Tobacco Alerts

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Fight this latest assault on human rights

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May 12, 2009: The US International Trade Commission (USITC) recently opened the process for all interested parties to submit their comments about the Philip Morris request to ban the purchase of cigarettes over the Internet from foreign-based websites (shipped from overseas). Follow the instructions below (through step 4) to see the official version of what's going on.

Your opposing comments are urgently needed to save our right to buy from whomever we choose!!

Since the process requires some knowledge on how to navigate its website, follow the detailed instructions below or else we can walk you through (step-by-step). For assistance or for more information contact SmokersFightBack@yahoo.com or allen@matrixbookstore.com

1.) go to: https://edis.usitc.gov/edis3-external/app (not necessary to log-in until step 5)
2.) scroll down and click ‘advanced search’
3.) once that webpage opens, enter 643 in the ‘Investigation Number’ box (then click search)
4.) on the resulting ‘search results’ webpage, you can view any comment by clicking the ‘quick view’ link on the far left (under Doc ID)
5.) in order to submit an opinion, you’ll first need to register for an EDIS account to log-in (register by clicking ‘log-in’ located in the top right of any webpage)
6.) opinions can only be submitted in PDF format and submitted electronically (zip files not allowed). Tip: In trying to submit your document, you can't manually enter the Investigation Number... you must first click 'find investigation', then (1) in the opened window enter 643 in the Investigation Number box which will produce a filtered result; then (2) in the filtered results box, click the active link 337-643 (by doing so it automatically enters it on the submit document page). It's a little Rube Goldbergian but at least you're then ready to submit your document.

For help concerning or preparing the PDF format contact SmokersFightBack@yahoo.com

The following is the submission tendered to the USITC by A.O. Kime on May 11, 2009

Gentlemen:

Thank you for opening this contentious issue to comments.

I am a retired farmer, agricultural consultant and a smoker for 55 years.

Although the fact tobacco regulations made a mockery of property rights isn‘t a USITC
matter, or that tobacco taxes in the U.S. are outrageous, or that states are trying to balance
their budgets on the backs of smokers, this proposal apparently is a USITC matter and it
should be known that this General Exclusion Order is unfair, discriminatory and smacks
of ‘protectionism‘.

Exclusions should be carefully reserved for important matters lest tempt the whole of
industry to seek exclusions. It erodes the entire concept of free trade.

There are winners and losers in free trade and Philip Morris should not be made immune
to this reality. Nor should the USITC facilitate, for the benefit of complainants, an
advantage over consumers.

Furthermore, while not objecting to the imports of its cigarettes through the Mexican
border, Philip Morris, in effect, is asking the USITC to become party to a double
standard. Not only would this be cause for retaliation by our overseas trading partners,
but it is audacious that Philip Morris would expect taxpayers to foot the bill. The cost
would be astronomical. Nor will the U.S. postal service show any interest in an unfunded
mandate (struggling as it is).

Supporters of this proposal simply don’t have an ethical or moral leg to stand on. After
all, most states are diverting the lion’s share of their tobacco tax revenue into their
general fund which was supposed to treat smoking related illnesses (although not the roll
of ‘governance‘ in any event). The state’s advertised health concerns are only the
façade… but one so transparent it fools no one. Nor, as if the moral authority, does
anyone have the right to dictate the habits of others… my children are not their children.

When this ‘tobacco madness’ finally subsides, and it will, historians will surely consider
it on a par with the Salem witch hunts.

The matter of buying cigarettes over the Internet from an overseas company is no
different than U.S. consumers buying cheaper shoes made in China. I also think the
conjured-up term 'gray market' is unfair... which could easily be applied to most all
imports.

This path will prove fraught with hazards. Clearly, the main beneficiary of this exclusion
order would be the mafia. Smokers simply will not pay these excessive taxes and if they
can't get them reasonably priced (on-line or wherever), then they'll buy them on the black
market (mafia-controlled). It’s a time-honored truth.

It will likely create a bigger problem for the authorities than even narcotics... we don't
need another un-winnable situation likened to the drug war. From just the constraints on
tobacco already applied, wholesale theft, muggings and smuggling are becoming a huge
problem in America… even killings over cigarettes have been reported. This proposed
action, if approved, would increase this problem exponentially.

Respectfully,

A.O. Kime
3055 E. Baker Rd
Willcox, AZ 85643
(520) 384-3072

Go back to (or see more) social and political issues in America and worldwide (includes more on tobacco)
For a related article, see Understanding Freedom… man's conceptual paradox
For another related article, see A Trap Awaits the Politically Correct

Last modified: 06/22/10