The state of Maryland is upset that so many people are driving into Virginia to buy cheap cigarettes. Fox 5 News reports that taking more than two packs of cigarettes into Maryland is a felony, and that you aren't even allowed to pass through the state with more than one carton. At issue is the profit margins. A carton of cigarettes in Virginia costs just $22. In Maryland it goes for $40. Drive a little further up the road to New York City, and that carton is worth $75. The profit on a carload of cigarettes going to New York City runs into the thousands of dollars.

In fact, the profit is so high that drug dealers are giving up their trade to smuggle cigarettes. And rather than going to state taxes, much of that money funds organized crime and even terrorism.

But they shouldn't blame Virginia. States like Maryland who charge $1 a pack, and cities like New York who charge $3 a pack should have seen this coming. NYC Mayor Bloomberg, a Republican, balanced his budget with cigarette taxes and had planned on bringing in a financial windfall. Instead, smuggling and buttlegging are on the rise, and people are even dying in gangland turf wars.

Another irony is that illegal buttlegging takes government completely out of the loop. Gang-bangers selling illegal cigarettes on the street won't be checking IDs to make sure that they aren't selling to children. Smoking bans and sin taxes are making cigarettes more accessible to young people than before.