Editorials

Alex's Editorial. **Banning Cigarettes ** By: Dayten  Many people have debated whether or not cigarettes should or shouldn’t be illegal. Think about it. If America made cigarettes illegal how many people’s lives would be saved? That would also prevent more than 200,000 people from dying of second hand smoke. All the pain that families suffer from after the loss of a family member could be avoided. Some people die from lung cancer and second hand smoke, even though it may not even be you who smoked but you got lung cancer from being around someone who smoked. Lloyd Johnston took notes of the University of Michigan’s annual survey, and noted that one in four smokers will eventually die from smoking. He also said that he didn’t know any other products including guns that have that much of a death rate. It is clear that smoking is very unhealthy.  599 addictives are found in a single tobacco cigarette and 4,000 chemicals. Out of the 4,000 chemicals 69 of those are known to cause cancer. Even tar is found in cigarettes, tar is the stuff to pave roads.  The last five years smoking has stabilized, with one in five Americans still lighting up regularly. More than half of all the children are exposed to toxic second hand smoke, and 98% of those who live with and smoker have measurable levels of toxic chemicals in their bloodstream. Which is setting them up for future harm from cancer, heart disease, and other ailments?  Smoking should be illegal.