Tobacco and alcohol Negative Impacts Essay Example for Free

Tobacco and alcohol Negative Impacts Essay Today, controversial questions are now rising like â€Å"Are law makers being duped into thinking that legal drugs are the more dangerous, not because of their intrinsic qualities, but simply because they are more widely used?† and â€Å"Should not we be worried about what will happen when current illegal drugs are legalized and much more widely used?†   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Lawmakers claim that the legal drugs, alcohol and tobacco, are more dangerous than has been acknowledged and, in fact more dangerous than the illegal drugs like heroin, marijuana, and cocaine. (Van, 1984) Ideologically speaking it is discriminatory and unfair if alcohol and tobacco are freely sold and that illegal drugs are not. Empirically, alcohol and tobacco are medically more harmful than cocaine, heroin, and other illegal drugs.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Around four hundred thirty thousand Americans die per year because of tobacco and more than one hundred thousand die because of alcohol. While illegal drugs only adds up to a mere three thousand five hundred a year. It is surprising that tobacco and alcohol kill hundreds and thousands of users and nonusers as well, counting victims of homicide, accidents and passive smoke.(Nadelemann, 1989). This only proves that tobacco and alcohol is almost one hundred fifty times more dangerous than illegal drugs. Criminalization makes illegal drugs harmful. (Van, 1985) Legalizing them will make them less harmful. Why? Their production and dosage will be regulated and will be standardized. These will sure have a dramatic reduction in mortality rate for illegal drugs. In terms of chronic medical effect, these drugs do not cause any medical pathology as compared with alcohol and tobacco cigarettes do. Any drugs cannot match the ravaging impact of alcohol in the liver and tobacco’s carcinogenic impact on the lungs. Reference Grinspoon, Lester, and James B. Bakalar. 1993. Marihuana: The Forbidden Medicine.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press. Nadelmann, Ethan A. 1990. Should Some Illegal Drugs Be Legalized? Legalization Is the Answer. Issues in Science and Technology, 6 (Summer): 43-46. Van Natta, Pearl, Henry Malin, Darryl Bertolucci, and Charles Kaelber. 1984-85. The   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Hidden Influence of Alcohol on Mortality. Alcohol Health and Research World, 9   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   (Winter): 56-59. Weaver, Mary Anne. 1995. Children of Jihad. The New Yorker, June 12, pp.40-47.