Tobacco Kills 400,000 Americans Each Year : How Come Govt. Sell Licenses To Kill Its Own People?

If Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death in United States and 400,000 people die from it each year, why not ban it completely? It doesn’t make any sense. 

How come US Government (and governments across the world) sell licenses to kill 400,000 of its own country men and women each year?

 

You know, the legislation I'm signing today represents change that's been decades in the making. Since at least the middle of the last century, we've known about the harmful and often deadly effects of tobacco products. More than 400,000 Americans now die of tobacco-related illnesses each year, making it the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. More than 8 million Americans suffer from at least one serious illness caused by smoking. And these health problems cost us all more than $100 billion a year.

-- President Barack Obama (At the signing of Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, 22nd June 2009) ( Link )

Whose interest it is to continue to allow Tobacco industry to kill 400,000 Americans every year and harm 8 million more.