A more relevant current comparison would be the outright banning of all tobacco. No one has seriously proposed this, though there are good arguments to be made. But several states would find such a ban unacceptable

I have frequently told people (without any research to support it, but suspect that I am indeed correct) that the government could show a net profit (well, actually, a net reduction of losses) if they simply took everybody in the country who made any part of their living from the tobacco business, computed their average income over the past two years, and then paid them that amount every year for the rest of their life as compensation for banning tobacco. The savings in health costs alone would pay for this.

tanstaafl.