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The student news site of Delphi Community High School.

Parnassus

The student news site of Delphi Community High School.

Parnassus

Higher cigarette tax may not bring expected benefits

Cigarettes have long been known as the drug of choice among people ranging from their teens to their later years. We all know of the effects of smoking and the numerous health risks cigarettes impose on our body, yet why do we continue to poison ourselves with their harmful chemicals? The answer is simple: smoking is an addiction.

According to quitnowindiana.com, there are more than 7,000 chemicals placed in cigarettes, most well known of these being nicotine, a product which causes the smoker to become physically dependent on the drug.

However, smoking does not only affect the smoker, but also the people around them. Secondhand smoke is the cause of more than 50,000 deaths a year in the United States, something that smokers could easily prevent by breaking the habit.

Luckily, Indiana has already imposed new smoke-free policies which prevent smoking in public areas. Even in West Lafayette smoking in all indoor workplaces is prohibited.

Though these smoke-free policies will definitely cut back on the amount of secondhand smoke in the air, they will not likely get smokers to stop using cigarettes.

The price of a pack of cigarettes in Indiana currently varies from $3.00 to $8.00, depending on the brand, and the price of an entire carton can cost as much as $80.00.

With the price of cigarettes already at a substantial high, would an increase in taxes really make much of a difference to the buyers?

While it may encourage smokers to kick the habit, it may not be enough to make the heavily addicted quit. So would a higher cigarette tax in Indiana be worth it?

While we all would like to think so, the unfortunate truth is that it would not likely make a smoker want to smoke less. As mentioned before, smoking is an addiction and is not something that many people can just simply stop.

 

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About the Contributor
Brittany Allen, editor
Brittany Allen is a senior at DCHS, and this is her third year on the Parnassus staff. She loves reading, drawing, and being with her friends in her free time. She is a four year member of French club and plans to attend BallStateUniversity this fall to study radiography.

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