Let me deal first with the positive side of smoking. First, many people like to smoke before exams or when they are relaxing with friends. A further point is that governments throughout the world make huge profits from levying taxes on cigarettes. This provides funds which are used for building schools, hospitals and other public amenities. The tobacco industry also employs tens of thousands of people throughout the world, particularly in poorer countries like Zimbabwe or India. Without cigarettes, these people would have no jobs.

However, despite these points, the arguments against smoking are very much stronger. There is no getting away from the fact that smoking has always shown the dangers to health; heart disease, bronchitis and lung cancer are to name a few.

In my opinion, not only is it arrogant, but it’s rude and ill-mannered to think that these people are killing themselves when most have loving families. You'll always seem to find that one selfish person who throws their money (and life) away toward tobacco or cigarettes and couldn't care less about their own children. Not only does it give children a negative influence, but it also puts them at the risk of health problems like asthma. It has become fashionable in the world today to condemn smoking, yet smokers pride themselves on completely ignoring everyone who tells them different.

Nonetheless, that’s just the smokers! There is also a rising concern today about passive smoking. I have already talked about the dangers of parents smoking in front of children; this is just one more reason they shouldn’t. Research has shown that non-smokers (including children) can suffer also serious health problems if they spend long periods of time among people who do smoke.

Yet another issue is that, smoking costs the government millions of pounds because of the large number of people who need