Electronic Cigarettes and Vape Products Should Be Banned

The primary argument brought to light in the argumentative paper is that all electronic cigarettes and vape products should be banned along with other lethal products such as assault rifle weapons, tobacco product that knowingly harm the human body. This argumentative paper will discuss the various reasons why these harmful products should be banned rather than monopolized. The evidence provided will be structured in a list of premises followed by the conclusion that is drawn from the premises; supported by notable utilitarian philosophers. After a conclusion is drawn a counter argument will be provided to incorporate multiple perspectives. Once the counter argument is provided a reasoning will be provided on why the counter argument is weak and contradicts classic utilitarian beliefs. The argumentative paper will be concluded with a summary of the premises and line of reasoning used to support the above argument.

Vapes and electronic cigarettes were originally designed to help cigarette smokers overcome nicotine addiction by limiting their use and tapering down nicotine levels slowly. However over the course of the past few years the target audience of vapes and electronic cigarettes has taken a drastic change toward young adults and underage teenagers. This change in target audience has created an epidemic within the high school and university setting. Vape and electronic cigarette addicts have slowly begun seeing side effects such as: weakened lung capacity, lung failure, holes being burnt within the lungs known as “popcorn lungs.” More seriously, several people have now died as a result from vaping. Due to the recent death of vape and electronic cigarette addicts an uproar has led the United States government more specifically the Food and Drug Administration to pursue a ban on all vapes and electronic cigarettes.

In order to preserve the quality of life among the citizens of the United States it is important to account what will provide the most possible amount of pleasure over pain. Well known philosopher Jeremy Bentham states “happiness is one-dimensional: It is pleasure, pure and simple, something that varies only in the amount that an agent can experience. In this scheme, it seems that the moral ideal would be to experience maximum amounts of pleasure…” (Vaughn 157-158) This taken into account the simple one-dimensional happiness is to avoid living a painful and unhealthy lifestyle. Therefore the Food and Drug Administration should strive to have vapes and electronic cigarettes banned, alongside other products that cause pain, or in certain cases death.

Premise 1: Vapes and electronic cigarettes have caused an epidemic that has led to expansion into high schools across the United States putting undeveloped teenagers in an undesirable situation.

Premise 2: The Food and Drug Administration is putting efforts forth to ban vapes and electronic cigarettes due to the lethal effects it has.

Premise 3: In comparison to vapes and electronic cigarettes, assault rifle weapons and tobacco products lead to astronomically more deaths and long term health problems.

Conclusion: In conclusion, it is only logical that if vapes and electronic cigarettes are facing a ban in the United States that tobacco products and assault rifle weapons also face a ban in hopes of maximizing the most amount of happiness while limiting the amount of pain caused.

Opposingly if the Food and Drug Administration were to implement a ban against products such as: vapes, electronic cigarettes, assault rifle weapons, cigarettes, etc. one might argue that personal freedoms would be overly restricted. An overly active and controlling government will lead to the demise of quality of life along with a loss of a capitalist economy. John Stuart Mill defends his utilitarian perspective by stating that “maximizing total happiness is the fundamental concern, whether everyone gets an equal portion or one person gets the lion’s share.” (Vaughn 158) This meaning that happiness must be counted in units therefore if one person earns all the units the greatest amount of good has been achieved. Consequently forming a monopoly on these products is a legitimate form of utilitarianism. Additionally, capitalism is formed based on the efforts put forward and if one has worked to the point where they have created a monopoly on nicotine addiction then, they have earned the freedom to monopolize on the industry.

Evidently freedoms will be confiscated however overall millions of people will benefit from the ban implemented on vapes, electronic cigarettes, assault rifle weapons, and other tobacco products, thus following classical utilitarian belief. Vaughn emphasizes “Classic utilitarians do want to allocate the total amount of happiness among as many people as possible (thus their moto, ‘the greatest happiness for the greatest number’).” Therefore it is reasonable to make a few people suffer if it means millions of people will regain quality of life. Additionally, the counter argument is weak due to the fact that those people who receive “the lion’s share” monopolize off the pain and suffering of others, which contradicts all notable utilitarian values.

In conclusion, this position paper has argued that if vapes and electronic cigarettes are facing a potential ban then, alternative products such as assault rifle weaponry and tobacco products should face bans as well in hopes of preserving quality of life by promoting a healthier lifestyle. Vapes and electronic cigarettes were designed with the intention of replacing cigarettes however have created an epidemic which has infiltrated high schools across the United States. Vapes and electronic cigarettes have beginning to show harmful side effects that has led to death in some cases. However tobacco products and assault rifle weaponry have proven direct causes of thousands of death annually, but have yet to face a ban. Following utilitarian belief in order to preserve the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people while avoiding pain indicates that a ban on all the mentioned products is necessary even if it may lead to the demise of several multi-billion dollar industries.