1/25/13
Commentary: Why not prohibit smoking? - CNN.com
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Commentary: Why not prohibit smoking?
Story Highlights
Tony Newman: Cigarettes kill 400,000 Americans a year
He says the toll is heavier than for drugs like marijuana that are illegal
He says anti-smoking campaigns are effective without prohibiting tobacco
Newman: War on drugs causes additional death and suffering
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By Tony New man
Special to CNN
Editor's note: Tony Newman is the director of media relations at the Drug Policy Alliance Network.
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Cigarettes kill; 400,000 people die prem aturely every year from sm oking. When w e analyze the harm from drugs,
there is no doubt that cigarettes are the w orst.
They kill m ore people than cocaine, heroin, m etham phetam ine and all other illegal drugs com bined.
More than 800,000 people are arrested every year for m arijuana, the vast m ajority for possession, yet all the data from studies that
com pare the tw o substances show that cigarettes are m ore harm ful to an individual's health. If w e m ake these other drugs illegal,
shouldn't w e outlaw the leading killer?
Considering how w e deal w ith less harm ful drugs, m aking cigarettes illegal seem s logical. Over the past decade, w e have seen, in
states from California to New York, increasing restrictions on w hen and w here people can sm oke -- and even m om entum tow ard
tobacco prohibition.
Sm oking is banned in bars and restaurants and on som e university cam puses. People can now be fired from their jobs because they
can't give up sm oking. We have seen parents denied adoption rights if they sm oke. In som e cities, it is nearly im possible to sm oke
anyw here besides your ow n hom e.
The Drug Policy Alliance sponsored a Zogby Poll in 2006, and w e w ere shocked to find that 45 percent of those polled supported
m aking cigarettes illegal w ithin the next 10 years. Am ong 18- to 29-year-olds, it's m ore than 50 percent.
But w ith all of the good intentions in the w orld, outlaw ing cigarettes w ould be just as disastrous as the prohibition on other drugs.
After all, people w ould still sm oke, just as they still use other drugs that are prohibited, from m arijuana to cocaine. But now , in
addition to the harm of sm oking, w e w ould find a w hole range of "collateral consequences" that com e along w ith prohibition.
A huge num ber of people w ho sm oke w ould continue to do so, but now they w ould be considered crim inals. We w ould have parents
prom ising their kids that they w ill stop sm oking but still sneaking a sm oke.
We w ould have sm okers hiding their habit and sm oking in alleys and dark corners, afraid of being caught using the illegal substance.
We w ould have cops using precious tim e and resources to hassle and arrest cigarette sm okers. Our prison overcrow ding crisis
w ould rise to an unprecedented level w ith "addicts" and casual cigarette sm okers alike getting locked up.
We w ould have a black m arket, w ith outlaw s taking the place of delis and superm arkets and stepping in to m eet the dem and and
provide the desired drug.
Instead of buying your cigarettes in a legally sanctioned place, you w ould have to hit the streets to pick up your fix. The cigarette
trade w ould provide big revenue to "drug dealers," just as illegal drugs do today. There w ould be shootouts in the streets and
killings over the right to sell the prohibited tobacco plant.
We have tried prohibiting cigarettes in som e state prisons, like in California, and w e have seen that sm oking continues, w ith
cigarettes traded illicitly. There is a violent black m arket that fills the void and leads to unnecessary deaths over access and the
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Commentary: Why not prohibit smoking? - CNN.com
inflated profits.
Luckily, no one is proposing m aking cigarettes illegal. On the contrary, our public health cam paign around cigarettes has been a
m odel of success com pared w ith our results w ith other prohibited drugs. By placing high taxes on cigarettes, restricting locations
w here one can sm oke and banning certain kinds of advertising, w e have seen a significant decline in the num ber of people w ho
sm oke.
Instead of giving teens "reefer m adness"-style propaganda, w e have treated young people w ith respect and given them honest
education about the harm of cigarettes, and w e have been rew arded w ith few er young people sm oking today than ever before.
Although w e should celebrate our success and continue to encourage people to cut back or give up sm oking, let's not get carried
aw ay and think that prohibition w ould elim inate sm oking.
We need to realize that drugs, from cigarettes to m arijuana to alcohol, w ill alw ays be consum ed, w hether they are legal or illegal.
Although drugs have health consequences and dangers, m aking them illegal -- and keeping them illegal -- w ill only bring additional
death and suffering.
Don't just take m y w ord for it. Take it from the new s anchor w ho w as called the m ost trusted m an in Am erica, Walter Cronkite.
Here is w hat he said about prohibition and our w ar on drugs: "I covered the Vietnam War. I rem em ber the lies that w ere told, the lives
that w ere lost -- and the shock w hen, 20 years after the w ar ended, form er Defense Secretary Robert S. McNam ara adm itted he knew
it w as a m istake all along. ...
"And I cannot help but w onder how m any m ore lives, and how m uch m ore m oney, w ill be w asted before another Robert McNam ara
adm its w hat is plain for all to see: The w ar on drugs is a failure."
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Tony Newman.
All AboutSm oking • Illegal Drugs • Crim e
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