Ban Supply or Decrease Demand?

Reason TV has put out the following YouTube video listing a bunch of products banned in the past year.

Pretty impressive list, eh?  Sure, some of those products and practices are bad.  Who really believes that cigarettes are good for you?  But I got to thinking: are we going about it all wrong?  Instead of banning the supply, how about doing a root cause on the reasons for the demand?  How can we change the demand pattern?  There must be another way instead of creating yet more enforcement bureaucracy; think about how wide and deep that bureaucracy cascades into the rest of society. 

An example?  How about fur coats.  As much as I dislike the often terrorist-like tactics of PETA, they have done a very effective job of changing the perception of fur.  They have changed the demand, and in doing so have taken a major bite out of a dispicable and cruel fashion practice. 

The supply wasn't changed until the demand was changed.