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Tobacco addiction is one of the worst addictions, with the number of tobacco users and smokers having crossed the one billion-mark worldwide. What is a cause for concern is that smoking has been and is being marketed as a fashionable product; a product that is projected to be responsible for the death of over half a million smokers this year.

Tobacco is being promoted and projected as a consumer product. Not being aware of the harmful effects of tobacco, the young generation is sucked into believing that it is fashionable to smoke. At an influential age, the youngsters lap up every advertisement targeted at them and take to smoking without realizing the ill effects waiting to consume them. For that matter, you may call tobacco a “consumer product”, because it “consumes” your health and even your life, if you are not that lucky.

It is unbelievable that such a harmful product that causes addiction, sickness and even painful death, is allowed to be marketed freely. Tobacco is among the few anti-health products that are legally allowed to be sold as consumer products. Such is the impact of the bombardment of cigarette smoking advertisements that the warning label on every cigarette pack is overlooked. It is the ‘it-can-never-happen-to-me' attitude coupled with glamour attached to smoking, which is the undoing of most smokers.

Smoking is a serious addiction and every addict needs help urgently to get out of the habit. Tobacco reform laws need to be strict, in addition to heavy imposition of taxes, which can discourage people from getting addicted. The idea is to make the availability of tobacco and nicotine difficult. People may argue that despite the ban on drugs, and their availability at prohibitive prices drug trade continues to flourish. The counter to such arguments is what could have been the situation today had the consumption of drugs not been illegalized. We may have had to confront a situation where every household had a drug addict or two.

Imposing a sudden ban on smoking or use of nicotine is not a very practical solution. This will leave the addicts high and dry. The entire process has to be a well thought out exercise. Educational programs on the ill effects of smoking need be developed, along with all possible professional and emotional help to help people get out the addiction. This is going to be a massive common exercise involving the state, the corporate world, and of course, the common man.