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 The money grabbers claim that one
effective method to reduce the demand for tobacco products, particularly among
teens, is to raise the price through an increase in excise taxes. President
Clinton has trumpeted this approach saying, "It's clear that one of the
things that will lead to a reduction in teen smoking is making cigarettes more
expensive."
 Senator
McCain (R-AZ) made the wild statement that raising the price of tobacco would
cut youth smoking in half! Presumably he makes that statement thinking that
because of the higher price, young people will not spend their money on those
products. Has the high price of marijuana, cocaine or other drugs deterred
youth from buying it? Absolutely NOT! By their own accounts, youth use of
illegal drugs has actually increased. McCain and others know this. They really
don't care about your children - what they want is your money ... hello?
Medical researchers Joseph DiFranze
and John Librett reported on smoking by minors in a respected medical journal,
The American Journal of Public Health, reported in July 1999, (AJPH,
1999;89:1106-1107), "Developments over the past decade included:
An increase in the adolescent population,
An increase in the prevalence of smoking among youths,
An increase in the price of cigarettes, and
The enactment of state and federal laws making the sale of tobacco to persons
younger than 18 illegal in all 50 states."
These liberal socialists keep
harping on their contention that raising the price of cigarettes will reduce
teen smoking. What a fraud! By their own statistics, youth smoking is on the
rise and ... duh ... so has the price of cigarettes. What has the effect been
in the past of a price increase of more than $1? According to their own
numbers, youth smoking has increased. So much for their version of truth.
 Their total rejection
of truth was shown in a statement made by Sen. Ed. Kennedy (D-Mass). He claims
that while youth smoking is at a 19-year high, the price of cigarettes has
steadily been going down. What!? How in the world can he claim that? Anyone who
has purchased a pack of cigarettes in the past 20 years has seen the price of
cigarettes go from 60 cents a pack to over $2. Either Senator Kennedy is
stupid, totally ignorant of reality, or he's lying. Sen.
Kennedy, Sen. McCain, Dr's Koop, Kessler and others don't want to reduce youth
smoking ... they want more of your money! And they'll lie to get
it!
Most of their statistics are little more than wild estimates
with no basis in fact. President Clinton warned, for example, that one million
people would die prematurely if Congress did not pass tobacco legislation this
year. The one million saved lives, for example, comes from a statement by the
American Cancer Society last year that a 60 percent decrease in youth smoking
in coming years could reduce early deaths from diseases like lung cancer by a
million. But the 60 percent figure was merely a target of anti-smoking
advocates, with no analysis to back it up. "They basically made up the
number and I think it was totally irresponsible of them," said Dr. Stanton
Glantz, a professor of medicine at the University of California at San
Francisco.
Or how about the studies cited by
Lawrence Summers, the deputy Treasury secretary, saying that every 10 percent
increase in the price of a pack of cigarettes would produce up to a 7 percent
reduction in the number of children who smoke. Contrary to Summers citations, a
study by researchers at Cornell University came to a far different conclusion.
The Cornell study found that price had little effect on childrens smoking
behavior. The study found that states that increased tobacco taxes did not have
significantly fewer children who started smoking compared with states that
raised taxes at a slower rate or not at all.
Politicians and policy makers have
tossed out dozens of estimates about the impact of various strategies on youth
smoking rates, figures that turn out to be based on projections rather than
fact.
Has it worked?
Despite millions of dollars in spending for anti-smoking
campaigns, more adults and teens are smoking now than in the early 1990s. In
1991, 28 percent of high school age teen-agers said they had smoked in the past
month. By 1997, the most recent figures available, that number jumped to 36
percent. And young adults aren't doing much better. Smoking among 18 to 24
year-olds has increased from 25 percent in 1990 to 29 percent in 1997.
[Cable
News Network, November 18, 1999]
Even the folks most responsible for
stealing your money admits their programs are a failure. The Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently reported that more high school
students are taking up smoking, despite stepped-up antismoking campaigns. Their
figures show that the number of high school students who smoke rose by nearly a
third over the last 6 years. The number of first-time teenage smokers has risen
73 percent in the 1990s, according to the CDC, topping 1 million a year.
Despite government-funded campaigns
to stop cigarette smoking in Canada, the number of teenaged smokers rose to
28.3 percent in 1999 from 23.8 per cent six years ago. [The
Toronto Star, Nov. 16, 1999]
After Finland, Sweden, Norway and
Australia banned tobacco and cigarette advertising, teen smoking rates either
increased or stayed the same -- as youngsters rebelled against what they saw as
restrictions on their independence.
"We're losing ground in the
battle to protect our children," Health and Human Services Secretary Donna
E. Shalala said. "There is no excuse for delay. Congress must act promptly
to enact comprehensive tobacco control legislation to protect our
children."
They simply don't get enough of
your money already ... they want MORE! Never mind their programs don't work and
that higher taxes won't curb smoking, they just
want more of your money.
President Clinton outlined what
they want... he said that states and the federal government need to raise funds
to help pay for smoking-related medical fees, health research and anti-smoking
campaigns. In other words, More government, more government, and more
government.
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