Free Republic

CHICAGO -- A think tank that advocates free enterprise and limited government involvment in business has filed a federal court challenge to the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA), contending that the pact between 46 states and major tobacco manufacturers is unconstitutional. The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) submitted its challenge in the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Louisiana on behalf of a wholesaler, two small tobacco manufacturers, a tobacco retailer and an individual smoker against Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti. The suit contends that the MSA violates the constitutional proviso in Article I forbidding states to enter into...

TUCSON, ARIZ. - Until recently, Arizonans could hardly turn on a television or radio without hearing a slightly self-righteous teen voice singling out smoking as a notably unattractive habit – smelly and teeth-staining – as well as an unhealthy one. The riff was catchy, slightly disgusting, and highly effective: The American Lung Association credits the ads with helping to reduce teen tobacco use in Arizona by nearly 7 percent between 1997 and 2000. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention even touted the hard-hitting media spots as a national model. But in the end, even widespread acclaim couldn't protect...

<p>"Selling time," yells Bob Cage, the 78-year-old tobacco auctioneer, signaling the beginning of the day's bidding at the Planter's Tobacco Warehouse in Upper Marlboro.</p> <p>Mr. Cage has been at the center of Maryland's annual tobacco auction for 50 years, he says, and his rising and falling singsong voice announces the prices with a fluidity borne of experience.</p>

(CNSNews.com) - Many of the states that received billions of dollars in the national tobacco settlement have invested some of those funds in the stock market, benefiting the same tobacco firms that were meant to be punished by the settlement, according to a research group. Under the terms of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement, 46 states were to receive $206 billion from tobacco companies over the next 25 years as reimbursement for the tobacco-related medical expenses the states absorbed through the Medicaid program. The settlement created the quot;largest new revenue streams in state history,quot; according to the Investor Responsibility Research...