New Drug Policy Alliance/Zogby Poll Finds 45 Percent Support Making Cigarettes Illegal

Zogby International

“Drug Policy Alliance Warns that Criminalizing Cigarettes would have Disastrous Consequences: Including Black Market Violence, Filling Prisons with Millions of Smokers

Advocates Call for Sound Public Health over Criminal Justice Responses to Legitimate Harms from Cigarettes

A new Zogby Poll commissioned by the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) found that 45 percent of Americans polled would support a federal ban on cigarettes within the next five to ten years. Surprisingly, the strongest support for making cigarettes illegal is among 18 to 29-year-olds, with 57 percent in favor of criminalizing cigarette smokers.

'We were shocked to discover that close to half of those polled support making cigarettes illegal within five to ten years,' said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance. 'While it is clearly imperative to reduce the number of people who die prematurely from cigarettes—and we certainly are not pro-tobacco—history has taught us that criminalizing people who use drugs through prohibition has disastrous consequences.' ”