Regulating tobacco

Regulating or controlling the production and use of tobacco based products depends upon the legal classification of tobacco substances either as drugs or as foodstuffs. Controlled drugs are limited in their availability while foodstuffs are generally available.

Increasing the price of tobacco (through taxation) and using the profits from tobacco sales for smoking prevention and cessation programmes.

The US Food and Drug Administration are presently considering whether to regulate nicotine as a drug. This would enable the government to restrict the way cigarettes are made and sold. Federal law states that a substance must be regulated as a drug if the manufacturer intentionally use it to 'affect the structure or function of the body" of consumers.