Generational bans as paternalism

Laws that prohibit an activity for everyone born after a fixed date (a 'smoke‑free generation') institutionalize deprivation as a cohort marker and shift regulation from one‑off prohibition to lifetime cohort exclusion. That creates a new political fault line — those permanently banned from a cultural practice versus those who keep it — which can be mobilized culturally and electorally. — Generational bans reframe public‑health regulation as durable social engineering and can fuel backlash, new political alignments, and enforcement economies (black markets, age‑verification tech).