Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Windexhammer t1_j2fjoga wrote

Reply to comment by mrsoojay in ELI5: It’s quite clear that alcohol and cigarettes are bad for our health, why are they still around? by kinotico

For the tobacco piece, the strongest argument I've heard in favour of keeping it legal is to avoid the creation of a black market.

I don't know about other countries, but at least in Australia where the tobacco tax is super high there is now a growing market for black market tobacco, with all the criminality and safety concerns that go along with other illicit drug trafficking activities, and that's without outright banning the stuff.

1

mrsoojay t1_j2fkjz7 wrote

Couldn’t that logic apply to other harmful substances though? Meth. Cocaine. Heroin. There’s a black market for all of those.

1