Answer 1:
That's a good question and it's nice of you to
think about how companies might stay in business
if they decide not to sell a crop that is bad for
people. I think that over time, what you are
asking about is happening naturally. Smoking is
much less prevalent today than it was decades ago
because of a very strong public awareness campaign
about the harms of smoking and an increasing
number of regulations and taxes against tobacco
and smoking. So, your question is really more of
an economics question than a science one.
Companies that can no longer make enough money off
of growing tobacco or off of growing tobacco
alone, will have to find other ways of making
money or other products to sell. Many of them
already do this. For example, Philip Morris, one
of the 3 biggest Tobacco companies in the US, owns
many brands that you might not expect, including
Kraft, which is one of the biggest food producers
in the United States and owns sub-brands including
Jell-O, Maxwell House coffee, Oreos and Wheat
Thins, just to name a few!
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Answer 2:
This is an economics question rather than a
scientific question. The answer is basically
supply and demand: there are people who want
tobacco, and are willing to pay for it. If tobacco
were to become more scarce, the people who still
wanted it would be willing to go to greater
lengths and spend more money to still get it. Make
it illegal, create a black market. The only way to
get people away from tobacco is to either make it
entirely unavailable or by curing its users of
their addiction.
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