[excession]

Lots of hobbies and games are addictive.
Chess, World of Warcraft, The Sims, Starcraft, Hunting, Magic the Gathering, Stamp Collecting, Steam Railways, Sports Fishing, Quilt-making etc. You will find examples of lots of people in society whose 'addiction' to these may impact on their 9 to 5 jobs, personal finances or personal relationships.

You need to stop assuming that
(a) folks that are 'addicted' to poker all have a 'gambling problem' - a great many enjoy the challenge and cameraderie - there is probably an inverse correlation between being a high volume player and an andrenaline junky and
(b) 'losing' players are all in danger of seriously harming their personal finances.

Approximately 1 in 3 adult males in the UK have tried online poker. Several of the younger guys in my office play. None are long-terms winners. They mostly play MTT's with buy-ins from free to $10 or so maybe once or twice a week. They are in no danger of poker having any significant financial impact on their lives. Their monthly poker spend is probably the cost of a night out per month and they get maybe 10-15 hours of entertainment out of it.

Of course there are gambling addicts out there who just 'take a shot' at a high stakes table with money they can't afford to lose with no regard for skill level or bankroll management and they will often lose. But they would have done the same on a spin of a roulette wheel or slot machines anyway. Their gambling addiction has ruined them, not poker. Poker happened to be the vehicle of their ruin, not it's cause.

The only exception would be a type of person who is already a gambling addict but who is somehow lured into thinking that he is safe to play poker as it's a 'game of skill, not gambling'. It is if you choose to play it as such, but of course he won't. Those sorts of people however are a tiny minority and there isn't utility in banning a hobby that gives pleasure to millions worldwide for the sake of protecting a tiny % from themselves.