Until very recently, tobacco was one of the most unregulated products out there. Well, along with guns, perhaps. Up until this year, tobacco and alcohol were the ONLY two things you could put in your body that were a) legal and b) utterly unregulated by the FDA. Alcohol still is, once again, for legacy reasons that are only somewhat related to prohibition. And certainly, many arguments that get floated for why alcohol and tobacco are Special Cases, but things like pot are not, invariably invoke the fact that the early patriots included numerous brewers and tobacco farmers, and marijuana has never had that sort of cultural traction in the US. Legacy.
I mean, I'm not any more a fan of prohibition than the next guy, but let's be honest about what's behind all that, particularly in tobacco's case. Tobacco is a major industry in several states, and every regulation, even with regard to marketing and sales to children, are things that that industry has fought tooth and nail. Both products kill a whole lot of people every year, though, and despite all that, they hold a privileged place that other recreational drugs do not. Personally, instead of tobacco's model, I'd much rather we legalize pot and then actually regulate it.
