Cigarette Smoking: A Carcinogen and/or a Choice?

Though once a status symbol hanging off the lips of resident "cool kids" and teenagers in every coming-of-age movie, cigarette smoking is becoming more and more obsolete as we have become aware of the health risks of smoking, including lung and throat cancers, emphysema, and low birth weights of infants born to smoking mothers. Since 2000, the percentage of teenagers who smoke is down from 23% to 9% in 2014. Though teenagers have been brought up to know the assorted dangers of cigarette smoking, still 42.1 million American adults continue to light up, even being aware of the dangers. However, 1 out of 3 hookah indulgent college students are unaware that in one session of smoking, they inhale 100x the smoke of a single cigarette. Cigarette smoking kills over 443,000 people a year, so is it worth it to let people continue to kill themselves?

While people have always had a knack at choosing exactly what is most harmful to them, does that make it just to limit their unalienable human rights? Do you remember the 18th amendment? Though I'm glad America sobered up enough to realize that women were capable of voting one amendment later; however, just two after that, the 18th amendment was appealed by the 21st. It is to date the only amendment to be repealed from the Constitution. Why is that? Well it turns out when you tell people not to do the thing that's bad for them, they will find illegal ways to go about doing it, and put people at risk by doing so. If you find that unbelievable, ask yourself how many people that you know have smoked marijuana, because the number of people who have has increased to 35% in 2013. Check out the police blotter  on the online Rocket to see how many underage college students don't care that the drinking age is 21. Though cigarette smoking is inherently dangerous, is it reasonable to limit personal freedoms so that the adult taxpayer doesn't have a choice?