Attorneys general or their representatives from 46 states will be in Portland Tuesday for the sixth Triennial Conference on the 1998 Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement.
Maine Attorney General Janet Mills is hosting the gathering. She says among the issues attendees will be looking at are the health aspects of smoking, trends in youth smoking and whether the settlement agreement is continuing to be successful in helping fund anti-smoking programs.
“Looking at how tobacco products are marketed and endorsed on social media, looking at e-cigarettes, the newest challenge for health policy people,” Mills says. “Maine has been at the forefront of protecting the fund in the past through the Fund for a Healthy Maine, and that’s protected by statute, as well. There’s eight different purposes for using the Fund for a Healthy Maine with tobacco money. Most other states have not done that.”
Under the terms of the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement, Maine and 45 other states are receiving, in perpetuity, annual cash payments from tobacco companies. In exchange, the states agreed to drop lawsuits seeking to recover costs incurred by the state for the treatment of tobacco-related illnesses.
The settlement also imposed restrictions on tobacco company advertising and marketing.
