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Ban Smoking in America

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Ban Smoking in America
Americans waste billions of dollars each year on tobacco products. Other drugs that are harmful, such as crack or marijuana, are illegal in the United States. If certain harmful substances are illegal, then cigarettes should not be permitted either. Smoking cigarettes are a proven killer of millions worldwide annually, but is perfectly legal.
Cigarettes have a large affect on society in the area of environmental problems it carries with it. Smoking obviously pollutes the air and it definitely causes a lot of litter. People who smoke usually throw their butts anywhere such as out a car window, in someone’s yard, or even in a stream. Litter from cigarette butts is such a big problem because they take 18 months to 10 years to biodegrade. According to the New Jersey-based American Littoral Society, experts say:
Cigarette butts rank at the very top of litter problems -- not just for their ubiquity, but for their toxicity and non-biodegradable nature…An estimated 1.7 billion pounds of cigarette butts accumulate in lakes, oceans, on beaches and the rest of the planet annually. (Carlozo)
Not only are the cigarette butts ugly to look at, they also adversely affect wildlife. Cigarette filters are made to trap the carcinogenic agents in the tobacco and when they are thrown on the ground, those substances make their way into aquatic ecosystems which could be a threat to the quality of water. Also, there have been cigarette butts found in the stomachs of fish and birds because they think that they are food (Register). Another way this could affect the environment is that cigarette butts can cause fires. All cigarette butts thrown onto dry land, such as leaves, are a potential fire. In fact, as many as 1,200 grass and bushfires each year are attributed to cigarettes (Lai).
There are also economic problems that come with smoking in public. In this

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