Making Tobacco Illegal: A Policy Response to Address Harm Caused by Tobacco

This report discusses the harm caused by tobacco and the policy change needed to address it. It highlights the urgency and importance of making tobacco illegal and provides examples of policy changes that can be implemented. The report also includes statistics on the prevalence of tobacco use in Australia and the societal impacts of tobacco use.

Drug Policy and Policy
Responses
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Table of contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
1. Explaination, justification, and discussion of the chosen harm along with urgency and
importance with which harm should be addressed......................................................................3
2. Explanation, justification and discussion of the policy change that is needed to address the
chosen harm.................................................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8
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INTRODUCTION
Drug policy is defined as policy which is framed by government regarding regulation and
control of substances which are addictive and causes problems for people (Adams, Rychert and
Wilkins, 2021).
The report will be framed on topic Making Tobacco Illegal which will help in drawing
attention towards how tobacco is harming body and health. Evaluation, justification and
discussion will be framed around topic which is that how tobacco is causing harm to people of
Australia. This will also help in knowing further that justification, evaluation and discussion will
be done for changes in policy that will be needed to address harm which is making tobacco
illegal.
MAIN BODY
1. Explaination, justification, and discussion of the chosen harm along with urgency and
importance with which harm should be addressed
The harm which is taken for justification, explanation and discussion is “Making Tobacco
Illegal”. Tobacco is a plant with leaves that have high levels of addictive chemical nicotine.
After harvesting the plant, the leaves are cured, aged and processed in various ways. The
resulting products are smoked cigarettes, pipes and cigars. Tobacco is harmful for health and
body which impacts the process of how the body and health reacts towards the changes which
are observed when a person intakes Tobacco (Breton, Britton and Bogdanovica, 2020). It is very
important that Tobacco should be made illegal as it harms the body and health of the person in
large manner. This also impacts how people are in taking it as it is an addictive form in which the
person finds difficulty in leaving it. Therefore, the intake of tobacco is done in the forms such as
while applied to the gums (as chewing or dipping tobacco) or when it is inhaled (as snuff).
The harm which is currently caused by Tobacco is that people are suffering from cancer,
lung diseases, heart diseases, stroke and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) which
includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis. Smoking also increases risk of tuberculosis,
problems with the immune system, certain eye disease and including rheumatoid arthritis. These
are the major problems which are caused due to tobacco. These are the main reasons why
tobacco should be made illegal as this impacts health and causes various diseases which are
caused due to tobacco. Smoking tobacco is harmful for the health as it also affects the mental
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health of the person. Smoking cigarette has caused more than 480,000 deaths each year as per the
current statistics and this is nearly one in five deaths. Smoking also causes about 90% lung
cancer deaths and in this more women die from lung cancer as they are in much quantity that is
in taking tobacco (Cairney and Yamazaki, 2018). There are other respiratory problems which are
caused by inhaling tobacco through the way of smoking as the basic ingredient in the cigarette is
tobacco. Therefore, it is very important tobacco should be made illegal.
The harm of tobacco is that it reduces the life span of a person and this affects the health
both mental and physical in large manner. The harm is addressed in the manner that tobacco
affects creates issues in which people living in the society are influenced are inclined towards
bad habits of other people who are in taking such toxic ingredients which is tobacco in this case.
All forms of tobacco are harmful and there is no safe level to exposure of tobacco. Cigarette
smoking is most common form in which tobacco is used. Other tobacco products include pipe
tobacco, bidis, roll-your-own-tobacco etc.
According to Australian Bureau of Statistics National Health Survey, the prevalence of
daily smoking for Australians in year 2020 – 21 is 10.7% in which 10.3% people aged 15 years
and above are in taking tobacco in every varied form whichever is available to them. This
impacts the society and social norms which are framed within society people living in it
(Dalgarno and O'Rawe, 2021). The impact tobacco has on society is that it contains chemicals
that contaminates our waterways, harms our wildlife and ground soil. Discarded lit cigarettes
causes fires which damages homes and land. It becomes very costly to clear up the cigarette
waste which becomes difficult for the society to manage the waste which has been caused due to
tobacco.
There are other societal impacts which have been created problems due to the tobacco in
takers and the tobacco smokers. Spouses and children of people have an increased risk of having
cancer and heart diseases. Families of tobacco eaters and smokers are more likely to have ear
infections, pneumonia and other bodily diseases. There is increased psychological distress
compared with people who had never smoked (Edmundson, Heinsbroek, Glass and et.al., 2018).
Daily smokers are more than twice as they are likely to have high and very high levels of
psychological distress. Therefore, there is increased amount of how tobacco is affected and in
manner which helps in knowing that tobacco affects the society and person in large manner
possibly.
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2. Explanation, justification and discussion of the policy change that is needed to address the
chosen harm
It is very important that tobacco should be made illegal in manner that it is harming the society
and is impacting the health of the individuals. It is very essential that there should be change in
the policies and practices which helps in determining that tobacco should be made illegal and
that the supply of it should not be done and as it is affecting the health and the society at large
scale. The changes on the policy will help in determining that the intake of tobacco is how
widely used in America and what are the serious health measures which are there are affecting
the society and the people’s lives at large scale (Hiscock, Augustin, Branston and et.al., 2020).
The policies which were framed in America are described in manner that to protect the public
and create a healthier future for all Americans the policy and legal law which is framed is – The
Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (Tobacco Control Act) which was signed
into the law on June 22, 2009 which helps in giving the authority to FDA authority to regulate,
distribute and market the products of tobacco. The restriction of the products of tobacco is being
regulated which helps in knowing that the Tobacco Control Act has put in place special
restrictions on marketing and selling of tobacco to children and given FDA authority to take
further action in the future so that the public health is protected at large scale.
The major change which is required is that to make tobacco illegal so that there is no other
source through which people are in taking tobacco (Hiscock, Branston, McNeill and et.al., 2018).
But as tobacco business is being running at large scale it can be taken into concern that there are
changes which are observed in the policy framing of how tobacco by people is being in taken
and how much they are concerned about their health and other factors which are affecting their
body and mind. And for this, the policy changes which are observed for tobacco consist of –
a) Modified risks should be ensured with the marking of light, mild, or low which helps
in knowing that there are section of distribution of how the change in the policies in
undertaken.
b) For smokeless tobacco, packaging is done on manner which helps in knowing that
warning label statement must be located on two principles which should be covered
on both sides of packaging which provides information of the harm which is caused
by the intake of tobacco.
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c) For advertisements the warning label statements must cover at least 20% of the area
of the ad which helps in knowing that this change in the policy framed by TCA is
denoting that tobacco is still harmful for the intake within body (Hurley, 2018).
These changes aim to increase awareness of the health risks which is associated by smokeless
tobacco users and this helps in improving the public health and of all Americans and the other
people. The society becomes more aware of how the changes are taking place and manner in
which all possible facts and information is being provided for intake of tobacco as a drug.
There are certain provisions which are ban and this is ensuring that TCA is taking all
health measures and responsibilities towards changing the policy and making tobacco ban in
Australia. These provisions are –
a) No sale of tobacco to minors.
b) There is ban to the sale of packages of fewer than 20 cigarettes.
c) There is no sponsorship of sports and entertainment events or other events which are social
and cultural. There is ban to those functions also (Nuyts, Kuipers, Willemsen and et.al., 2020).
This clearly mentions that the tobacco is ban for the sponsorships in Australia which are related
to sports and entertainment events.
d) Free giveaways of sample cigarettes and brand name for promotional items are also banned.
These are some of the major provisions which are undertaken to ensure that slowly and
steadily changes are taking place and this has created more awareness in people for not in taking
toxic items such as tobacco in any form. To persuade the audience these are some of the major
examples which have been explained in manner that they are considered as important and that
there should be no harm to the people. And for this, there are measures which are undertaken to
ban or make tobacco illegal. The two policies which are majorly found in the act are - Restricts
Tobacco Product Warning Labels (O’Donnell, Anderson, Jané-Llopis and et.al., 2019).
Restriction of tobacco marketing and sales to youth. This helps in knowing that the changes in
the policies have been framed and this indicates that TCA is ensuring that the changes in the
policies and laws are being framed in manner that the audience and people are taking charge of
how the things are in measure.
By making people and audience aware of the changes in the policies towards making
tobacco illegal, the health factors are analyzed and evaluated at large scale which will ensure that
the public or the audience should take concern of their health as tobacco is affecting the lives of
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them and the manner in which the policies are changed will help them to deliver the changes in
the society as well.
People in America are more concerned about their health but due to some major changes
in policies framed by TCA and the provisions are banned ensuring that tobacco is harmful for
both physical and mental health. There are increased number of taxes on cigarettes and other
tobacco products which have been imposed by federal government and there is significant
increase in usage of how many people are involved in taking concern of health and issues which
have been arising. The harm which tobacco causes to people helps in denoting that policies helps
in ensuring major changes which are in regulation with the people and this being concerning
their health and society in significant manner (Schlag, Baldwin, Barnes and et.al., 2020). The
policies framed for making tobacco illegal helps in knowing that TCA is taking measures that
people should take care of their health so that they so not fall into diseases which are caused due
to in taking tobacco. Therefore, to make tobacco illegal there are appropriate measures which are
being taken at large scale and this helps in knowing that all aspects are concerned to effectively
evaluate usage of tobacco. It is thus very important to make tobacco illegal so that intake of this
drug with nicotine is not supplied and marketed to people and they ensure leading safe and
healthy life.
CONCLUSION
Thus, it is concluded from the above report that Making Tobacco Illegal helped in drawing
the attention towards how it is harming the body and health. Evaluation, justification and
discussion were framed around the topic which was that how tobacco is causing harm to the
people of Australia. This has also helped in knowing further that justification, evaluation and
discussion was done for the changes in policy that are need to address the harm which is making
tobacco illegal. Furthermore, the report has helped in focusing the issue of how tobacco is
affecting the lives of people insignificantly at large.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Adams, P.J., Rychert, M. and Wilkins, C., 2021. Policy influence and the legalized cannabis
industry: learnings from other addictive consumption industries. Addiction.
Breton, M.O., Britton, J. and Bogdanovica, I., 2020. Changes in roll-your-own tobacco and
cigarette sales volume and prices before, during and after plain packaging legislation in
the UK. Tobacco control. 29(3). pp.263-268.
Cairney, P. and Yamazaki, M., 2018. A comparison of tobacco policy in the UK and Japan: if the
scientific evidence is identical, why is there a major difference in policy?. Journal of
Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice. 20(3). pp.253-268.
Dalgarno, P. and O'Rawe, S., 2021. Moving Deckchairs On The Titanic: Drug Policy Reform in
the UK.
Edmundson, C., Heinsbroek, E., Glass, R. and et.al., 2018. Sexualised drug use in the United
Kingdom (UK): a review of the literature. International Journal of Drug Policy. 55.
pp.131-148.
Hiscock, R., Augustin, N.H., Branston, J.R. and et.al., 2020. Standardised packaging, minimum
excise tax, and RYO focussed Tax rise implications for UK tobacco pricing. PLoS One.
15(2). p.e0228069.
Hiscock, R., Branston, J.R., McNeill, A. and et.al., 2018. Tobacco industry strategies undermine
government tax policy: evidence from commercial data. Tobacco control. 27(5).
pp.488-497.
Hurley, R., 2018. Cannabis, cannabis everywhere: UK to review medical cannabis policy as
Canada plans imminent legalisation for all uses. BMJ: British Medical Journal (Online).
361.
Nuyts, P.A., Kuipers, M.A., Willemsen, M.C. and et.al., 2020. An increase in the tobacco age-of-
sale to 21: for debate in Europe. Nicotine and Tobacco Research. 22(7). pp.1247-1249.
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O’Donnell, A., Anderson, P., Jané-Llopis, E. and et.al., 2019. Immediate impact of minimum
unit pricing on alcohol purchases in Scotland: controlled interrupted time series analysis
for 2015-18. bmj, 366.
Schlag, A.K., Baldwin, D.S., Barnes, M. and et.al., 2020. Medical cannabis in the UK: From
principle to practice. Journal of Psychopharmacology. 34(9). pp.931-937.
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