It's not hard to reconcile adult freedom with protection for kids. But the people who have declared war on tobacco are not much interested in protecting adult freedom. Now, no one doubts that tobacco is dangerous, causing a great deal of disease, disability and death every year. So long ago, we decided the purchase and use of cigarettes should be left to individual choice. Tobacco, as we all know, is not a drug like any other.
Most drugs are medicines, and have to be proven safe and effective before they can be sold at all.
On the other hand, it is not an illicit drug, such as marijuana or cocaine, which you can't use or possess without the risk of going to jail. To follow the FDA's reasoning, concluded the Supreme Court, would leave it no choice but to ban cigarettes entirely. The FDA insists it wouldn't try to outlaw cigarettes, but if you think that's not the ultimate goal of anti-tobacco zealots, I have an Alaskan tobacco farm to sell you. The lesson of the last decade is that they will deploy every available government power to stop rational adults from accepting the risks of smoking. It's no stretch to see that approach as a threat to the freedom of us all.