It is unusual to conclude an essay by emphasizing what the essay has not said. The debate on smoking is unusual. Anti-smokers have trouble understanding why there is even a debate.
Smokers feel besieged and defensive.
This is why I emphasize that the present essay is not about whether, in principle, government should regulate tobacco. My theme has been that, in practice, tobacco regulation may miss its objective of decreasing smoking. Regulation seems to gather steam only after smoking starts its decline in the population. Regulation seems well-coordinated with tax increases on smokers. The message of this paper is that before asking government to regulate tobacco we must ask whether friends, family, and colleagues are not already imposing their own informal restrictions on smokers.