Should the same laws which prohibit the sale and consumption of heroin be applied to tobacco?

Favor

Against

1. Cigarretes contain tobacco

1. Cigarrtes help people to concentrate

Nicotin, an ingredient of tobacco, is proved to result in an overdependency acting over the smoker’s brain, as heroin does. Nicotine is absorbed by the lungs and moved into the bloodstream, where it is circulated throughout the brain.

It helps people to feel relaxed and so be more focused in the day-by-day activity and it is not harmfull for people since the body asks for more, something strange from a product considered dangerous.

2. The laws must be the same for addictive products

2. Tobacco is not only used for consumption

Since both tobacco and heroin have similar effects on consumers and both represent a danger of being addictive, laws must be applied for protect the public from these substances; and tobacco must not be protected by important companies who depend on it for their sales.

For example, according to a study in Arizona State University, plants made from tobacco have proved to arrest West Nile virus infection, which has no vaccine available so this investigation is a considerable advance. Another example is the solar cells used from tobacco plants. According to the scientist from UC Berkeley, the way tobacco plants for absorb sunlight can produces energy if enhanced.

3. Not all the natural products are totally good

3.Tobacco is a product from nature, but heroin is not

Similar to tobacco, cocaine is a product from nature since it is cultivated in some parts of South America and it is well known for people the effects its overconsumption has and what are the laws restricting its use to the native communities for they are used as a popular drug when processed.

Heroin is produced artificially in labs and it is used as a kind of anesthetic in some hospitals, but tobacco is cultivated in the fields so its use do not present so much risks as the manmade products; that is why they cannot be considered the same kind of products.

4. Restriction will create conscience on easy consumers

4. More restricted becomes more interesting for people.

Restriction on cigarettes selling will show an instant decline in tobacco smoking.” Having an easy access to cigarettes puts a tremendous pressure to resist such a temptation” Dr.Hisham , head of Pschycology department at Alexandria Medical college, states :“Giving the new generation the sense the severity of smoking is equivilant to other lethal drugs usage would be a life saving step”

Prohibiting tobacco selling and consumption will only create a bigger necessity of getting it, since something is more attractive and desirable if it is restricted, limited or prohibited especially for young people.