PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Kalle Grill
AU  - Kristin Voigt
TI  - The case for banning cigarettes
AID  - 10.1136/medethics-2015-102682
DP  - 2016 May 01
TA  - Journal of Medical Ethics
PG  - 293--301
VI  - 42
IP  - 5
4099  - http://jme.bmj.com/content/42/5/293.short
4100  - http://jme.bmj.com/content/42/5/293.full
SO  - J Med Ethics2016 May 01; 42
AB  - Lifelong smokers lose on average a decade of life vis-à-vis non-smokers. Globally, tobacco causes about 5–6 million deaths annually. One billion tobacco-related deaths are predicted for the 21st century, with about half occurring before the age of 70. In this paper, we consider a complete ban on the sale of cigarettes and find that such a ban, if effective, would be justified. As with many policy decisions, the argument for such a ban requires a weighing of the pros and cons and how they impact on different individuals, both current and future. The weightiest factor supporting a ban, we argue, is the often substantial well-being losses many individuals suffer because of smoking. These harms, moreover, disproportionally affect the disadvantaged. The potential gains in well-being and equality, we argue, outweigh the limits a ban places on individuals’ freedom, its failure to respect some individuals’ autonomous choice and the likelihood that it may, in individual cases, reduce well-being.