Why doesn't the government just make cigarettes illegal?

Question

They made pot illegal, and it is way less worse for you than cigarettes!

I mean, they do waste a lot of ppls money and time on trying to brainwash ppl into not smoking...

Answer 1

Money! And it would not work! Cigs have to be almost the most addictive thing I ever did! I stopped, but it was pure hell.

Prohibition didn't work, the govt makes a lot of money alcohol and drugs, including laundering money from cocaine!

Pot gets into the country, as does coke and designer drugs!

People would still get cigarettes and the govt would be cut out and a lot of rich people would lose money!
Alcohol is legal and it has probably destroyed more lives than any drug! It just takes a little longer!

The govt talks out of both sides of their mouths and it is all about money! The states made billions in settlements on alcohol and cigarettes for what they were doing to US! Try and get the government to pay for patches and smoker cessation programs, or rehab for alcohol or drugs! Not a penny!! Your insurance pays or you don't get it, or you pay, one way or another!!

Answer 2

If the leaders we elected and the people were smarter, they'd make these things legal and save to work off our national debt. They already know how much they can make off marijuana by legalizing and taxing it, yet they won't. Not only do you eliminate some of the largest drug problems -- and by drug problems, I mean drug-related crimes, especially in Mexico, you might even help another country and our own. The ban on marijuana has only been done in the past 100 years. So before that, it wasn't treated like anything bad. Why the sudden change? Why this grudge? In the great lyrics of Crimson King: Between the iron gates of fate The seeds of time were sown, And watered by the deeds of those who know and who are known; knowledge is a deadly friend, when no one sets the rules.The fate of all mankind I see, is in the hands of fools.

Answer 3

The lobbyist make it impossible. However, given enough money and backers it could be done... if you were to find out how marijuana became illegal, you would have to wonder... read Emperor Wears No Clothes very informative and actually scary information about how some laws (in this case prohibition of a plant) come to be, its a historical look. And for those of you wondering NO, I do not smoke pot, and I am a former smoker of tobacco, I really wish it was illegal! Hope you find this information helpful

Have a GREAT day!

Answer 4

The government wont make my habit illegal because they get too much money from me in taxes. Along with every other smoker. On the one hand there are statics showing cigarette smoking is on the decrease. I think this makes the government nervous because that means the money available to them is going down.

I may be addicted to cigarettes but it does not make me high. There are almost as many wrecks killing people due to someone being high on pot as drunk driving. At least it seems that way to me based on news stories I hear.

Answer 5

They can tax cigarettes,and they are a lot more addictive than pot. Pot has more carcinagens (cancer causing agents) and there are people in the House and Senate who smoke cigarettes, and they don't want to make something they do illegal. I hope they make smoking illegal though; I am allergic. Second hand smoke messed up my heart.

Answer 6

Because cigarettes are not as mind-altering as pot. The government learned the hard way not to pass laws to ban products that are common and popular. Check out the history of the Prohibition, which made booze illegal.

Answer 7

because cigarettes sometimes help people relax, and they want to keep smoking it's on them, everyone has self judgment amd can reason on their own, everything each person does is their decision, i mean, the fact that it causes cancer is public, it's not a rumor, or a taboo, so based on that people should be allowed to make thieir own decisions and not have them made for them. i mean fat from fast food causes high cholesterol level, and obesity which is also one of the top killers in this country, but they dont take fast food off the market, hell, they dont even put a warning label on it. so at the end of it all, it comes down to every single individual, to what they wanto to do.

Answer 8

1. Too much lobbying money from the tobacco companies.
2. Many people, including anti-smokers such as myself, don't believe in banning smoking. While it would be wonderful if no one smoked, we don't have a problem with smokers killing themselves, only with them killing other people with their secondhand smoke.
3. Prohibition doesn't work, and it was proven with alcohol. People are addicted to smoking and will find a way to get cigarettes. It will lead to organized crime and a loss of tax money.
4. There are too many smokers who will not tolerate it, and not enough non-smokers who will support it. It is one thing to ban smoking in public because it harms others, and even many smokers are coming to agree with this. But when you make cigarettes illegal, that goes beyond protecting the innocent, it is taking away people's right to do something that harms them. For example, I shouldn't be allowed to drive drunk because it can harm others, but I don't want people telling me that I can't drink - even if it is harmful to me - that should be my decision. Same with eating junk food, candy, etc. Ban people from doing things that hurt others, but don't prevent people from harming themselves.

Answer 9

If someone introduced tobacco today, it would be made illegal. However, the state is so dependent on tax dollars from cigarettes that there is zero chance they will damage that revenue by making them illegal now.

Interestingly, the major tobacco companies back in the 60s trademarked many names that are suggestive of cannabis smoking - clearly they expected that it would be made legal. So far they wasted their money on those copyrights!

Answer 10

It is because the governemnt wants to make money. If their was no cigarettes that would eliminate the Sin tax on the cigs and the government would be in a tizzy.