House bill curbs advertising, increases taxes on smokeless tobacco

Source: The Clackamas Review
Author: News Team

The bill also bans the practice of handing out samples

The Oregon House today passed a bill that would require all smokeless tobacco products to adhere to federally mandated marketing restrictions placed on older existing brands in an effort to curb youth advertising campaigns. The legislation would also increase the tax on such products.

The bill, co-sponsored by House Speaker Dave Hunt, D-Gladstone, came about partially as a response to the proliferation of smokeless tobacco products critics said targeted young customers. In 2006, Camel used the Portland region and Austin, Texas as test markets for its Snus smokeless tobacco. Smoking cessation advocates cried foul, saying the colorful ads with their rhyming slogans were designed to attract young people.

The bill also prevents companies from handing out free samples of smokeless tobacco, something Rep. Carloyn Tomei, D-Milwaukie, said was happening everywhere from the streets of Portland to rodeos and fairs in eastern Oregon, particularly since Washington already has a ban. She introduced a similar bill earlier this year.

“Oregon has become the place where they have campaigns for smokeless tobacco,” she said. “They’re handing out free Snus samples, and to whom did they hand it out? Not people my age; it’s the young ones.”

The bill would tax smokeless tobacco by the can and the weight instead of as a percentage of the price. The tax will be a flat $2.14 on all cans of smokeless tobacco that weigh 1.2 ounces.

The bill puts Oregon on track to become the first state to include all smokeless tobacco companies in the restrictions on youth marketing in the federal smokeless tobacco master settlement agreement. Previously, only items in existence at the time of the master settlement in 1998 were covered. According to Geoff Sugerman, Hunt’s spokesperson, that meant only a handful of products were covered. In the past decade, dozens of new smokeless items have popped up as tobacco companies have searched for a way to sell products while dealing with increased taxes and restrictions on cigarettes.

The bill passed the House 40-18.

“They may look like gum. They may look like breath mints. They may taste like candy. But make no mistake – these products will kill our children. This is tobacco with training wheels,” said State Rep. Sara Gelser, D-Corvallis, who co-sponsored the current bill along with Hunt. “This bill will stop kids from taking up another dangerous habit that today falls outside the tobacco master settlement agreement regulating advertising aimed at teens.”

The bill now moves on to the Oregon Senate.