| |
|
|
Share/Bookmark this Topic:
|
| Message |
Author |
by gilster
on Thu Sep 21, 2006 9:50 am |
|
Read this on another forum today - very important read
http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/Comment/OpEd/092106_tobacco.html
Stealth assault launched on selling tobacco by mail
By Bob Barr
Ahhh, Big Government. Isn’t it wonderful? Ever searching for more ways to fleece taxpayers, the government now has a direct financial interest in seeing big tobacco companies prosper.
Thanks to the so-called “master settlement agreement,” or MSA, which ended the threat of state lawsuits against tobacco companies, government now reaps a generous cut of their profits. In essence, increased cigarette sales from the big tobacco companies flow directly into government coffers.
When government do-gooders look at products like tobacco, there are basically two strategies to prevent individuals from using harmful products.
One way respects individual freedom, while the other replaces it with government coercion. Not surprisingly, government’s financial interest in tobacco has increasingly led it to choose the latter in recent years.
The first path involves providing individuals with the information they need to make an informed choice on whether or not to use specific tobacco products. This strategy begins with sound, scientifically based research that pinpoints the specific health hazards associated with particular types of tobacco use.
Then, the choice-based approach simply conveys this information to the public and allows individuals to exercise their own best judgment on how to balance the risks of tobacco against the enjoyment derived from using it.
Fundamentally, this is no different from how we treat high-cholesterol foods, long-distance driving, air travel, use of power tools or any of the myriad other potentially dangerous activities in which individuals choose to participate.
The second approach to tobacco regulation rests on using the power of government to force individuals not to use tobacco. Of course, advocates of this anti-freedom approach realize it is difficult if not impossible for government to simply outlaw en masse products that millions of Americans choose to use.
Instead of outlawing tobacco directly, they move to restrict its use and raise its costs to the point that individuals pay a heavy price in dollars and convenience if they choose to smoke.
This is a win-win situation for government bureaucrats, because they can say they are “fighting smoking,” when what they are really doing is raising taxes and shielding big tobacco companies by keeping competitors out of the marketplace.
This project began with draconian bans on smoking, first in public buildings, then in restaurants and bars, and now even in outdoor public places like beaches and parks. It continued with efforts to hike taxes on cigarettes to absurd levels, ensuring that politicians would get a payoff for doing the bidding of so-called “public health” advocates.
The latest front in this battle involves companies that provide opportunities for individuals to order cigarettes in the mail.
Mail-order tobacco companies, which allow consumers to purchase through the phone and Internet, are the distribution backbone for smaller, independent manufacturers that offer lower-priced products than major, well-known brands. These independents rely on direct-to-consumer sales to build a following, because they don’t have access to massive retail distribution controlled by Big Tobacco.
Shutting down direct sales has long been a goal sought by both Big Tobacco and Big Government. Independent manufacturers, and the competition they represent, would be decimated if the mail order tobacco companies were put out of business.
Additionally, mail-order tobacco companies expand consumer choice in tobacco products. Organic cigarettes and hand-rolled cigars are just some of the products individuals are able to enjoy only if they obtain them through the mail.
Not surprisingly, those who would control our actions from federal offices in Washington were not and are not content to allow the market to function without interference. They have joined with big tobacco companies – which don’t like the competition — to shut down small entrepreneurs who sell tobacco products online and through the mail.
Rather than tackle the issue openly and fairly, the anti-freedom forces have chosen postal-reform legislation currently moving through Congress as their vehicle of choice through which to cut mail-order tobacco firms off at the knees. This bill is intended to make the U.S. Postal Service – which currently operates somewhere at the level it did in the 19th century – start acting like a modern corporation.
At the behest of big tobacco and its special-interest lobbying dollars, however, some members of Congress are attempting to insert a rider onto the postal reform bill that will shut down mail-order companies that compete with major cigarette manufacturers.
Tacking an anti-freedom tobacco measure onto postal-reform legislation takes a well-intended reform measure and turns it into a stealth assault on the principle that individual consumers should be able to decide for themselves what is and isn’t healthy behavior. Whether one likes or dislikes tobacco products, allowing government nannies in cahoots with private industry to play favorites and decimate competition should not be a part of the game plan. Conferees who will be considering the postal-reform legislation should resist efforts to make them a party to such underhanded tactics.
Bob Barr represented Georgia’s 7th District in Congress from 1995 to 2003. |
|
|
gilster
Smokers Rights Activist
Joined: Apr 19, 2006
Posts: 844
|
| |
Back to top |
|
|
| |
|
by smokem
on Fri Sep 22, 2006 1:44 pm |
|
| Good post. A ban on shipping tobacco via USPS has been in the wind for a while. Keeping informed and playing smart can win every day and can keep on winning even after the dumb bastards enact total tobacco prohibition. They are dumb enough to do that and I do expect they will soon enough. Our society has very foolishly miscast smokers as its enemies. We won't interpret the role as they conceived it for us so they're going to get a performance they'll hate. They will not enjoy enemies out of their nightmares, but we are good players, they do insist on our role, and so on with the show. |
|
|
smokem
Smoker
Joined: Apr 04, 2005
Posts: 143
|
| |
Back to top |
| |
|
by linkup
on Fri Sep 22, 2006 8:24 pm |
|
Hon. Eliot Spitzer, Attorney General
Department of Law
120 Broadway, NY 10271
Hon. Charles Schumer, U.S. Senator
313 Hart Senate Building
Washington, DC
For More Information:
(518) 473-5525 / 212-486-3627
For Immediate Release
March 10, 2006
SCHUMER AND SPITZER ANNOUNCE LEGISLATION TO BAN
SHIPMENT OF TOBACCO THROUGH THE U.S. MAIL
Schumer to Introduce Legislation in U.S. Senate to Make Shipping
Cigarettes through the Mail Illegal, Allow State AGs to Prosecute
U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer and New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer today announced that they have teamed up to support legislation to stop the shipment of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco through the U.S. Mail.
At a joint news conference with Spitzer, held at New York’s historic Farley Post Office, Schumer announced his bill that would prohibit mailing cigarettes through the United States Postal Service, impose fines of at least $1,000 per offense and jail time for repeat offenders. The bill would also give state Attorneys General the ability to pursue those who ship tobacco in violation of the law.
"Passing this bill will be the final nail in the coffin for the sale of cigarettes on the Internet," Schumer said. "The U.S. Mail has become the last refuge for online cigarette merchants and it’s time that this loophole be closed."
"Working together we are attacking the problem of illegal cigarette shipments on both a state and national level," Spitzer said. "The Postal Service has become the delivery arm of a massive criminal enterprise shipping contraband cigarettes nationwide. The legislation that Senator Schumer is introducing will ensure that the Postal Service gets out of the cigarette delivery business."
Internet and mail order cigarette retailers operate in violation of numerous federal, state and local laws, including tax laws, age verification laws, delivery restrictions, reporting requirements, and federal wire fraud and mail fraud statutes. As a result, a coalition of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies has been working on several initiatives to stop these illegal sales, including federal and state criminal indictments of cigarette sellers, seizures of contraband cigarettes, and efforts to strengthen cigarette trafficking prohibitions.
Several states, including the New York, have laws prohibiting or restricting the shipment of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco directly to consumers. Senator Schumer’s bill would make cigarettes and smokeless tobacco non-mailable items, just as liquor, firearms, explosives and even automobile master keys may not be shipped through the U.S. Mail. In addition the legislation will allow the Postal Service to reject packages believed to contain tobacco products.
In the past year, DHL, FedEx and UPS have agreed to cease delivery of cigarettes to consumers throughout the United States. In addition, in March 2005, the major credit card companies all agreed to take steps to ensure that their credit card systems are not used to process payments that enable illegal cigarette sales. Finally, last month, Philip Morris USA (PM USA) reached an agreement with a coalition of 37 Attorneys General to cut off the supply of PM USA cigarettes to those engaged in such illegal sales. |
|
|
linkup
Smoking Lobby Sponsor
Joined: Oct 01, 2005
Posts: 1201
Location: Anywhere but here
|
| |
Back to top |
| |
|
by linkup
on Fri Sep 22, 2006 8:31 pm |
|
| Schumer is a Snake! and Spitzer is worse.Spitzer will soon be Gov of NY unless the people wake up to these two individuals and their tax burden policies are HALTED! |
|
|
linkup
Smoking Lobby Sponsor
Joined: Oct 01, 2005
Posts: 1201
Location: Anywhere but here
|
| |
Back to top |
| |
|
by Junge
on Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:58 pm |
|
 I am going to claim to be a terrorist Muslim....then maybe I'll be immune to government spying....has this not become an upside down world? |
|
|
Junge
Puffer
Joined: Sep 27, 2006
Posts: 74
|
| |
Back to top |
| |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours
|
|
