Smoking Persuasive Research Paper

Words: 831
Pages: 4

According to the American Lung Association, 85 percent of current smokers started smoking before the age of 21 because the nicotine is significantly more addictive for younger people. While smoking cigarettes is addicting, the chemicals deteriorate health, it is expensive, and it builds social boundaries. It is extremely harmful to put substances like tobacco into the body, especially when the smoker is under the age of 21. America would be less likely to encounter so many underage smokers and their serious illnesses caused from smoking if cigarette usage was illegal before the age of 21.
If America decides to make smoking cigarettes illegal, it is quite possible that there will be a bigger problem. The drug war will become focused on cigarettes and a black market will be created for it. And when there is a drug war and a black market, violence becomes a major issue. Marijuana became illegal in the early 1900s, creating secret sales of the drug, which resulted in violence, arrests, and deregulation. Therefore, it may not be a good idea to abruptly make
…show more content…
Smoking cigarettes also compromises the immune system, making the body more likely to develop respiratory conditions like COPD, emphysema, chronic bronchitis, pneumonia, asthma, tuberculosis, and lung cancer. Not only does this nasty habit create a perfect home for illness and bacteria, but it can also decrease bone density, leading to osteoporosis, not to mention the extensive list of cancers that can develop as a direct cause. Studies also suggest that smoking can effect and interfere with fertility. The Center for Disease Control conducted a study that concluded that if smoking persists at the current rate among youth in America, 5.6 million of today's Americans younger than 18 years old will die prematurely from a smoking related