“If the ballot initiative won, the sponsoring American Cancer Society estimated, 220,000 kids would never start smoking and 100,000 adults would quit rather than pay the extra $1 per pack to fund research on tobacco-related diseases. That would cut deeply into tobacco’s profits.”
Higher tobacco tax? It’s still a no-brainer, by George Skelton, Capitol Journal, June 6, 2012
Full disclosure: In 1989 a pack of cigarettes in Los Angeles went up to $2.25 a pack and it was a major factor that helped me finally quit after 15 years of smoking and 12 of trying (and failing) to quit. I voted for Prop 29 because 220,000 kids would never start smoking and 100,000 adults would quit rather than pay the extra $1 per pack and that’s 320,000 healthier people in California with more money and more lung function. What could be better than that? And yet Prop 29 hasn’t passed yet. WTF?
