Smoked out-In the end, the massive settlement penalized those who light up Not the Tobacco Co.

Boston Globe ^ | 5/19/2002 | W. Kip Viscusi

[SheLion]

The landmark 1998 settlement of state cigarette suits for $243 billion broke all records for civil litigation in the United States, yet it set an unfortunate precedent and remains widely misunderstood.

Faced with a series of lawsuits by state attorneys general across the country, the tobacco industry brokered the settlement in two separate deals. First, it settled with four states for $37 billion, then with the remaining 46, including Massachusetts, for $206 billion. Both the litigation and the settlement were novel in many respects.

[SheLion]

Lung cancer cured my office mate's smoking.. Terrible way to die.

My 300 pound office worker had to take an early retirement. Too fat to work. Terrible way to lose money.

[Max McGarrity]

Lung cancer cured my office mate's smoking.. Terrible way to die.

The implication here is that other kinds of cancer--of which 75% are in nonsmokers--are a pleasant way to die...?

[ofMagog]

LOL! Cute reply.
Dying of any cancer is bad.
It's a shame some choose lung cancer.

[Madame Dufarge]

"In the words of a wise physician, it is part of the doctor's function to make it possible for his patients to go on doing the pleasant things that are bad for them - smoking too much, eating and drinking too much - without killing themselves any sooner than is necessary."

And that, for Fitzpatrick, is the real job of the General Practitioner - not meeting 'lifestyle education' targets set by the state. Nor refusing to treat those who have allegedly brought ill health upon themselves. His job is that of the doctor, not the priest.

[Madame Dufarge]

Whoa baby! Drunk AND wide awake!

A few coffees and Drambuies have the same effect!

I read it somewhere.

[ofMagog]

I remember the post.

[metesky]

Doing so would have taken tax and regulatory policy out of the legal arena and established guidelines for similar litigation against other controversial products, ranging from guns to lead paint.

This bum, the author W. Kip Viscusi, doesn't give one faint damn about the assault on smokers. He's just pissed that there has been no assault on othe legal products that W(imp) Kip Viscusi considers "bad".

Lead paint has been outlawed since 1978, for cryin' out loud.

If this guy believes it's okay to go back 24 years to "get" the manufacturers of a legal product, he probably thinks racial reparations are a swell idea too.

[Great Dane]

I remember hearing this a while back, they actually allowed the tobacco companies to pass the cost of the settlement on to the consumers, it would serve them right if we all grew our own.

[Great Dane]

I am not paying into the state coffers anymore!

Do you not pay taxes on loose tobacco..... ?????

[Great Dane]

You are so right, we did warn them, but no one would listen, to be honest with you, I kind of like the idea of letting them know how it feels, bet you most of the ANTI's are obese.

[Great Dane]

#18....... Some die of lung cancer without ever having smoked........ I personally know of at least 2.

[Gabz]

Do you not pay taxes on loose tobacco..... ?????

There are some taxes on loose tobacco - but it is calculated at a different rate than that of cigarettes, which are taxed at a different rate than cigars, which are taxed at a different rate than pipe tobacco, which is taxed at a different rate than chewing tobacco.

I hope that all makes as much sense to you as it did to me as I was writing it!!!!

[SheLion]

Do you not pay taxes on loose tobacco..... ?????

Great Dane, I just saw your post. For a 6oz bag of tobacco, the price is $5.75, which includes 25 cents surcharge. That's it. I can roll a LOT of cigarettes for the price we pay for one carton here.

That's why I am so happy. That would make the bag of tobacco $5.50 with 25 cents surcharge=$5.75.

Premium cigarettes here go between $44 dollars and $50. I roll about 3 packs short of one carton for $5.75, 6oz bag. Can't beat it.

[SheLion]

It's a shame some choose lung cancer.

None of us CHOOSE to die of cancer. My grandmother lived to be 86 years old, smoked three packs of Camels a day, non filters. And she didn't die from cancer.

My other grandmother lived to 44, never smoked, died full of cancer. So, its the luck of the draw the way we go out of this world.

No smoking, No drinking, Clean Living doesn't guarantee any of us that we will live a ripe old age.

[SheLion]

it would serve them right if we all grew our own.

Or buy from the Internet or rolled our own. You got it! :)

[Great Dane]

I hope that all makes as much sense to you as it did to me as I was writing it!!!!

LOL, I can handle it, our loose tobacco used to be taxed at a much lower rate as well, but no more, if they slap $5 on a carton, they also slap it on loose tobacco, my husband now pays $47 for 300gr of pipe tobacco.

[Great Dane]

#33....... I pay $32 for 200gr of loose tobacco, but I stil save more than half.

[Great Dane]

Or buy from the Internet or rolled our own. You got it! :)

LOL, Please....... I am Canadian, my stinking government won't let me buy on the net tax free. :-}

[SheLion]

What about rolling your own? Doesn't Canada sell filtered tubes and bags of tobacco?

[altair]

Finally! Put into words that everyone can understand.

Yup. At least it's still legal.