1. Should Smoking be Made Illegal in the United States?
By: Emily Blotzer-Miller

2. Why????? Health Problems Second- hand smoke Nicotine
Tobacco Advertisement
Smoking while pregnant
Littered cigarette buts

3. Health Problems
Smoking causes many cancers, diseases, and other health issues
It is the number one cause of disease and death that could be preventable worldwide
Smoking-related diseases are the cause of 438,000 deaths each year in the United States

4. Second hand smoke Also known as environmental tobacco smoke (ETS)
It is a mix of smoke given off by cigarettes, pipes, or cigars and the smoke exhaled from the lungs of smokers
Secondhand smoke causes almost 50,000 deaths in adult nonsmokers in the United States each year

5. Second Hand Smoke in Children
In the United States, 21 million, or 35 percent of, children live in homes where residents or visitors smoke in the home on a regular basis
From the chemicals that cigarettes give off, approximately percent of children in the United States have detectable levels of cotinine, the breakdown product of nicotine in the blood

6. Nicotine Nicotine is a drug that is in cigarettes
Nicotine affects the brains pathways of reward and pleasure. These brain changes along with the use of nicotine result in addiction
The amount of nicotine in cigarettes has increased an average of fifteen percent in the past ten years
Tobacco companies are doing this on purpose, because increased levels of nicotine make it harder for smokers to quit

7. Quitting Smoking
When people try to quit smoking, they experience several symptoms which include, cravings for tobacco, irritability, difficulty paying attention, sleep disturbances, and an increased appetite
Even with patches, medications, and therapies it is VERY hard for smokers to quit

8. Young Children Smoking
Every day approximately 3,600 children between twelve and seventeen years of age smoke their first cigarette, and an estimated 1,100 of them will become regular smokers. Half of them will ultimately die from their habit
Among students under eighteen who are current cigarette users, 70.6 percent were not asked to show proof of age when they purchased or attempted to purchase cigarettes from a store, and 66.4 percent were not refused purchase because of their age

9. Tobacco Advertising
The 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) prohibited tobacco companies from advertising their product in markets that target youth. Since the MSA, the average youth in the U.S. is exposed to 559 tobacco ads
Since they cannot target their ads directly to the youth, now tobacco companies are focusing their ads on young adults, because children want to be like them

10. Pregnant Women Smoking
Babies of mothers who smoke are twice as likely to die from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) as babies of nonsmokers
It causes health problems for babies, and in some cases death
Harmful chemicals from cigarettes can be passed into breast milk from the mother, and to the child, resulting in vomiting, nausea, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea

11. Cigarette Butts Cigarettes are the most littered item in America
Cigarettes take decades to degrade
They cause numerous fires each year
If animals eat these butts, they cause problems for them
If these butts get into soil, they can contaminate it, and make the things growing in it toxic

12. Plan
The plan to make smoking completely illegal in the United States would take up to five years:
Ban smoking in all indoor places in every state
Stop tobacco advertising and start advertising about all of the negative effects of smoking
The government would help people quit by providing patches, medication, and therapies.
Tobacco companies get shut down (The government will provide jobs and financial assistance to those who lose their jobs)
The making, selling, and/or smoking of cigarettes will be made illegal in the United States. The punishment for breaking these new laws will be the same as all other drugs

13. Conclusion Smoking causes so many problems
People who smoke are not only harming themselves, but they are harming other innocent people, children, babies, and our environment
Now is the time to save lives, by making smoking illegal in the United States