Social harms caused by tobacco are much less visible than things like "someone stole my catalytic converter for drug money." Also, yeah, cigarettes are bad, but

Social harms caused by tobacco are much less visible than things like "someone stole my catalytic converter for drug money." Also, yeah, cigarettes are bad, but we're talking about something that kills you in the span of 4-5 decades vs something that can wreck lives in a span of months. I'm also not saying that it's good for people to think "legal = safe," I'm just saying that it is in fact what people often think, and it would cause a lot of bad PR to lean heavily into legalization while that perception is still around.