State Legislation on Smoking and Health: A Comparison of Two Policies

In: Policy sciences: integrating knowledge and practice to advance human dignity ; the journal of the Society of Policy Scientists, Band 13, Heft 2, S. 139-152

Abstract

The 2 principal smoking-related state legislative activities stand in sharp contrast to one another. Cigarette excise taxation spread among the states well before the connection between smoking & illness became a public issue, yet more recent tax increass appear to reflect a response to the national antismoking campaign. The growing disparity in cigarette prices between tobacco-producing & other states has created a lucrative market in bootlegged cigarettes, & has thereby brought new taxation to a virtual standstill for 6 years. Laws restricting smoking in public places represent a phenomenon of the 1970s, clearly bearing the imprint of the antismoking campaign. From 1972 through 1978, the number of states with such laws in effect grew from 5 to 36, & the restrictiveness of the laws also increased. The dramatic r between diffusion of the laws & decreases in cigarette consumption rates seems best interpreted as a result of each of these reflecting changes in social attitudes toward smoking. 3 Tables, 3 Figures, 26 References. HA.