Smokers nearly voiceless in tobacco tax debate

By Natalie Hopkinson
Palm Beach Post Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - Last spring, a group of smokers offered to give their 2-cents' worth to a Senate hearing on the proposed tobacco settlement. But a Senate aide dismissed them, saying their testimony would be irrelevant.

"It's as if smokers themselves do not exist," said Wanda Hamilton of Miami, vice president of the Florida Smoker's Rights Association.

Smokers, already burdened by high taxes and restrictions on when and where they can puff, are about to be hit with the stiffest tax yet. The Senate is considering charging tobacco companies $516 billion over 25 years, paid directly by smokers through price hikes of at least $1.10 a pack.

"They are about to give us the biggest tax increase in history, and what we have to say is irrelevant?" Hamilton said incredulously.

Americans who smoke represent about one-fourth of the voting-age population, yet they've been largely silent on tobacco policy.

The National Smoker's Alliance, an Alexandria, Va.-based group that claims 3 million members, has sponsored radio and print advertisements across the country urging Congress and state legislatures to defeat anti-tobacco measures. It has a Web site (http://www.smokersalliance.org).

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But tobacco opponents say the industry - not individual smokers - drives the so-called smokers' rights movement. The alliance is widely considered a front group for Philip Morris, Brown & Williamson, and Lorillard, the three tobacco companies that sponsor it, and Burson-Marsteller, the public relations firm that masterminds its events.

There are a few non-industry-affiliated smoker's rights groups trying to stoke the movement, and there are dozens of pro-smoking Web sites emerging on the Internet.

The most prominent independent smoker's-rights group is FORCES (Fight Ordinances and Restrictions to Control and Eliminate Smoking). Founded in San Francisco in 1995, FORCES claims 5,000 members in 12 chapters across the United States, Canada, and New Zealand. The group, which says it gets no tobacco money, writes letters to Congress, operates a Web site (http://www.forces.org), and occasionally participates in pro-smoking demonstrations.

It's tough to get smokers fired up over their shrinking rights, said Raymond Sasso, the group's co-founder and president. After three years of agitation, even he's beginning to feel burned out.

"The fact is that people are very apathetic in this country," said Sasso, a 45-year-old hair cutter who has been smoking since he was 13. "I think it is an overall mentality that is alarming."

Across the country, there have been small uprisings by individual smokers, some of whom liken their struggle to that of other persecuted minorities. Smokers feel they are paying for their habit in more than just higher taxes.

"It seems as if they are blaming all the ills of society on us, and it is a bit extreme," said Steven Murphy, a 34-year-old auditor from New York City who smokes 1 1/2 packs a day and participates in smoker's rights Internet chat rooms.

The smoker's rights groups see the tobacco issue as a matter of civil liberties.

"Next it will be alcohol, then obesity," Sasso said.

For Suzy Thompson, the last straw came in January when California's ban on smoking in bars took effect.

"I've been quiet for a long time," said Thompson, a waitress who smokes one to three packs per day. Thompson organized a protest against the ban in Sacramento last week. "This time, we're not going to take it."

Andy Dilio became outraged when New Jersey doubled its cigarette tax from 40 cents to 80 cents in February. So the computer specialist and former Deptford town councilman created the New Jersey Smokers Online Web site. The site can be found at www.erols.com/potshot/index.htm

"If they can do this with tobacco and get away with it, that means they could target any business," Dilio said. But as a former '60s activist, Dilio is frustrated that he hasn't been able to rally more smokers.

"You can't get people out of their armchairs," he said.

Experts say it is more than just apathy that is preventing smokers from becoming active in the tobacco debate. They suggest smokers have been silent because many are trying to quit.

Smokers also may be hesitant to fight because they don't want to be associated with the industry's track record of targeting children and minorities, said Dee Burton, an associate professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

"Most smokers see the tobacco industry as a guilty party," said Burton, who has done studies on the topic for the past 25 years. "They feel the addiction doesn't come from themselves. They are more angry than guilty. And for the minority of smokers who want to keep on smoking, they still would not want to identify with a group that promotes smoking."

Those who do associate with such groups can expose themselves to hostility. The FORCES Web site and Dilio's New Jersey Smokers Online have received hate mail and nasty e-mail messages accusing them of contributing to the death of children. The smoker's advocates say they shouldn't be treated as pariahs for participating in a legal habit.

Sara Mahler-Vossler, a 59-year-old retired college professor from Andes, N.Y., says mistreatment by nonsmokers can be very hurtful.

"Suppose you had a friend of 15 or 20 years who decided your filthy dirty habit didn't belong in their house any more?" she said.

Mahler-Vossler said she wasn't surprised when her group, the Smoker's Information Network, was also shut out of a Senate tobacco hearing last October.

"Unfortunately, we are so used to getting rude comments from (Senate) aides, we don't even keep track.