Clinton Plan Could Slash Teen Smoking

President Clinton released a report Friday predicting that his plan to boost the cigarette tax by $1.10 a pack over the next five years, combined with other initiatives, would slash the number of teenage smokers by as much as 46%.

In remarks before the American Assn. for the Advancement of Science, Clinton urged medical researchers to continue seeking cures for cancer while policymakers do their part with legislation to curb tobacco use.

Clinton said his proposed price increases on cigarettes, coupled with restrictions on advertising and sales displays, would help keep teenagers from starting to smoke and prompt many of them to quit.

The analysis by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms found that such policy changes would deter about 2.5 million young people from smoking over the next five years and reduce teenage smoking by 39% to 46% by 2003, according to administration officials.

“Let me tell you what that means in real people,” Clinton said of the expected drop. “That means if we act this year . . . we can stop almost 3 million young people from smoking and save almost 1 million lives.”

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Health advocates applauded the president’s remarks but urged him to make cigarettes even pricier.

“We shouldn’t stop at $1.10,” said Paul Billings, deputy director of government relations for the American Lung Assn. “We should go to a $2-per-pack increase, and we shouldn’t stop at that--but have regular, stiff, significant increases in the per-pack tax every year thereafter.”

“Today’s 8-year-olds aren’t going to be as impacted by the [$1.10] price increase four years from now when they are 12 years old and starting to smoke,” Billings said.

Some of the smokers puffing away in the lobby of the hotel where the president spoke disagreed on how much higher cigarette prices would affect young smokers craving their next fix.

“Kids buy sneakers. They buy dope,” said Christina Gilorteanu, a smoker whose 17-year-old son has experimented with cigarettes. “A dollar is not going to make a difference. They get money and they spend it.”

Nancy Scott, tapping her cigarette on an ashtray, endorsed the president’s effort and said she believes higher prices will work.

“I personally think smoking is awful,” Scott said. “I am willing to pay more to keep others from doing this. There’s probably a price that I wouldn’t be willing to pay for cigarettes, but I don’t know how high that price is.”

The shoeshine man at the Philadelphia Marriott, former smoker Ghaganthian Elo, said higher cigarette prices might prevent impulse purchases but probably would not prompt those already addicted to quit, no matter what their age.

“If the price of heroin goes up, you’re still going to buy it if you’re hooked,” he said. “It’s like gas in the car. If the price goes up, what are you going to do, stop buying gas?”

No matter how high cigarette prices go, Elo said he thankfully will not suffer. He quit cigarettes last year after smoking for more than 40 years.

“I did it cold turkey,” he said. “The president didn’t make me do it. It was those coughing attacks I used to get.”

A tobacco industry representative said cigarette companies have no quarrel with the new report but consider the proposed settlement between the industry and states better than a higher cigarette tax.

Industry spokesman Scott Williams said higher cigarette prices will work only when combined with some of the voluntary proposals advanced by the tobacco industry, such as elimination of outdoor advertising.

In exchange for the ban on such ads, tobacco executives are asking Congress to change the law to prohibit future class-action lawsuits and cap the annual damages that the industry would have to pay to plaintiffs.

Such liability limits are a key sticking point to a deal, with the White House and some congressional leaders increasingly reluctant to grant the industry such broad legal protection.

In his speech, Clinton made a point of saying he would back responsible tobacco initiatives from both Democrats and Republicans, part of his administration’s ongoing effort to try to avoid partisanship on the sensitive issue.

“We think that there is genuine interest on both sides of the aisle in passing comprehensive legislation, and we’re going to work hard to keep this from becoming a political football,” said Bruce Reed, director of domestic policy for the White House.