Although smoking became more popular in the United States after World War II and was permitted everywhere, in 1964 the Chief Surgeon General issued a report on smoking causing lung cancer and other diseases such as cardiovascular disease and stroke, respiratory disease, disease and cancer. In 1965, Congress passed a law requiring cigarette companies to label every package with a health warning label (healthliteracy.worled.org). In the 1980s, the government and state structures began to take action by banning smoking in public places due to the health risks affecting both smokers and the people around them. To reduce smoking, smoking is now prohibited in many public places; every year the government approves higher and higher taxes on tobacco products (healthliteracy.worled.com). So the question remains: why not ban smoking altogether? I will argue that smoking should be banned; it is dangerous for the smoker and others, it is expensive and it is addictive. Cigarette smoking kills more than 480,000 people every year in the United States alone; these deaths are the result of lung cancer, COPD, coronary heart disease, pneumonia, prenatal conditions, and sudden infant death syndrome (AmericanLungAssociation.gov). According to the New World Encyclopedia, approximately 90% of lung cancers and approximately 80% of all COPD are caused by smoking, and the number of deaths over the past 50 years has only increased. Cigarettes and other tobacco products have killed more than ten times the number of people who have died in all the wars ever fought by the United States combined. This only covers diseases that kill their victims, there are still many other tobacco-related diseases that mutilate parts of the body, but do not always result in death. These diseases... with which they will be confronted... middle of paper, will surely continue to drain the already faltering coffers of the United States of America. Hundreds of thousands of Americans die every year from completely preventable tobacco-related diseases. Thousands more are afflicted with horrendous, debilitating and disfiguring diseases. This is unacceptable, if the loss of even one person can be avoided, it should be; Banning cigarettes and other tobacco-related products will save hundreds of thousands if not millions of lives. This is the most important reason to ban tobacco, it costs nothing, it doesn't ruin someone's day because they want another puff, it doesn't cause problems for the government, nor does it cost money; will allow a mother to watch her child grow up, challenge a friend to be friends for life, and grant a couple the ability to grow old together.