Society bans lots of things for lots of reasons, but in general they fall into two categories: things that are bad, and things that might lead to things that are bad.
For example, burglary is illegal. So is the possession of burglary tools.
An intermediate step is targeted taxation. Society thinks that smoking leads to bad things, so we tax it extra. The same is true of alcohol and gasoline. Now they're talking about taxing soda pop.
Over time, more and more things are being banned or restricted because they might lead to bad things happening. One must register with the government to buy my favorite allergy medicine. Driving a car without wearing a seatbelt, riding a motorcycle without wearing a helmet, living within a certain distance of a school after committing certain kinds of offenses, carrying a gun, taking powerful drugs without a prescription, and more are illegal in various places (de facto if not de jure).
What if we only banned things that were actually bad?
What if we only banned things that hurt other people?
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