Have you ever walked down the streets in downtown Toronto, or in the very midst of Manhattan, New York? It seems that every five steps you take leads to yet another glimpse of someone smoking outside a restaurant. Sometimes the smell can be overbearing, and many times, you feel the urge to snap at the smokers to take it somewhere else. In today’s day and age, over 1.3 billion people in the world smoke, and many more are joining the masses. There is much controversy as to whether Canada should ban smoking all together. The obvious answer is yes, but there are other issues that will need to be dealt with if such a law is placed.
In the first place, smoking causes cancer. This is a scientifically proven fact that is now common knowledge. Second-hand smoking (breathing in the fumes from another smoker’s cigarette) is also a cause for cancer, as well as other dangerous diseases. My grandfather was a smoker, and so is my father. My grandfather had a heart problem, and my father has a chance of having it as well. He has a higher risk than most people of having a heart attack, which is amplified even more by the fact that he smokes and has a stressful job. Many other people also develop heart and lung problems due to smoking, which they give to their children. Thus, by making smoking illegal, we could decrease the death tolls of cancer and other diseases caused by smoking.
In addition, since the law would ban the growing of tobacco and manufacturing of cigarettes, smokers would have no choice but to quit and find a different way to relieve them of stress. This would also put a halt on the amount of pollution that cigarettes create, and give other non-smokers some less-polluted air to breathe, in this sea of pollution that we live in.
Another reason why smoking should be banned, is how it affects the younger generations. Studies have proven that children who have parents who smoke are more likely to take it up as well, than children who have non-smoking...
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