Persuasive Essay
Keep Cigarette Sale and Production legal: Save the Economy Cigarette smoking dates back to the 9th century; when cigarettes were first invented in Central America, and has become a popular habit since then. Smoking is prevalent all over the world, and it has been estimated that the number of smokers will continue to rise despite the various campaigns taken against it. It is a widely accepted fact that smoking causes many health problems and thousands of people die each year, but should smoking be made illegal? Although smoking is hazardous to health and the environment, but making it illegal is a serious implementation which if not enforced successfully, will lead to huge losses for a particular economy. Should smoking be made illegal, the sale and production of cigarettes will drastically go down as will the number of smokers dying from lung cancer and other smoking related diseases, but prohibiting it by law is too extreme. All over the world, especially in poorer underdeveloped countries a huge number of people are employed by cigarette making companies. If the production of cigarettes is banned, a lot of people will lose jobs. The probability of all of these people getting employed again is low; as most of them are not educated enough to meet the minimum requirement for other jobs and are the sole sources of income for their families. The main reason governments all over the world have not banned cigarette production is the huge amounts of revenue and taxes generated from its sale. These taxes are used to build many important institutions like public schools and hospitals. While it is true there are many more sources of income for the government, in present age we cannot deny the part tobacco companies play in increasing our GDP (Gross Domestic Product). “In the year 2000 tax revenue from cigarettes totaled Pak Rs.19.8 billion, representing approximately 25% of all excise revenue generated in the country for that year”. (“Tobacco
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