Big Surprise; Big Tobacco Against M50

Source from:  gazettetimes.com 09/27/2007

It must be obvious to voters by now that the tobacco industry is opening the big vault in an all-out effort to prevent the passage of Measure 50. The measure would raise the price of a pack of cigarettes from $1.18 to $2.05 in Oregon to create a fund to pay for children's health care. This makes sense, as children who suffer from untreated health conditions become adults with chronic health problems. Then there's that whole uncomfortable fact that the 25 percent or so of Oregonians who smoke account for a disproportionate amount of health problems that often end up being treated in emergency rooms and paid for by us all any way. In fact, the highest demographic concentration of smokers is among people with lower incomes, so in effect the tax will benefit many of those whose children need the health coverage and don't now have it. Even they have an incentive to vote for it, but R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., the sole money behind the "Oregonians Against the Blank Check" anti-Measure 50 ads, is not going down easy. After all, their best customers are either dying, quitting or being priced out of the smoking habit. In recent years, the tobacco companies have been trying to win over supporters by stating that they know smoking is bad for you; that kids especially shouldn't do it. They've tried to prove they're now a more honest, concerned producer and seller of a proven cancer-causing, addictive product. Too bad that one of their more recent ads, which prominently mentioned the "Oregonians Against the Blank Check" as a sponsor with the added "and Reynolds American" was considered so misleading that television stations in Medford and Eugene refused to run it. Fact is, Reynolds wholly funded the "Oregonians Against the Blank Check" ad. There's no grassroots effort behind that group, unless you count Mark Nelson, the tobacco industry's chief lobbyist in Salem. We're sure some voters are opposed to the cigarette tax, although we think they're outnumbered. It's bad news for smokers and tobacco sellers if Measure 50 passes, and we do have some sympathy for smokers. It isn't fair that they should pay the full cost of a healthy kids program. Then again, it isn't fair that they should disproportionately saddle the rest of us with health care for indigent smokers, and for the children who suffer health problems due to second-hand smoke. Enditem