VoluntaryAmerican
07-31-2012, 02:08 PM
A Modest Proposal to Save the Lives of Cigarette Addicts for the Common Good of America’s Health
Most of my life I haven’t put much thought in to cigarette smoking. I tried it once when I was fourteen with my brother. I gagged and threw it to the ground, but he enjoyed it and was there after a lifelong smoker. And this was the extent of my thoughts on the matter; that it disgusted me and made me gag.
Last week I received a call from my mother, crying, distraught. My brother had died of lung cancer at age forty one. I was not surprised after all he smoked a pack a day since he was sixteen years old, but I fell in to a deep spiral of grief nonetheless.
At nights I awoke from terrifying nightmares. It was one distinct conversation I had with my brother Anthony about quitting. I told him that he was wasting money, hurting his health, and being stubborn. He would laugh and tell me to mind my own business or watch my own eating habits. I would then angrily call him a jackass and storm off.
I have come to the conclusion that I am partly responsible for my brother’s death. I should have reached out and ripped the cigarettes from his hands and held him back. I should have locked him in his room until his craving suppressed. I should have saved my little brother’s life because that is what big brother’s are supposed to do.
But obviously this was impractical for me to do and would have resulted in my own punishment due to current laws. That is because cigarettes are unfortunately legal in America. Despite the fact that forty five million Americans are addicted and around four hundred thousand of these Americans die a year from their addiction.
Now compare these statistics with the illegal drug marijuana:
Marijuana addicts are routinely rounded up and jailed in cages. They are routinely beaten by the police, have their houses raided, dogs shot, and their children removed from their family and put in State custody. And marijuana kills far less people than cigarettes do.
We as a society understand that all these things are necessary to stop people from using marijuana. Because marijuana is the main way gang’s fund their criminal organizations (unfortunately gangs don’t use tobacco or it would probably already be illegal) and terrorize American streets. Because we understand that marijuana is a dangerous and evil drug that kills and enslaves innocent children every day.
So why do we not apply this same policing to cigarettes? Yes, I am calling for making cigarette illegal. Yes, my brother should have been thrown in jail; for his own good, to save his life.
Maybe you are still in denial, as I was. You may still think that it was my brother’s fault that he started smoking in the first place. That it was his own personal responsibility and not our concern.
This does not change the fact that if cigarettes were illegal, my brother would still be alive today. And this same thing could happen to you; because cigarettes kill mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters, everyday.
http://mymodestproposal.wordpress.com/2012/07/31/hello-world/
Most of my life I haven’t put much thought in to cigarette smoking. I tried it once when I was fourteen with my brother. I gagged and threw it to the ground, but he enjoyed it and was there after a lifelong smoker. And this was the extent of my thoughts on the matter; that it disgusted me and made me gag.
Last week I received a call from my mother, crying, distraught. My brother had died of lung cancer at age forty one. I was not surprised after all he smoked a pack a day since he was sixteen years old, but I fell in to a deep spiral of grief nonetheless.
At nights I awoke from terrifying nightmares. It was one distinct conversation I had with my brother Anthony about quitting. I told him that he was wasting money, hurting his health, and being stubborn. He would laugh and tell me to mind my own business or watch my own eating habits. I would then angrily call him a jackass and storm off.
I have come to the conclusion that I am partly responsible for my brother’s death. I should have reached out and ripped the cigarettes from his hands and held him back. I should have locked him in his room until his craving suppressed. I should have saved my little brother’s life because that is what big brother’s are supposed to do.
But obviously this was impractical for me to do and would have resulted in my own punishment due to current laws. That is because cigarettes are unfortunately legal in America. Despite the fact that forty five million Americans are addicted and around four hundred thousand of these Americans die a year from their addiction.
Now compare these statistics with the illegal drug marijuana:
Marijuana addicts are routinely rounded up and jailed in cages. They are routinely beaten by the police, have their houses raided, dogs shot, and their children removed from their family and put in State custody. And marijuana kills far less people than cigarettes do.
We as a society understand that all these things are necessary to stop people from using marijuana. Because marijuana is the main way gang’s fund their criminal organizations (unfortunately gangs don’t use tobacco or it would probably already be illegal) and terrorize American streets. Because we understand that marijuana is a dangerous and evil drug that kills and enslaves innocent children every day.
So why do we not apply this same policing to cigarettes? Yes, I am calling for making cigarette illegal. Yes, my brother should have been thrown in jail; for his own good, to save his life.
Maybe you are still in denial, as I was. You may still think that it was my brother’s fault that he started smoking in the first place. That it was his own personal responsibility and not our concern.
This does not change the fact that if cigarettes were illegal, my brother would still be alive today. And this same thing could happen to you; because cigarettes kill mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters, everyday.
http://mymodestproposal.wordpress.com/2012/07/31/hello-world/