Tagged: tobacco

The New Hampshire House of Representatives has voted to increase the state’s tobacco tax by $.20. 

The proposed hike reverses a $.10 cut made in the last legislative session, and adds an extra dime to each pack of cigarettes.

Laurie Sanborn, a Republican from Bedford, says any new revenue from tobacco will hurt businesses along the state’s borders.

“When you raise a tax, you discourage a certain behavior. So with a tobacco tax increase, we are saying, ‘Don’t bother to come to New Hampshire. We don’t want your money.’”

Some key votes are coming up within a busy House docket: the tobacco tax increase, expected to pass, but at less than the Governor's proposed level; freezing the second phase of the Voter ID law, halting provisions set to take effect this fall that would eliminate some of the current acceptable forms of identification, namely college students' school IDs; a change of the "Stand Your Ground" law, reinstating the requirement that people make an effort to retreat before using deadly force.

Long gone are the days of Joe Camel and the Marlboro Man. (The last television ad for a cigarette, incidentally, aired on January 1, 1971 at 11:59pm, right up to the second an advertising ban took effect.) The tobacco industry faces strict regulation, but the market for E-cigarettes is still an unregulated, wild, wild west with endorsements ranging from Playboy Playmates to Stephen Dorff.

A new report out from the American Lung Association gives New Hampshire a failing grade on smoking prevention efforts. 

The state received a 'D' on smoke-free zones in public spaces, an 'F' on tobacco prevention spending, and a 'C' on cessation efforts.

Lee Gilman, Senior Director with the Association, says the state also needs to rethink its low tobacco tax.