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The government wants you to smoke - by Daniel Wu

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The Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement

It’s spring, 2003. An Illinois Court has just handed Philip Morris a $10 billion dollar fine, for deceptive advertising related to “light” cigarettes. To even file an appeal, Philip Morris has to post a $12 billion bond. The company starts quietly warning people it might not have the cash. It might, in fact, miss a very important upcoming payment. So who rides to the rescue? Who files briefs, begging the judge to go easy on America’s largest cigarette company? Thirty-seven state attorneys general. The very same people who, five years earlier, had sued Big Tobacco into oblivion. Those 37…

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