GENERAL Debates/ Discussions/Essays: Dagga: Should dagga be de-criminalised, and what is the difference between decriminalisation and legalisation? Nicotine: What are the new laws – what about old ones? Sir Walter Raleigh brought tobacco to the western world from America in the 1500's and it was contentious even then.  In 1604 King James I of England wrote an anti tobacco pamphlet called "A Counterblaste to Tobacco". King Louis XIII of France forbade its use unless prescribed by physicians, one of whom recommended "Smoking a Pipe of it, is good for the Head, Eyes, Stomach, Lungs, Rheumatism and Gout, Thickness of Hearing, Head-Ache, Tooth-Ache or Vapours. And to restore Ancient Sight and Preserve Young Eyes". The church has also been involved in the tobacco controversy.  Pope Urban VIII ordered that anyone found taking snuff in church was to be excommunicated, the Greek church forbade its use in any form, and the Swiss put tobacco prohibition in the Ten Commandments. The state also took an interest in smoking:  Turkey, Persia (Iran) and India gave the death penalty for tobacco users.  Tsar Michael I of Russia decreed whipping would be the penalty for first offenders, and for the second offence execution, whereas anyone who took snuff had their noses cut off! Discuss this and how societies views' change, and why. Alcohol: Look at alcohol advertising - who is it aimed at and what does it actually say? It causes 70% of all road accidents and 90% of all family violence; and two out of every five beds in hospital are taken up by someone with an alcohol-related condition – accident, violence, illness, etc.