Claudio Caldas Mattos
Firstly, it is important to understand how harmful these two drugs are to humankind. You may think a cigarette cannot kill a person, or it is a harmless drug, or even it is not a “hard” drug like cocaine and heroin. However this is untrue. Tobacco is the common name given to plants from which we extract a substance called nicotin. This name derives from Jean Nicot, a French doctor who, as indian people from South America, back in the sixteenth century, believed that tobacco had healing powers, and used it as medicine back then. Years later, already in the seventeenth century, scientists started to discover the evil deeds provoked to human’s health through tobacco, as well as how nicotin could addict the user. Since then, concerned goverments put restrictions to its use.
Moreover, years ago advertisements on televison used to show a man ridding a horse, happly smoking a cigarette as a symbol of virility, and power. Today there are no ads on tv about tobacco, however after that people thought smoking was a good thing. Being this also, the main reason why kids and young teenagers started to smoke feeling themselves safe and powerful. Unfortunately, many users of tobacco do not understand the risks associated with its use, especially young users. Depending on how much the person smokes, and the time he or she have been using it, the risks can raise, often leading to cancer in the mouth, larynx and lungs as well as heart problems.
In addition, diseases related to tobacco have killed about 440.000 American citizens per year, around 1.205 a day. Meaning that tobacco smoking is qualified as the major cause of death which could be prevented in the world. Scientific researches around the globe have shown that over 16% of the Brazilian citizens are smokers.
These researches also pointed out that even in developed countries; tobacco is the cause of death on man (26%) and on woman (9%).
So, why is tobacco legal? If it jeopardizes the user’s health and people around him or her (passive smokers), why keeping the drug legal? The answer is simple, and yet frustrating. A lot of countries make huge quantities of money charging taxes over the sale of cigarettes. Living in a capitalist universe, the society should already expect this kind of action towards them. However it is not a question of prohibiting or legalizing, because the sale and comsumption of any drug is not going to be restrained by some laws. A more efficient way is to better educate people, to warn them about the consequences, as making a wrong decision at any age could have deadly consequences.
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