I’m truly being a pain now, I know. And I think I agree entirely with John P on the big issues. But he says there’s no positive case for smoking. That’s true in a rationalist, health-centric sort of way. But this is “for your own good” thinking which could apply to virtually all of the enjoyable things in life. I can’t believe how libertoid I’m sounding here (and how much it sounds like I’m contradicting previous statements). But if we simply went by the standard that things which have no positive case for them — other than the idiosynchratic preferences dictated by individual taste — we could ban not only smoking but fatty foods, heavy drinking, extensive sun bathing, sky diving, breast implants, couch-slothery and all manner of sexual behaviors and lifestyles, including those which incorporate smoking, couches, fatty foods, sky diving and augmented you-know-whats which may or may tan properly. etc.