by Nicholas Ward

Created on: June 09, 2010

Smoking today is still very prevalent in North America, Europe,Asia, Canada, and many other countries. Medical facilities treat smoking caused illnesses very often. Some closed minded doctors choose to blame every medical issue a smoker has on tobacco, so the government statistics may be a bit off from what they really are. However the fact remains many people are treated for tobacco caused medical ailments everyday in each of these countries, and why?

Though smoking is known to be hazardous to our health. The companies that make cigarettes continue to profit off there ill gotten gains. The government allows this activity to ensue. Many other things known to cause medical issues have been outlawed some of which include Meth amphetamines, huffing, crack, and cocaine so the question is. With smoking being so unhealthy, why are these companies allowed to continue to profit off the sale of tobacco products?

To answer this question you have to ask yourself, what could the government possibly have to gain from allowing this? Tobacco prices have skyrocketed over the years. In the early 80's you could get a pack of cigarettes for 1$. Now a cheap pack of cigarettes is 4$. Very little of that is being charged by the companies who produce the cigarettes. These costs are incurred as import tax, sin tax and excise taxes by the government.

The government is in business to make money and that is exactly what they do. They make money off the people who smoke. If they banned smoking and forced tobacco companies to buy back all their illegal product from merchants. The government would lose just as much profit as the tobacco company. Today approximately 50% of the cost of a pack of cigarettes can be attributed to taxes.

Should people who smoke be held accountable for their actions? Yes, and no,  if the tobacco companies didn't put in more nicotine and other additives. Cigarettes wouldn't give you that first high which turns into an addiction. These companies intentionally created a product which is extremely addictive. Much like Coka Cola used coke in it's products as an addicting agent in the 50's. Eventually the usage of coke was outlawed by the government. however today's government doesn't care to outlaw a product it can tax.

When I was growing up you saw smoking advertisements in magazines, on the television, and even on billboards. Smoking was still being widely promoted. The reason for so much promotion, to addict as many users as possible. By getting as many people

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