I was going to write up a devil's advocate post, but I think I'm mostly fine with people having the freedom to keep smoking as long as externalities are priced

I was going to write up a devil's advocate post, but I think I'm mostly fine with people having the freedom to keep smoking as long as externalities are priced in. If smokers cost the country ~NZ$2.5 billion for their personal freedom, then the revenue produced by the tax should be ~NZ$2.5 billion. I think it boils down to if a regressive tax like that is palatable or not. However, as the smoking population dwindles (due to costs, but also increasing public awareness) and you get less people paying in, but more people pulling out of the pot, you're going to have to bump the tax that much more, causing tobacco related crime. At some point, you have to pull the plug if the smoking cohort can't pay for themselves without causing widespread crime. I don't think it should be illegal to smoke or grow your own, but a ban on selling substances does make some amount of sense.