Heroin is somewhat different in that a heroin addict, while under the influence, isn't 'good' for much of anything in a societal sense, a nicotine addict could be programming the Next Big Thing while lighting up, but the dangerous effects of heroin are mostly due to it's illegal status. Injection (the most 'efficient' way to get high) is very dangerous as is the social and physical milieu surrounding an addict's lifestyle.
Smoking tobacco is also a pretty dangerous delivery method. Neither drug, by itself, is as toxic as alcohol (or the entertaining and common mixture of tylenol and alcohol).
So, one needs to be careful about how these stats are figured. It's easy to compare apples and oranges.
My major point is that 'recreational' (as opposed to therapeutic) drug use is never 'good' for you but that society needs to balance a number of harms both to it's individuals and as an aggregate. Criminalization seems to be the worst answer of all.