This simple fact that the rate of smoking is in a sharp decline explains a lot about the rush to ban its use; on the one hand, the expected health benefits from such a rapid and sudden cessation have yet to materialize and on the other, the mob-mentality of the newly empowered majority frees them from any previous inhibitions against their long-perceived enemies who interfered with their righteousness.
The parallels between the current rush to punishment of the now ostracized smoking class and the witchhunts of old is stark in its progression.
The thinking among the regulators know they must act quickly before the the fire that now burns is extinguished by its own inertia.
My comment was, we'd have been better off if the Indians had kept tobacco a secret. Now, everybody thinks I'm out to steal their Marlboros.