BUSINESS AS USUAL –
Feb. 2, 2023 – It’s despicable, but it’s not enough to shake our fists. We must organize and fight back — and keep fighting because the industry doesn’t let up, as Californians have seen first-hand. Its whole business model is centered on selling addiction.
In 2020, the California legislature passed a law prohibiting the tobacco industry from selling flavored products, which are used to lure children. The industry waged a campaign and lobbied ferociously against the bill — and failed. It then sponsored a ballot question to overturn the law and lost again, by a nearly 2 to 1 margin. But the industry still wasn’t finished: it asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block the law and to reverse the will of the people. Again, it lost.
Over and over again, the industry tried to block the law. Each time, it lost. And now it has turned to a new tactic: evading the law.
