Class Supplement (TOEFL Essay Writing: Should smoking be illegal?)

Writing Topic: Some people think that smoking cigarettes should become illegal, since it provides little benefit and a great deal of health risk, others feel that individuals should be free to smoke cigarettes if they choose to do so. Do you think cigarette smoking should be stopped by making it illegal or should it remain legal?


☆ Writing Topic with some hints

The question itself is simple: Should cigarette smoking be illegal or not? However, before the question, this topic has some hints for you to consider. You could either discuss the topic focusing on the hints or add your own view point, although it might not be wise to entirely ignore the point of the hints. In this topic, the point of the hints is the choice between prioritizing individuals’ health and valuing freedom and personal responsibility. In other words, this question can be translated as follows:
Should cigarette smoking be illegal to protect one’s health or legal to value one’s freedom and personal responsibility?

☆ Hints for points

Cigarette smoking should be illegal because …
♦it is toxic and causes cancer and other serious diseases.
♦it is addictive.
--- The government should protect individuals’ health.
♦there is the problem of second-hand smoke/smoking.
counter-argument
There are measures to take to prevent second-hand smoking (separate-smoking, ban on smoking in public areas)
(Smoking will remain legal while smoking in certain areas will be illegal)
counter-counter-argument
Separate-smoking and ban on smoking public areas are not practical because there
are many smokers who do not comply with the rules and you cannot catch or shut
up smoke completely.
--- To protect public health, individual freedom can be limited.

Cigarette smoking should not be illegal because …
♦you have the right to do whatever you want to do even if it endangers your health.
other dangerous indulgence such as fatty foods, alcoholic drinks, free-fall flights, etc.
♦there are things that we do not like but that we have to tolerate others enjoying.
smelly food, some kind of music, scary fashion, etc.
♦smoking is a necessary evil like drinking and gambling.
to help smokers release stress
to keep society in order
the cigarette industry will go underground if cigarettes are banned
the economy will be affected (the tobacco industry, restaurants, coffee shops, music clubs, etc.)
tax revenue (1 trillion yen as of 2009)
--- As long as measures are taken to prevent second-hand smoking,
the choice between health and fun is up to each individual.


Essay for ideas and expressions (rewrite):

Even though it might be difficult to put in practice because of smokers’ feelings and economic circumstances, cigarettes should be made illegal to protect younger generations and to solve the problem of second-hand smoke.

By making smoking illegal, the number of those who start smoking can be greatly reduced. Smokers find it difficult, and many of them believe it unnecessary, to quit smoking even though it has been scientifically proved that smoking causes lung cancer and other diseases. This is because smoking is addictive. When some toxic substance is addictive, making it illegal is one of the effective ways to reduce its harm. This is especially effective in preventing those who are not addicted, mostly the young, from initiating the use, since people usually stay away from things that are illegal.

Smoking seems to be a necessary evil and a matter of self-responsibility just like drinking and gambling, but the problem of second-hand smoke separates it from them. Cigarette smoke directly harms those who are around. Children of smokers are more susceptible to respiratory diseases than those of non-smokers, and many people are sensitive to smoke. Although separate-smoking and public smoking ban are promoted, many smokers do not conform to the rules and it is impossible to block the contaminated air completely. When some toxic fumes are around in everyday scenes, it is natural for the government to regulate them.

Banning smoking is difficult but possible. It seems that cigarettes stay legal because their social influence is not as drastic as that of drugs and they support the economy. Cigarettes do not make the user dangerous the way drugs do and smokers can keep functioning for decades. Also, the cigarette industry is an established part of economy and produce tax money, so that it is very difficult to terminate it. However, changes necessary for public health have been made in the past. Coal was replaced by oil, which is cleaner than coal, and now oil is being replaced by much cleaner energy sources. Cigarettes themselves were a replacement, advocated by the government, for chewing tobacco, which was found to be contributing to the transmission of tuberculosis through saliva spat on the ground by the users. When the public health is at risk, the government should and can take measures.

Society is ultimately to be totally smoke-free to protect the health of citizens, especially younger generations, although care should be taken for smokers and those involved in the industry.