Tobacco Documents Online

Mimi RM AL1612 in redit I'resiQestc ' ~` Clinton wishHca NEEm; A KMR KM mova a Su Y . i used a forum in tbe m a,S;goal heart of tobacco coull- , uy to r~e the isate alP approach js ~,t.wa~. teens' unoking. Tbea "-" Washington back in Thursday. hc outlined a platt to curb it. In challcnging tobacco. Mr. Clinton brushed aside coneerns voiced by politi- =l advisers. They warned that it mcant writing off much of thc South in 1996. Yet Mr. Clinton's tobacco-related problcm isn't Dolitic~ polls say that he trails badly in the South aayway, so he has littic left to lose there and much to pin elscwhere. Mat Ameticaas-eveKt adult smokcrs - agtee that kids should be discouraged from using t~.baoco. So what's the problem? Tbe plan itself - thoulh not the part backing the FApd d Dru Admini ' finding that n~c ine taeets our aiteciz used to classif~• a drug as addictive. T6at opens c door to reso vinS iotne lon~fescesiAS issues, and in thc ptopet forums. For instancc, to the cxteat that aico- tine's addic.~tiveness is a scientific quer tion. it ouaht to be settled in the lab, not To s~uff eens' smo ~ 4 a- o tbt political arena. To bLC his is Iaudable the eatieat tbai its cias. sif{qtioti raises ques- tioas about the FDA's teSal authority, they cxught to be settled in court. Indeed, • the tobacco industry is ait+~sy gt,. Nc~, tiss probkm ia the n..st oi thc plan - wtat',t in it aad what't not. in partic- ulat M,rictin; ade for a legal product tuie..i vat;d First Amcndmeat issuca. h:%=1vhile, forcial; tobacco compa- aiea co sl)end S 150 million a year on an anti~tmoicsu~ eampaya dic~ected at kids is aiso sc~apect. Oa the other hand, hik- ing tite federal tax on darettes - a pro- poi;.i regrettably mif.ia from Mr. t;aia- ton'.: plys - could k~ty bankroll such amlupa~o. Moeeover, a tax hike bas the sddOd tiatef'rt ot' detezriA` cigzrette con.-Aemptioo by teenaFrs Y et a tax Like reqtures congressional ad63a, juid the industry wields such clout on Gpitol Hill that Mr. Clinton's tlawt:d plian may well have been shaped by an uapieasaat rnality: In the war awnst cWldtra'a smolciag, he'll have to fi=ht •vitii his hands tied.