Tobacco Companies May Pay Their Share
The medical costs for illnesses related to tobacco have more than doubled since 1987. And Washington state is tired of paying for it.
Taxpayers should be, too.
Washington’s Attorney General Christine Gregoire filed suit last week against the tobacco industry, seeking reimbursement of state expenses for tobacco-related illnesses.
That’s $706 million a year, by Gregoire’s math. In lives, that’s 8,000 people dead in Washington every year. Countless others are living with heart disease, cancer, emphysema and other diseases caused by tobacco.
But isn’t that their fault? As smokers, don’t they choose to partake in a deadly habit? Shouldn’t they be responsible for the soaring health costs?
Perhaps, but others are responsible as well. Gregoire is suing because taxpayers, as innocent victims, have to pay for smokers’ illnesses through programs like Medicaid. She’s holding tobacco makers responsible because they deliberately promote their addictive product to kids and keep its nicotine content high.
Given that the vast majority of people start smoking before their 18th birthday (the average age for beginners is 14 years old), Gregoire maintains people don’t choose to be lifelong smokers, or certainly not addicts.
But that’s what they become. As many as 74 percent to 90 percent of smokers are addicted; two-thirds of adults who smoke say they wish they could quit. Indeed, about 17 million try each year, but fewer than 10 percent succeed.
Tobacco companies know that, and they count on it. If it were easy to quit, they’d have fewer customers.
Gregoire’s suit is based on the contention that tobacco companies purposely spiked the level of nicotine in cigarettes, that the industry preys on children as the addicted adults of tomorrow, and that the companies have conspired to keep “safer” cigarettes off the market.
It will be a tough road, and a costly one. Gregoire estimates the state will spend $500,000 a year for about two to five years fighting this in the courts. But it’s worth it; eight other states think so, others may follow.
If you need proof that the money’s well spent, drive past a high school, check out the smoking section at the NorthTown mall, keep an eye out for young kids on the street. You’ll see smoke, lots of it. America’s teens - Spokane’s, too - are lighting up in increasing numbers.
Tobacco companies like it that way, though they insist they aren’t focusing on kids. Explain, then, Joe Camel, whose image is as recognizable to 5-year-olds as Mickey Mouse. Explain the slick campaigns that tout the rebellious, cool and sophisticated aura that supposedly accompanies smokers.
Kids are clearly the target, and Gregoire’s suit, if nothing else, sends an appropriate message that Washington’s children won’t be seduced without a fight.
, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Anne Windishar/For the editorial board