New Zealand this week banned smoking for the next generation.

Those under 14 will never be allowed to legally smoke in their lifetime. Australia is not far behind with health experts calling on the government to also completely ban retail cigarette sales to curb smoking. Yet these experts and the Australian government don’t seem to realise that banning goods off the market only makes them spread like wildfire.

Public health experts liken banning retail cigarette sales to banning things like lead paint or asbestos, but this analogy fails to take into account a simple truth: no one has ever been addicted to...