I’d have to say yes. Unlike alcohol, which we have unsuccessfully tried to ban before and which appears to have some benefits to counterbalance the harm (drinkers have a longer life expectancy than nondrinkers), tobacco doesn’t seem to have any discernable positive benefits.
The only real downside I can see is the decreased tax revenue. However, cigarette taxes are probably the most regresive form of taxation out there, hurting the poor who have to shell out $6 or more per pack. For a pack a day smoker, that means $2190 a year. A hefty chunk of money for someone who earns minimum wage and is in the clutches of nicotine addiction. Surely we could get the tax revenue from other sources.
To prevent current smokers who are unable to quit from throwing a fit and rioting in the streets :p, and to prevent all those workers in the tobacco companies from immediately being out of the job in such a tough economy maybe we could grandfather them in. Let’s say that only those born on or before September 11, 1992 (18 years before this post :)) can purchase any tobacco products. So if you’re hooked and “can’t” quit, fine. We accept that you’re weak and it’s unfair to deprive you of your freedom to puff on your cancer sticks. But we don’t need to accept that future generations are going to get addicted to this deadly substance.
I got in serious trouble over this on another message board, when I called tobacco users "drug addicts, since nicotine is not only a drug, but it’s the MOST addictive substance known. The subject was how stupid “junkies” were, and I asked what made tobacco users better, other than the fact that it’s legal and socially acceptable.
I got attacked mercilessly. However, I think making it illegal would create more problems. We already had prohibitin and we saw the problems associated with that.
The difference is that alcohol is so easy to make that even people in prison can make it (sprinkle some bread crumbs on to orange juice, and voila!). Tobacco, not so much. I imagine it would be much more difficult to cultivate enough tobacco to satisfy a pack a day smokers habit as compared to a typical marijuana smoker (where a couple of plants under a grow light in a closet could probably suffice).
You don’t have to compare tobacco with alcohol in terms of prohibition, or apologize for pointing out that tobacco and heroin addiction are similar. I’m am sometimes a smoker and I’m not offended. I can’t speak for others though.
Would the world be better off? I doubt by much. The problems associated with tobacco use are exaggerated. I won’t get into the lung cancer issue or second-hand smoke debates. Unlike alcohol, tobacco doesn’t induce people to kill, rape, or leave their children in peril. I would welcome restrictions that would stop a new generation from taking up smoking, but unfortunately practical restrictions beyond those we already employ may not be possible.
Oddly, at the present, where in many states the taxes collected from cigarette sales are several times the value of the cigarettes, we would be worse off in the short term from the lack of public revenue. That is hardly a justification for the use of tobacco though.
Actually what first struck me too after the recent ‘booby trap’ thread, over in Cafe I think. Maybe that should be a thread somewhere, just to relieve the unexpressed vitriol.
Would society be better of it tobacco didn’t exist? Maybe.
Would society be better off if we made tobacco illegal? Doubtful. If people want to smoke, they are going to smoke. Creating a huge underground economy isn’t beneficial to society.
Smokers might disagree with you there, citing the way smoking calms them down, the rush it gives them, the pleasurable taste of a good cigar or pipe tobacco, or the social lubricant of the smoke break.
That said, I think most nonsmokers (including myself) and perhaps the majority of smokers would tell you they’d personally be better off in several major and minor ways if tobacco had never been discovered, though they might not want to suffer the withdrawal, or be around others who were suffering the withdrawal, if tobacco were to disappear tomorrow.
At any rate, I am glad that smoking is less common than it used to be, that most of my family, friends, and coworkers are nonsmokers, and that smoking is no longer allowed indoors in public places. These things all make me better off.
I am an ex smoker now, but I wanted to hop in and say, that outlawing tobacco would be a mistake - a big one. Those who don’t want to quit or feel they can’t will simply find other ways to get their smokes. It would be the roaring twenties and prohibition all over again. There would be huge benefits for organized crime, and be assured they would happily step in to supply everyone.
Next, you can’t simply legislate away whatever you disapprove of or are not personally interested in. If you want to do that, then be prepared for when the control freaks go after your own pleasures, habits, vices, or “not productive enough” activities. Remember, there are plenty of people who will always know best for you - what to do, what to eat, etc etc etc. There will always be something else “they” want to control or get rid of. It’s never enough.
Fair enough. You might want to do some editing on that wiki paragraph or find another cite to offer when the question comes up, though–that thing is seriously uninspiring, and the part about exterminating the species isn’t going to win converts. (I’ll disagree with you regardless, but I appreciate anyone who can point to good statements of their philosophy.)
Every time my eyes dance across this thread I read it as;
Would society be better off without tabasco. And I think “what a really odd question” for a fraction of a second until the real word dawns on me.
I don’t think we can worry about or should even idealize about whether or not the world would be better off without specific substances or ideas. In their absence, something else will fill the void. We are much better off to worry about why we as humans are like this, and probably just accept that we are like this, rather than thinking draconian and ultimately insane things like “if only X didn’t exist, the Earth would be better off”.