Move to toss price caps under fire
Jump to full article: Boston (MA) Herald, 2008-05-09
Author: Joe Dwinell Senior Executive City Editor
Intro: Cut-rate cigarettes could choke the market and expose a whole new generation to the cancer-causing habit under a plan to throw out price controls on butts that has already won state Senate approval, fuming anti-smoking activists warn.
"It's a dramatic and extreme reversal. I see no justification for overturning the law," said Northeastern University's Edward Sweda, a public health attorney.
Kevin O'Flaherty, director of advocacy for the Northeast Region's Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, agreed, saying, "(The) amendment actually benefits the tobacco companies - not public health."
A 1945 law designed as a perk for Big Tobacco set minimum prices for smokes by the pack and carton depending on brand, and production costs has actually discouraged smoking by keeping consumer costs high, activists say.
But as a pitch to hike tobacco taxes by $1 per pack burns through the Legislature, lawmakers have tacked on the amendment removing the price controls as relief for retailers.
The pricing law now dictates that a pack of Marlboros, for example, cannot be sold in the Bay State for less than $4.97 - or a store owner faces a $500 fine.
If minimum pricing is flicked away, prices could mirror New Hampshire, where the same pack sells for about $3.75, and no rules or fines apply.
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