hand smoke is a significant and startling statistic. This makes cigarette smoking a public problem, not just a private one. In light of the fact that cigarette companies are considered law-abiding, while drug dealers are criminals, maybe we should consider the role that the legal authorities play in this. The cigarette companies are able to market their product openly because the judicial system has chosen to declare the product legal, though it is very harmful. If cigarettes are lethal, and if second hand smoke is also dangerous, maybe a law against cigarettes is warranted.

Of course that gets into the area of restricting people's freedom to pursue happiness--even in a way that might be considered suicidal. I guess the legal system has at least attempted to address the problem of second-hand smoke by restricting smoking in enclosed public areas. But what about parents who smoke in cars and endanger their children's lives?

It's a tough question that leads to even more questions. I don't really know the answer. I do have an opinion, but we live in a (largely) democratic world.

-- posted by tinuviel