Bad in so many ways, but the worst of all:
A source of revenue (tobacco taxes) is severely restricted. This would not be so bad, by itself, but the revenue from this source has ALREADY been dedicated to certain programs, which shall then have to be funded from the general revenue sources, either reducing that amount available to other programs, or instituting a cry for “higher taxes” on other revenue sources.
Illinois pretty much gets the kind of government they deserve.
If it wasn’t for Chicago, Illinois would be a great place to live.
Government subsidies, regulation, taxation, and protection of tobacco have resulted in a mess, predictably. Absent government intervention, market and legal forces would have eliminated tobacco use in this country a generation ago, and we would all be better off for it. But instead the Momma Government has stepped in to protect the tobacco manufacturers from legal liability in exchange for protection money, and Momma is now more addicted to the protection money than any smoker ever was to nicotine.
I wish just one state would have the guts to take a completely hands-off approach to tobacco. No labeling, no taxes, no out-of-court settlements, no nothing. Let the tobacco companies sink or swim on the merits. The lawyers would have the carcass picked clean within a year.