proposed tobacco shipping legislation

[Eichen]

Some word's been going around at HP and ASC about proposed state legislation to stop interstate shipment of all tobacco products.

Below I've pasted in a copy from ASC posted on 13 Jan. Please let me know if I'm overstepping any bounds in posting this. Lew Rothman apparently is the originator of this post.

Subject: Beware-shipping prohibition coming
Newsgroups: alt.smokers.cigars
Date: 2004-01-13 20:064 PST


First it was Maine. Now it's on the agenda in
Washington,Oregon,Nevada,Maryland,Indiana, and Delaware.
These new laws (although clearly in violation of a previous Supreme Court
decision) are being enacted anyway and will necessitate a fight in court.

The proposed laws go way beyond age verification and full compliance makes it
virtually impossible to move cigars across state lines. If you buy from any
mail order or internet vendor it is conceivable that in a short period of time
you will no longer be able to. In addition, manufacturers and local shops will
more than likely reduce the number of different cigars they carry by at least
75%. Small manufacturers who do not have salepeople on the road will go out of
business.

This is a very real threat to the Premium cigar business in particular due to
the massive variety of low volume products that comprise the overall market.

I am headed to Washington, D.C. tomorrow to meet with others to see exactly
what course of action is open to us to get these laws which are actually
intended to curtail illegitimate cigartette traffic to exclude cigars.

I will update everyone when I return on Moday.

What do you folks at CS think of this bit of news?

What are the chances of something like this actually happening?

Can this be blocked at the federal level?

Thanks for your time and thoughts.

-E

[c2000]

What next? What do I think of this news----I think we have a lot bigger problems in this country than than adult males ordering cigars over the internet. One might be some terrorist walking into a large city carrying a nuclear backpack.
As far as what are the chances of this happening, I would say quite good. The anti smoking zealots never give up, its like the line from Terminator 1 " this is what they do , this is all they do"
They get these laws passed by playing the (kid factor) kids get ahold of tobacco this way or that way and it must be stopped for the good of the kids. They always lean on that crutch to get their way and the jelly spined lawmakers always acquiesce because after all who isn't for the kids.
Its amazing to me that we have our brave service people getting killed in Iraq and elsewhere and and these A-holes are worried about cigars getting shipped to adults. These are the same people who always find a way not to put themselves in harms way for the country.

Jerry in Minnesota.

[Eichen]

This whole thing is absolutely rediculous. I mean really, how many minors do you know that would shell out $20.00 for a bundle on the low end, $40.00 to $80.00 for low and mid-level cigars or $150.00 $200.00 for some VSGs to act out or for a taste of rebellion? Probably not too many. It's just too cost prohibitive. (heck, if you wanted to pay that much there's better drugs for that I guess) When I tried a cigar for the first time, and I was of the legal age btw, it was a phillies blunt. For an experiment, you're probably not going to spend much. I know I'm just rehashing stuff that's been said before but smoking is a choice that I made. If I smoke in public it'll be outside or in a bar that allows smoking. If not it'll be in the car or at home. At home I'll even segregate myself away from others who don't necessarily like it. There aren't too many people getting bothered by my second-hand.

Are there any reasonable statistics that show how many minors buy/smoke premium cigars (I haven't seen any)? Or is it just momentum -- legislatures will go along with it not really questioning from several angles?

One thing that I wish Lew Rothman would've written in his post was why exactly these states considered this law. Maybe some folks who live in those states mentioned could help me out here.

When I was in college there was a coffee house that I would frequent that allowed smoking. The city enacted a law that outlawed smoking in businesses except for bars. The coffee house lost more than 25% of its business as a result and successfully lobbied for an exemption in their case for one year. After a year this private business had to apply for an exemption again or face another drop in business. The thing that really struck me was that this coffee shop was known in the community as a "smoking" establishment. If you didn't want to bother with the smoke you simply didn't go there. There was at least one other excellent coffee shop in town that was non-smoking from the beginning that you could go to. People would just have to use a little common sense. That's all. The other thing that really bothered me was that the local government interfered in how a small, private business could choose to run itself. The coffee house that allowed smoking had to drop its food items to retain a smoking section in order to exempt itself from the law and to continue to allow smoking.

Well, now.... I've got my shorts in such a knot that I can't think what I was going to say next. Guess it's time to stop...