Tobacco.org

• Judge tosses suit challenging tobacco settlement 

A federal judge has dismissed a challenge to the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between the states and 19 tobacco product makers saying there's no legal basis for attacking the compact.

U.S. District Judge Jennifer Coffman ruled Tuesday that the lawsuit, brought by General Tobacco, failed on all fronts because the company couldn't prove the settlement amounted to either a conspiracy or anti-competitive behavior by the government. . . .

General Tobacco, the sixth-largest tobacco company in the U.S. and maker of GT-One brand cigarettes, sued 52 attorneys general and the tobacco makers, seeking more than $1 billion in damages. It also asked the court to stop states from penalizing the company for not making payments while the lawsuit was pending in U.S. District Court in Louisville.

The company argued that the Master Settlement Agreement between tobacco companies and states is more expensive for new entrants to the industry.

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• Central Virginia benefitting from tobacco settlement money  

Some of Virginia's "tobacco settlement" money this year helped pay for cattle chutes, a set of metal bars that makes it a little easier and safer for Eric Morgan and farmers like him to do the work that leads to better herds of beef cattle.

Bedford County farmers who had the right qualifications found 38 grants were available this year -- of up to $3,000 each -- when Virginia's Tobacco Commission chose to fund a Central Virginia Beef Expansion Project.

Much larger amounts of tobacco settlement money have gone into a broadband network, college scholarships, and economic-development projects of every stripe since 2000, when Virginia started disbursing funds it gained from the National Tobacco Settlement.

Central Virginia Community College and entities in three nearby counties -- Appomattox, Bedford and Campbell -- benefited from $10.7 million in Tobacco Commission money over those years.

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Tobacco Taxes and Payments for New York  

New York's excise tax per pack of cigarettes: $1.500

New York's excise tax collection for the fiscal year ending June 2007: $936,457,000

Sales tax on tobacco products: 4.00%

Tobacco products sales tax collection for the fiscal year ending June 2007: $136,362,000

Local tax on tobacco products: $227,689,500

Federal excise tax per pack of cigarettes: $0.39

Total federal excise tax collections in fiscal year 2007: $7,307,440,000

Click here for the Cigarette Tax and Payment Table for all states.

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EDITORIAL: No smoking: Teen smoking rates drop. Time for legislation to help more quit.  

According to researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the number of high school students who smoke fell from 20.3 percent to 19 percent in 2007.

That’s a significant drop. But not nearly good enough.

Imagine if one out of every five high school students in the state was diagnosed with cancer. Parents and legislators alike would be vigilant to find a cure as quickly as possible. . . .

Yet when it comes to smoking, we won’t even enact laws to protect the innocent from the deadly consequences of second-hand smoke. . . .

Government has, in a way, become a co-conspirator with the tobacco companies. Since 1998, when a settlement was reached, the states have received $203.5 billion in tobacco-generated revenues — $79.2 billion from the settlement and an additional $124.3 billion in taxes from tobacco sales. The more cigarettes that companies like Philip Morris sell, the more money the states take in.

A substantial portion of that money was intended to be used to curb smoking and to care for those already ailing from smoking-related diseases. But so far only a measly $6.5 billion, or 3.2 percent, of the funds have been used to prevent smoking. There is a fear, in some levels of government, that if smokers stop altogether, it might mean the loss of a steady source of state revenue. We’ve agreed to turn a blind eye to smokers, for a nominal fee.

Thankfully, teenagers still have that knack for spotting hypocrisy in adults. They’re on to us.

They get that nicotine is an addiction that they can live better and longer without.

Now if only our legislators would act as wisely.

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• Teenage smoking at record lows  

Where Big Tobacco once called the political shots, state programs are cutting into the cigarette companies' future customer base.

North Carolina's anti-smoking programs have cut teenage smoking to record low levels, according to a new study by researchers at UNC Chapel Hill's medical school.

The percentage of middle school students who smoke dropped from 5.8 percent in 2005 to 4.5 percent in 2007; the share of high school students who smoke fell from 20.3 percent to 19 percent, according to what's billed as the first comprehensive independent evaluation of the state Health and Wellness Trust Fund's anti-smoking efforts.

Smoking among kids in ninth through 12th grades has declined nationally from a peak of 36.4 percent in 1997. That drop flattened in 2003, a trend bucked by the recent declines here.

The trust fund gets a quarter of the state's payments from the 1998 national settlement . . .

Among several recommendations, they said the state needed to do more to reach young adults who aren't in college. The trust fund plans to do more about adult smoking, with test programs set to launch in January that will target smoking among two groups that are particularly vulnerable: pregnant women and people with mental illness.

For now, the trust fund has three anti-smoking initiatives: a set of programs aimed mainly at teens; another set aimed at college students; and a free telephone counseling service called QuitlineNC to help those who want to quit or help someone else quit.

At Broughton High School in Raleigh, students walk across the street to a spot known as "Smokers Corner" to light up.

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Editorial: Health sign for teens 

A decline in teenage smoking is a positive sign for North Carolina and the health of young people who are forgoing tobacco use now and, more than likely, will continue to do so in the future.

The gains cited recently by researchers at UNC Chapel Hill's medical school showed up among two critical age groups — middle school and high school students. . . .

The group and others like it around the state are funded through the state Health and Wellness Trust Fund, which gets payments from the 1998 national settlement with tobacco companies. The decline in teen smoking shows that the trust fund money directed toward these efforts ($17.1 million this year) is well spent, especially as it helps spread the anti-smoking message among more young people. Most tobacco users pick up the habit in their youth. A decline in teen tobacco use now should translate into a healthier population in the future — and medical savings for society as whole.

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GUY: Don't make smokers suffer even more with higher state tax  

The Florida tobacco tax currently is 34 cents a pack, which doesn't sound like much, but don't let that deceive you. Smokers also pay a 39 cent federal tax, along with a hidden tax disguised as exorbitant prices. The steep cost of cigarettes is the result of legal settlements with tobacco companies that brought billions of dollars into state coffers.

The alleged goal of tobacco lawsuits a decade ago was to win reimbursement for the money states paid out in smoking-related medical costs. Along the way, the lawsuits turned some multimillionaire attorneys into mega-multimillionaires, as state attorneys generals worked in cahoots with private law firms. . . .

The state-initiated lawsuits represented possibly the biggest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich since the days of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, and look what happened to them.

There are several interests that would cheer an increase in Florida's tobacco tax. Among them are the Seminole and Miccosukee tribes, which would see their sales of tax-free cigarettes rise appreciably.

Organized crime also would benefit. Cigarette smuggling already is a problem. Years ago, a New York official says it was more profitable to hijack a truck loaded with cigarettes than a Brink's truck.

Given these tough economic times, don't add to the burden of police, or to the financial burdens of the state's tobacco addicts, by raising the cigarette tax.

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• EDITORIAL: Up in Smoke 

Gov. Tim Kaine proposes raising Virginia's cigarette tax to help balance the state budget without making further cuts in important services such as Medicaid. There are sound reasons to support such a hike. Cigarettes hardly qualify as essential; people certainly don't need them the way they need, say, medical care. Virginia has a fairly low tobacco tax. And Kaine is not trying to balance the budget on the backs of the Old Dominion's tobacco industry. The tax hike is just one part of a series of measures, including budget cuts and layoffs in the state workforce. . . .

If Virginia had used the settlement money for its intended purposes, then the governor probably would not find it necessary to shore up Medicaid funding now. So the strongest argument against raising the cigarette tax might be this question: If state leaders could not be trusted to use money from the tobacco settlement agreement as they should have then, why should voters trust them with more money from higher tobacco taxes now?

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• EDITORIAL: Up in Smoke 

Gov. Tim Kaine proposes raising Virginia's cigarette tax to help balance the state budget without making further cuts in important services such as Medicaid. There are sound reasons to support such a hike. Cigarettes hardly qualify as essential; people certainly don't need them the way they need, say, medical care. Virginia has a fairly low tobacco tax. And Kaine is not trying to balance the budget on the backs of the Old Dominion's tobacco industry. The tax hike is just one part of a series of measures, including budget cuts and layoffs in the state workforce. . . .

If Virginia had used the settlement money for its intended purposes, then the governor probably would not find it necessary to shore up Medicaid funding now. So the strongest argument against raising the cigarette tax might be this question: If state leaders could not be trusted to use money from the tobacco settlement agreement as they should have then, why should voters trust them with more money from higher tobacco taxes now?

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1990s: 10 key events 

1998: LAWSUIT EXPOSES TRUTHS OF TOBACCO

It's only appropriate that Minnesota, the state that pioneered clean indoor air, was a leader in the landmark legal action that brought the tobacco industry to its knees. The state, along with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, reached a $6.1 billion settlement and that money has been used to gild attorneys' offices as well as pay for smoking cessation programs.

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• Tobacco wholesale company sued for failure to pay $18.4 million  

Federal attorneys have filed suit against a tobacco wholesale company owned by Arthur "Sugar" Montour, a former Seneca tribal councillor, for failing to pay $18.4 million in federal tobacco settlement assessments.

Montour's company, Native Wholesale Supply Co., located on the Cattaraugus Reservation, is the exclusive American distributor for Seneca and Opal brand cigarettes manufactured in Canada by Grand River Enterprises, a Native American company.

Justice Department attorneys representing the U. S. Department of Agriculture allege that Native Wholesale Supply has failed to pay federal assessments for 2006 through 2008, as required under the tobacco master settlement agreement. . . .

Seneca brand cigarettes are one of the best-selling Native American brands, and Grand River Enterprises has faced legal action by 30 state attorneys general, alleging the company has skirted requirements to comply with the agreement reached with the major U. S. tobacco companies.

Grand River, in turn, has filed a lawsuit against the state attorneys general in U. S. District Court in the Southern District of New York, as well as an action against the United States in an international tribunal, claiming damages under the North American Free Trade Agreement.

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Miss. attorney gets 3 years in bribery case  

A Mississippi attorney convicted of conspiring to influence a judge in a major judicial bribery case has been sentenced to three years in federal prison.

Attorney Joey Langston was sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty in January to trying to intervene in a lawsuit against well-known plaintiffs' lawyer Richard "Dickie" Scruggs. . . .

Scruggs, who took on tobacco companies for a record $206 billion settlement, went to prison in August for conspiring to bribe another Mississippi judge in a separate case linked to the same complex investigation.

Prosecutors recommended the sentence based on Langston's help in the investigation against Scruggs.

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• CHILES III: Honor Chiles' legacy by giving Florida children priority 

Ten years ago this month marks the anniversary of the death of former Florida governor, and my father, Lawton Chiles. While he will long be remembered for many things, the issue closest to his heart was the health and well-being of Florida's children. . . .

By closing tax loopholes and identifying potential funding sources, like a $1 tobacco tax -- which many groups have been promoting -- the state could raise over $1 billion to support our children.

My father recognized that making children a priority was critical to our future as a state and as a country. Our state is facing an unprecedented budget crisis. But that is no excuse not to do what's right for our children. We need to make smarter investments for children now. If we fail to invest wisely in our children now, we will pay more later on -- in police, in prosecution, in prison and remediation of all kinds.

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LETTER: Crist, don’t drain fund for children 

Levying a one-cent tax increase on cigarettes is a much better and more suitable source for funds. Heck, make it two cents! By doing that, you may even improve Floridians' lives by encouraging smokers to cut down or quit smoking!

So please do something that will benefit your state while you raise the necessary cash to remedy whatever budgeting errors made this crisis occur. Don't fix one mistake by making another!

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State fails to find buyers for tobacco-money bonds  

State administrators have hit a glitch in their plan to gain $183 million in immediate cash for the rights to future payments from cigarette makers. The problem? Nobody wants to pay the asking price.

Legislators voted last year to sell off the rights to about $16 million a year that Iowa receives from tobacco companies. The payments are the result of a 1998 lawsuit settlement, in which the companies agreed to pay up to $2 billion to Iowa over 25 years.

Iowa sold off the rights to most of those payments for about $500 million in 2002. State officials hoped to do the same with what's left, but they have been unable to find investors willing to pay the asking price.

State Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald said the credit market has tightened, and the best he could hope to raise would be $130 million to $150 million. "Right now, nobody wants tobacco bonds," Fitzgerald said.

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