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by crackerjack
on Wed Sep 16, 2009 11:09 pm |
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what do you guys know about MSA signatories?
It's my basic understanding that The MSA signatories pay money to cover costs and damages relating to smoking but why does the money go to Guam and American Samoa and such? |
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crackerjack
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by runamok
on Thu Sep 17, 2009 11:31 am |
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The Master Settlement Agreement is an agreement between Big Tobacco and 46 states (the other 4 states cut their own seperate deals with BT but it amounts to the same thing) that required the tobacco companies to raise the price of their cigarettes by, I think, about 45 cents per pack and hand over those proceeds to the states.
The suit that resulted in the MSA was brought on the premise that the states were coughing up extraordinary sums of money to pay for the treating of smokers who had come down with smoking related diseases.
There is nothing in the agreement that forces the states to use that money for anything in particular but the states did piously claim the money would go towards...well....the treating of smokers who had come down with smoking related diseases AND anti-smoking programs. The reality is that the lion's share of this money has been used for plugging leaky budgets. It is thrown into the states' general funds and spent willy-nilly as the politicians see fit.
Enough of this money has been siphoned off by anti-smoking organizations to fund a lot of bullshit studies and to generally make smokers lives miserable.
I didn't realize that Guam and others were on the receiving end of any of this money. Can you link to this information? I would be interested to learn more about that. |
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runamok
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by Pete Gatti
on Thu Sep 17, 2009 11:46 pm |
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runamok wrote:
Enough of this money has been siphoned off by anti-smoking organizations to fund a lot of bullshit studies and to generally make smokers lives miserable.
And some people think it's too much trouble putting up with bugs in a tobacco garden? They're nothing compared to the bugs running this country. |
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Pete Gatti
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Joined: Mar 26, 2009
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Location: Dade City, Florida
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by crackerjack
on Fri Sep 18, 2009 9:17 am |
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runamok wrote: The Master Settlement Agreement is an agreement between Big Tobacco and 46 states (the other 4 states cut their own seperate deals with BT but it amounts to the same thing) that required the tobacco companies to raise the price of their cigarettes by, I think, about 45 cents per pack and hand over those proceeds to the states.
The suit that resulted in the MSA was brought on the premise that the states were coughing up extraordinary sums of money to pay for the treating of smokers who had come down with smoking related diseases.
There is nothing in the agreement that forces the states to use that money for anything in particular but the states did piously claim the money would go towards...well....the treating of smokers who had come down with smoking related diseases AND anti-smoking programs. The reality is that the lion's share of this money has been used for plugging leaky budgets. It is thrown into the states' general funds and spent willy-nilly as the politicians see fit.
Enough of this money has been siphoned off by anti-smoking organizations to fund a lot of bullshit studies and to generally make smokers lives miserable.
I didn't realize that Guam and others were on the receiving end of any of this money. Can you link to this information? I would be interested to learn more about that.
Well I started looking around to see how much money the states raise with tobacco tax and I was shocked to see just how much money was going around other than taxes. Florida settled and from what I can tell they receive a ton of money from American tobacco but I'm not sure if that's the same thing as the MSA signatories are not all "American" Tobacco
I'll look for the articles I read again and post a link.
I put this link in another thread but this is what I think Florida's settlement was. It even says what the funds are supposed to be used for.
http://stic.neu.edu/fl/flsettle.htm
Use of Funds. The monies received under this Settlement Agreement constitute not only reimbursement for Medicaid expenses incurred by the State of Florida, but also settlement of all of Florida’s other claims, including those for punitive damages, RICO and other statutory theories. In consonance with the Proposed Resolution, other than the Pilot Program and legal expense reimbursement, the parties hereto anticipate that funds provided hereunder, only after approval by the Court, will be used for children’s health care coverage and other health-related services, to reimburse the State of Florida for medical expenses incurred by the State, for mandated improvements in State enforcement efforts regarding the reduction of sales of Tobacco Products to minors, and to ensure the Proposed Resolution’s performance targets. The funds provided hereby may be used for such purposes as the State match required to draw federal funds to provide children’s health care coverage and for enhancement of children’s and adolescents’ substance abuse services, substance abuse prevention and intervention and children’s mental health services.
http://www.naag.org/naag-tobacco-project-11-years-of-msa-coordination.php
The Tobacco Project’s responsibilities began 11 years ago with a historic, landmark settlement known as the tobacco Master Settlement Agreement (“MSA”). This 1998 agreement was executed by 52 Attorneys General (46 state Attorneys General, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Northern Marianas, collectively called the “Settling States”) and the then four largest tobacco manufacturers in the United States (Philip Morris, Lorillard, Brown & Williamson, and R.J. Reynolds). The other four state Attorneys General entered into separate settlement agreements with the “big four.” |
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crackerjack
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