What you say about illegal imports is not quite correct. One of the main concerns about illegally imported cigarettes is about quality standards.

A lot of illegal imports don't originate from Europe but are manufactured in the Third World. Many Third World countries have different standards regarding tar and nicotine levels and the presence of other chemicals.

In addition, many are counterfeit (like much of the perfume and all the DVDs) and are much worse for the smoker than the UK-regulated ones.

That being said, heroin users would at least have the choice of buying from a safe and predictable supplier from whom they could seek redress if the product was faulty.

And of course, if we had free trade in such products consumers could make informed choices and the counterfeiters could be squeezed out of the market.

Sadly, this debate falls foul of the usual illiberal belief that people cannot be trusted to make their own minds up.