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This Is The Classic Apples And Oranges Debate. Why Are

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This is the classic apples and oranges debate. Why are drugs like tobacco and alcohol legal when they cause more harm to people than illegal drugs such as cannabis? This is a question many people and professionals ask themselves constantly. Based on past history alcohol was illegal during the 1920s known as the prohibition era. Federal and local government struggled to enforce the prohibition over the course of the 1920s. Even though it decreased drunken arrests and dropped alcohol consumption by 30 percent; there was still people that didn’t agree with the law and found inventive ways to get around it. That’s when “bootlegging” (illegal manufacturing and sale of liquor), “speakeasies” (stores or nightclubs selling alcohol), and the …show more content…

It can cause cancer, peptic ulcers, cardiomyopathy, and liver cirrhosis. Not only that, but people who chronically drink alcohol may get deficiencies in thiamin (vitamin B1), and this can lead to Korsakoff 's syndrome. Alcohol is also extremely addictive. And it is the main reason why drunk driving exists. That’s why organizations such as MADD exists today because they are trying to prevent more innocent lives being taken away because a person was driving under the influence.
Now, just like alcohol people also have an issue as to why tobacco is still legal. Tobacco consumption and its appeal have really changed from the 1920s to today’s society. Tobacco was a global crop by the 1620 and by the 1700s it became very popular in Europe. Everybody was smoking tobacco and there was much money to be made because of it. It also helped that nicotine was highly addictive. During World War I the cigarette was invented. Cigarettes would be used to calm nerves of decrease appetite. By the 1950s Americans were buying a total of 8.4 million pounds of tobacco a year. America was the leading country in cigarette production. Then when it reached Hollywood and how glamorous smoking looked everyone wanted to do it as well. Classic stars such as Bette Davis, Paul Henreid and Audrey Hepburn glamorized cigarette smoking making it a big impact to the common people that idolized them to also smoke because their favorite celebrities

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