Abstract
Forceful ban on smoking is biggest threat for personal freedom. The government is harassing smokers by enacting laws that make smoking more difficult (Pullinen, 2009). It is feared that this will diminish the freedom of individual and lead to a totalitarian state. It is said that smoking has both positive and negative effects. However, in this paper it is argued that it is everybody's own choice to smoke, and the government does not have the right to restrict its citizens' civil liberties.
1. Introduction
In this modern era of freedom the rulers of the nation are trying to impose some nonsense rules to limit the freedom of the citizens to smoke. Whilst smoking is recognized to be harmful for the health, this paper argues that people should not be forced to quit smoking. The Finnish government has recently made new laws concerning smoking which clearly aim at eventually banning smoking. In this paper it is argued that this tendency is dangerous for Finnish people in general and also for the wellbeing of the entire Finnish society. In the last section some smoking benefits are explained. For example, this section explains how smoking can be good for people with mental illnesses. Smoking is also a good way to meet new people. The last section also explains why alcohol is a more dangerous than cigarettes and why it would be more logical to ban alcohol. The main argument is that the government should not interfere with people’s own personal habits at all, because it would reduce people's own civil liberties.
2. Legislative issues
2.1. Current Law
Since September 2002, it has been mandatory to have one general caution, for example, “smoking is lethal” and one special caution, for example, “smokers die younger”, printed on the surface of the cigarette box. (Tupakkaverkko, 2008.)
Smoking is already forbidden in many places, for example in restaurants, indoor meetings where people can freely participate, public transport and indoor workplaces and schoolyards where students are younger than 18 years old (“Tupakka Suomessa ja maailmalla”, 2009). This long list represents only a portion of the pressure that is directed towards smokers. In June 2007, the change of the law concerning smoking in restaurants came into operation. Since then smoking has been possible in restaurants only in little smoking rooms where one cannot drink or eat. (YLE uutiset, 2009.)
The government wants to eventually ban smoking in Finland. Late last year the government proposed a law that aims at ending all smoking in Finland. New laws will make obtaining cigarettes more difficult and will restrict the places where it is possible to smoke. The goal of the government is to harass smokers to a point where all smoking is made impossible and no definite ban of sales is needed. This kind of initiative is most likely the first one in the world. (Pullinen, 2009.)
2.2. Illegal activities
Forbidding the use of cigarettes can encourage people to do illegal activities to get their much needed dose of nicotine. For example, people could start smuggling cigarettes from nearby countries. Also people could start to grow tobacco plants themselves.
Smuggling is huge problem in the tobacco industry. One third of the world’s tobacco exportation happens on the black market. Because of smuggling, countries lose billions in taxes.
Smuggling also encourages international organized crime, money laundering and takes a lot of investigators away from other crimes. (Tupakkaverkko, 2007.) The delegate of the European Anti-Fraud office OLAF estimated that in the year 1998 the EU lost almost 5 billion euros because of the smuggling of tobacco products (Tupakkaverkko, 2006). So far there has been very little international organized crime in Finland, but if the government would forbid smoking, then these side-effects could easily arrive in Finland also.
2.3. Taxes
In Finland taxes per GNP on cigarettes is 57 percent. In 2004, the government collected taxes from tobacco products a total amount of 600,5 million euros. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health wants to raise the taxes concerning cigarettes. (Tupakkalaki ja tupakkavero, 2008.) In January 2010, the taxes were raised, which caused the price of cigarettes to go up by 4 percent. (“Eduskunta hyväksyi tupakkaveron korotuksen”, 2009)
Banning smoking totally will lead to a huge drop in tax income. Also, if smoking were banned smokers would most likely go abroad and buy their cigarettes there thus taking the money to other countries. Maybe the government wants to have the monopoly, so they could control the usage of cigarettes and also have high taxes.
2.4. Totalitarianism
As a whole, there is a general concern that all these attempts to improve the health of average citizen may diminish the freedom of the individual and in the end lead to a totalitarian state. If the government bans or criminalizes smoking, then who knows what will be their next step. It may be the first step on the road which leads to a situation where the government has total control over personal freedom. Maybe they want to ban Coca-Cola next?
3. Personal issues
3.1 Personal Freedom
Smoking is a legal activity and therefore, adults should have the freedom to smoke (Bliley PM, 1994). The government of Finland is planning to make the rules to ban smoking which is just an assault on personal liberties and is totally unacceptable. Everyone should respect each other’s freedom of choice and ban on smoking destroys the delicate balance of individual rights (Bliley PM, 1994) which may have negative consequences. “Health benefits are uncertain and the loss of liberty would be most definite if smoking were banned” (Noah Essenmacher, 2009).
3.2 Freedom of choice
Smoking is certainly unhealthy, but does that mean that the government should interfere with personal freedom of choice? There is no legitimate basis for laws restricting private smoking (Tom Head). If smokers choose to harm themselves then their choice must be respected by the government. Everyone has the right to choose their own idea of a healthy life, they should not be compelled or forced by the rules to follow others' health statement (Christine Scivicque, 2007). The Finnish government is right to some extent in stating that smoking is injurious to health and might lead to some harmful diseases like lung cancer. However everybody has their own plans of how they want to live life and the forceful nature of Finnish government to ban their citizens from smoking is something which might lead to the nanny state.
4. Moral issues
In Finland, smoking seems to be decreasing. In 2005, 18 % of women and 26 % of men of working age smoked daily. Nowadays men smoke less than in the 1980's whereas women use cigarettes the same amount than in 1980. (Patja, 2007.) On the other hand, the use of alcohol has increased. In 2005, overall alcohol consumption was 10.5 liters per inhabitant. The amount had risen plenty since the early 1960's. (Österberg, 2007b.)
4.1 Positive effects of smoking
As some writers say, there are some positive effects of smoking. For example, smoking can be good for people with mental illnesses. It is said that nicotine increases alertness and that would be useful for the treatment of schizophrenia. Additionally, it is said that nicotine helps to relax and to reduce negative feelings, like anxiety, anger and tension. Presumably, smoking can also help people with mental problems to improve social interactions. (Rethink, 2009.) A fairly new phenomenon called smirting – which is combination of words of ”smoking” and ”flirting” - has spread through the western world after public smoking bans. Nowadays, smokers visiting pubs and night clubs are forced to go outside to smoke, which automatically creates social groups. And these social groups have been so successful for flirting that many non-smokers have even started to smoke. According to the research, one quarter of Irish couples started their relationships during 2007 and 2008 after smirting outside. (”Smirting”, 2010)
4.2 Negative effects of smoking
It is generally agreed that smoking increases the probabilities of some diseases. For example lung cancer, heart attack and cardiovascular disease are more probable to occur to a smoker than to a non-smoker. (”Health effects of tobacco”, 2010.) Additionally, passive smoking can be harmful also for other people than the smokers themselves.
This second-hand smoke can cause diseases, disability and death. (”Passive smoking”, 2010.) Smoking is said to be definitely harmful for the young children. Smoking may be seen to cause health problems and could lead to the use of other drugs, like alcohol. (World Health Organization, 2010.)
4.3 Alternatives which protect personal freedom
The Finnish ministry of health says that it is trying to protect its citizens both from active and passive smoking (Paul Henley - BBC news, 2010). There can be different solutions to limit the harmful effects of smoke. Passive smoking can be eliminated by creating smoking halls in different places. The government could also help people by providing courses related to smoking and free rehabilitation camps for the ones who want to quit smoking. This way the government can improve its relation with the citizens, instead of forcefully banning smoking and being unpopular among their own citizens.
4.4 The effects of alcohol
Smoking in Finland is decreasing all the time, and is therefore not worth banning. However, It would be best if no drugs were banned, because that kind of movement will reduce people's own civil liberties.
It is widely accepted that alcohol causes some negative health effects. Typical effects are for example injuries, depression, phobias, nervous diseases, cancer of the mouth and hepatic cirrhosis. (Poikolainen, 2007.) Additionally, alcohol causes violence towards other people (Österberg, 2007a). In Finland alcohol is considered as a top killer. In 2005, alcohol killed more people than cardiovascular disease or cancer. (”Alcohol now Finland's top killer”, 2006.) Additionally, people in Finland want to become intoxicated with alcohol, and that is almost the biggest reason to drink it (Österberg, 2007b).
Because alcohol is consumed more than cigarettes, and because more people are killed by alcohol than by smoking, it be more logical to ban alcohol. Alcohol will cost more for health care than cigarettes, because alcohol causes more diseases and deaths.
4.5 People's own choice
To sum up, it should be people's own choice to smoke. Everybody should have the right to make their own decisions. The government should not be allowed to control the private lives of citizens. If smoking in Finland were denied totally someday, there would be surely people who continue to smoke regardless of the smoking laws. Without doubt it is not the good habit to smoke when there are small children around. Furthermore, it is not polite to blow smoke in somebody's face. But everybody has to have the right to smoke, if they choose.
5. Conclusion
Lately, the government in Finland has gradually made the living of smokers harder. Laws that raise the price of cigarettes and forbid smoking in certain places have been implemented. If Finland continues on this path and even bans smoking totally, then it is valid to fear that illegal activities and the drastic decline in collected taxes will change Finnish wellbeing for good.
It is said that smoking has positive and negative effects. Smirting – for example - is one of these positive effects. Smoking can also be seen as a treatment for people with mental illnesses. The negative effect is that smoking causes diseases. In Finland, smoking is decreasing all the time, while alcohol consumption is increasing. For some reason, there are attempts to limit smoking, though alcohol causes more deaths and problems for people than tobacco. Therefore, if something must be banned, it would be better if it is alcohol. Finally, everybody has own rights to choose how to live, which government cannot interfere with.
To conclude, smoking in public area is bad and should be prohibited but the personal will to smoke should not be hurt or forced by laws. There can be different solutions for limiting the smoking like making public smoking rooms in certain areas, bars or restaurants, or making the rules of smoke free zone for minors and protecting infants from passive smoking. But lawfully banning the smoking in the entire country is devastating decision taken by Finnish government, which is totally unacceptable.
References
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