The nation’s largest cigarette manufacturer suspect, Philip Morris, is finally fighting back. Instead of bending over forward, grabbing the ankles and saying, “Okay, who do I pay next?” the company is criticizing these state governments for failing to use tobacco settlement money to curb youth smoking. Predictably, on Thursday, the Associated Press reported that health advocates accuse Philip Morris of being disingenuous.
But they’re not! We’ve provided the details of this story on my program for months. You know it, I know it, and everyone else out there knows it – the purpose of the tobacco settlement money had nothing to do with smoking. It was about enriching a few people and state governments. They simply tugged at your heartstrings with this children’s health rigmarole in order to get you to go along.
They’ve had all this money come in from tobacco lawsuits, and yet we’ve shown you state by state where that money is being spent, and it’s not on any education program designed to reduce teen smoking. They said youth education and the defrayal of health care expenses was their primary reason for wanting the money, but yet they’re not putting their money where their mouth is, and Philip Morris is finally calling them on it.