Bob Barr

Stealth Assault Launched on Selling Tobacco by Mail

The Hill

September 21, 2006

Ahhh, Big Government. Isn’t it wonderful? Ever searching for more ways to fleece taxpayers, the government now has a direct financial interest in seeing big tobacco companies prosper.

Thanks to the so-called master settlement agreement, or MSA, which ended the threat of state lawsuits against tobacco companies, government now reaps a generous cut of their profits. In essence, increased cigarette sales from the big tobacco companies flow directly into government coffers.

When government do-gooders look at products like tobacco, there are basically two strategies to prevent individuals from using harmful products.

One way respects individual freedom, while the other replaces it with government coercion. Not surprisingly, government’s financial interest in tobacco has increasingly led it to choose the latter in recent years.

The first path involves providing individuals with the information they need to make an informed choice on whether or not to use specific tobacco products. This strategy begins with sound, scientifically based research that pinpoints the specific health hazards associated with particular types of tobacco use.

Then, the choice-based approach simply conveys this information to the public and allows individuals to exercise their own best judgment on how to balance the risks of tobacco against the enjoyment derived from using it.

Fundamentally, this is no different from how we treat high-cholesterol foods, long-distance driving, air travel, use of power tools or any of the myriad other potentially dangerous activities in which individuals choose to participate.

The second approach to tobacco regulation rests on using the power of government to force individuals not to use tobacco. Of course, advocates of this anti-freedom approach realize it is difficult if not impossible for government to simply outlaw en masse products that millions of Americans choose to use.

Instead of outlawing tobacco directly, they move to restrict its use and raise its costs to the point that individuals pay a heavy price in dollars and convenience if they choose to smoke.

This is a win-win situation for government bureaucrats, because they can say they are “fighting smoking,” when what they are really doing is raising taxes and shielding big tobacco companies by keeping competitors out of the marketplace.

This project began with draconian bans on smoking, first in public buildings, then in restaurants and bars, and now even in outdoor public places like beaches and parks. It continued with efforts to hike taxes on cigarettes to absurd levels, ensuring that politicians would get a payoff for doing the bidding of so-called public health advocates.

The latest front in this battle involves companies that provide opportunities for individuals to order cigarettes in the mail.

Mail-order tobacco companies, which allow consumers to purchase through the phone and Internet, are the distribution backbone for smaller, independent manufacturers that offer lower-priced products than major, well-known brands. These independents rely on direct-to-consumer sales to build a following, because they don’t have access to massive retail distribution controlled by Big Tobacco.

Shutting down direct sales has long been a goal sought by both Big Tobacco and Big Government. Independent manufacturers, and the competition they represent, would be decimated if the mail order tobacco companies were put out of business.

Additionally, mail-order tobacco companies expand consumer choice in tobacco products. Organic cigarettes and hand-rolled cigars are just some of the products individuals are able to enjoy only if they obtain them through the mail.

Not surprisingly, those who would control our actions from federal offices in Washington were not and are not content to allow the market to function without interference. They have joined with big tobacco companies—which don’t like the competition—to shut down small entrepreneurs who sell tobacco products online and through the mail.

Rather than tackle the issue openly and fairly, the anti-freedom forces have chosen postal-reform legislation currently moving through Congress as their vehicle of choice through which to cut mail-order tobacco firms off at the knees. This bill is intended to make the U.S. Postal Service—which currently operates somewhere at the level it did in the 19th century—start acting like a modern corporation.

At the behest of big tobacco and its special-interest lobbying dollars, however, some members of Congress are attempting to insert a rider onto the postal reform bill that will shut down mail-order companies that compete with major cigarette manufacturers.

Tacking an anti-freedom tobacco measure onto postal-reform legislation takes a well-intended reform measure and turns it into a stealth assault on the principle that individual consumers should be able to decide for themselves what is and isn’t healthy behavior. Whether one likes or dislikes tobacco products, allowing government nannies in cahoots with private industry to play favorites and decimate competition should not be a part of the game plan. Conferees who will be considering the postal-reform legislation should resist efforts to make them a party to such underhanded tactics.

Mr. Barr occupies the 21st Century Liberties Chair for Freedom and Privacy at the American Conservative Union Foundation.