Should Smoking Be Prohibited in a Public Place?

Should smoking be prohibited in a public place?

Whether smoking should be banned or not is a debatable issue for the public to fight for their rights. On the one hand, while citizens have the civil right to smoke, on the other hand, it can also be argued that they have their right to refuse to inhale the second-hand smoke. The term` public place’ in this essay refers to the area open for every citizen who has the right to use, such as parks, beaches, streets, etc. This essay will argue that smoking should be prohibited in the public area due to the health concerns caused by smoking, the discouragement of the smoking habit by teenagers and the potential fire hazard and littering problem.

Firstly, health concern is the most pivotal reason that smokers should be considerate. Smokers always argued that they have the civil right to smoke. However, this action is selfish and ignoring other citizens’ right. It is no doubt that smoking is damaging health due to direct human inhalation or passive smoking. Moreover, they have the same right to safeguard their health. Should smoking in a public place be allowed, the public has no means to refuse inhaling the second-hand smoke. Therefore, if the government is really considerate about the public’s health, prohibiting smoking in a public place must be carried out.

Secondly, the government could implement measures to discourage the smoking habit. Immature teenagers would be easily influenced by the advertisements that are promoted by the tobacco companies, even the negative influence from their parents who are smokers themselves. These advertisements and behaviours will distort the cigarette as a trendy and charming thing to attract the immature youth. Although the government has no means to control how teenagers receive the message from those advertisements, it can reduce the opportunities of teenagers exploring the cigarette. Thus, in order to provide a healthy environment for future owners of this society, the government has the obligation of restricting the smokers and tobacco companies.

Finally, there are potential fire hazard and the littering problem owing to the butt disposal. If the public can smoke in any public place, it is different for the government to restrict the area for the smokers to place the butt. As a result, it is an increasing potential to cause fire hazard. Furthermore, it is inevitable that smokers will cause littering problem since there is not much rubbish bin for them to deal with the butt disposal. Somebody may argue that the potential fire hazard can be raised due to the encouragement of smoking inside the buildings illegally. However, at least, most of the public place has decreased the potentiality of a fire. Therefore, banning smoking can benefit the environment by keeping the public area clean and decreasing the potential fire hazard.

In conclusion, it can be strongly argued that smoking should be prohibited in a public place because it not only benefits personal health, but also the society, as well as the environment. These advantages refer to the preserving the public health, protecting the immature teenagers and enhancing the quality of the living environment.