Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita continues Indiana’s battle to help Hoosiers stop smoking and decrease the number of youth smokers throughout the state by holding tobacco manufacturers accountable.
Last week, Indiana received over $136 million from tobacco product manufacturers under the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement.
Rokita
“The harmful effects of tobacco take the lives of thousands of Hoosiers every year,” AG Rokita said. “My office is working hard to ensure our kids live a long and healthy life and they avoid the dangerous path of smoking.”
Under this agreement, Indiana receives annual payments as long as the tobacco manufacturers continue selling cigarettes in the state.
The agreement also forbids participating cigarette manufacturers from targeting youth, imposes restrictions on advertising and promotional activities, and product placement in media, branded merchandise, free product samples, and sponsorships.
The Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement (TMSA) remains the largest civil settlement in U.S. history. The funds received by Indiana under the settlement agreement go to healthcare, prevention, and reduction of smoking.
The TMSA payments received during AG Rokita’s administration totals to more than $433 million.
Cigarettes cause cancer and other diseases, as the Surgeon General first concluded in its historic 1964 report. So, improving Hoosiers’ health remains a priority of the Attorney General, as it should for all elected officials.
For more information on quitting smoking, call Indiana’s Tobacco Quit Line at 1-800-QUIT-NOW.
Editor’s note: The MSA became effective in November 1998. Under the MSA, tobacco manufacturers are obligated to make annual payments to the states involved in the settlement in perpetuity as long as they continue to sell tobaccos products in the U.S. There were 46 states named in the agreement, including Indiana. The National Association of Attorneys General Center for Tobacco and Public Health makes certain such payments are made. The original participating manufacturers (Philip Morris Inc., R. J. Reynolds, Brown & Williamson and Lorillard) agreed to pay a minimum of $206 billion over the first 25 years of the agreement.