there has long been controversy over the legality and apparent acceptance of tobacco in society .some hold that cigarettes and other tobacco containing products should be banned, that is, treated as narcotics.personally,i agree with this point of view for the following reasons:

　　although cigarettes do not offer as intense an effect as drugs like heroin and cocaine,they rank higher in the level of dependence it creates in the user.thousands of smokers try to rid themselves of cigarettes but cannot,because of the physiological dependence they developed,chiefly imputable to its chemical nicotine.this explains why smokers continue their habit despite the numerous health warnings. furthermore,medical science has now proved beyond a doubt that smoking kills.with all the other causes of preventable deaths such as alcohol,illegal drugs,aids,suicide,road accidents,fire,and guns,cigarettes still account for more preventable deaths than all of those combined.

　　more disturbingly,whilst the use of heroin is dangerous solely to the users,the use of tobacco endangers those who are in their vicinity as well. this phenomenon, known as passive smoking, nulls the counter-argument that putting one's own health at risk through smoking should be up to one's own individual choice.reports have shown that the amount of second-hand smoke inhaled by a typical nonsmoker is equivalent to one cigarette smoked per day,and what is more,passive smoking can increase a nonsmoker's chance of getting cancer by ten to thirty two per cent.

　　there are those who will say that the black market created by outlawing tobacco will produce deadlier cigarettes because the product standards of the bootleggers are not as high.however,we should all bear in mind that legal cigarettes cause roughly four hundred thousand deaths a year.it is hard to imagine the limited distribution provided by the criminal underworld could compete with this tragic figure.

　　to sum up, the harm visited upon our society by tobacco usage is substantial.there will be no solution other than to control tobacco much in the same way that the government now controls drugs which could allow people to remain attentive to the seriousness of the effects of these substances,and hopefully to prohibit their usage.