Addiction comes in all shapes and sizes. One can be addicted to gambling or nicotine, cannabis or alcohol. Even the most well-intentioned, well-regarded individuals can succumb to what is essentially a disease, a chronic brain disorder. And the last thing governments should be doing is further accommodating addicts (or prospective addicts) by making these substances and behaviors too accessible and attractive. Most politicians and policymakers understand this. The ravages of addiction on society are painfully obvious enough. And yet there is one circumstance when even the most thoughtful elected officials can be lured down the primrose path.

It’s the danger of sin taxes.

On Wednesday, Gov. Wes Moore indicated his support for overturning Maryland’s longstanding ban on allowing grocery stores to sell beer and wine. We suspect most Marylanders agree with him. It would certainly be more convenient if, for example, a harried couple buying dinner party supplies could pick up everything they needed from soup to nuts — and maybe a nice pinot noir — at their local Harris Teeter. Most states allow it including Maryland’s neighbors. Yet consider the context of the governor’s newfound support.

Right now, the Moore administration and state lawmakers are in search of easy (that is, politically viable) sources of revenue to address a looming budget deficit estimated to be in the neighborhood of $2.7 billion in the next fiscal year. Alcohol taxes are a rather nice moneymaker for the state — more than $300 million per year. Boosting sales won’t solve the problem (or come anywhere near it given the state’s general fund tax revenues exceed $25 billion) but throw in tobacco, gambling and cannabis and it’s not hard to see the possibilities, especially compared with far more controversial measures like raising the state sales, income or property tax rates.

This week, it was announced that Maryland sports wagering reached a record high with $640 million bet through sportsbook and sports mobile apps. That was up 8% from October and 16% from a year ago. And cannabis? That might be the brightest spot for the taxman of all. Maryland’s retail sales of marijuana are expected to top $1.1 billion in the current fiscal year producing over $100 million in revenue thanks to the state’s 9% cannabis sales tax.

Too easily lost in these happy numbers are some of the sadder consequences of promoting these products. There are well-known adverse health consequences to tobacco and alcohol use. One of the reasons state lawmakers have been skeptical of grocery store beer and wine sales wasn’t just the clout of the liquor store lobby in Annapolis but the real danger that increased availability of alcohol would mean for low-income city neighborhoods. Or in traffic deaths. Maryland records an average of 158 fatalities and 2,743 injuries each year from impaired driving.

Even sports wagering has a downside. Placing a few bets on the Ravens or Orioles perhaps can be harmless fun. But it can also become an addiction where individuals crave the experience and are willing to take losses they can’t afford with serious financial consequences. That doesn’t mean Maryland was wrong to legalize sports gambling three years ago (illegal betting can cause these same adverse effects as well) but it does suggest that perhaps there ought to be some limits — or at least some reluctance to encourage unchecked growth.

And this is the ultimate danger of covering more of the cost of state government with sin tax revenue — the desire to accommodate, maybe even encourage, more and more and more potentially addictive behavior. The less obvious cost, as measured in human suffering including financial hardship, vehicle crashes and so on, only grows. It can be a subtle thing. People will drink, smoke, take drugs and gamble regardless of state laws. But some restraint needs to be shown in the State House. Again, that doesn’t mean giving people the chance to buy a six-pack of their favorite craft beer at the Giant instead of at Total Wine & More puts them on the highway to hell. It means some sensible guardrails need to be maintained.