A TV commercial airing in the Baltimore area features a young father concerned that the proposed $1 per-package increase in the tax on cigarettes in Maryland would cause him economic hardship, making it difficult for him to provide for his children.

This ad shows how the tobacco companies will use any method -- no matter how deceptive -- to hold on to their profits.

It's disturbing to see how Big Tobacco feigns concern for the poor when it has targeted this same group for years by placing billboards glamorizing smoking in inner-city neighborhoods, giving free sports equipment to youth leagues there and passing out free cigarettes to get residents addicted.

Poor inner-city residents are particularly vulnerable to smoking-related heart disease and stroke. That's significant because, increasingly, smoking is a poor person's habit.

In Baltimore, 53 percent of residents with a high school education or less are smokers, compared with about 20 percent for the city's general population.

It's clear that tobacco advertising aimed at poor and undereducated people has been very successful.

The tobacco industry's advertisements feature young, healthy-looking, well-dressed actors in affluent settings, holding out an empty promise of a wealthy lifestyle to people who use their product. The exact opposite is true: Smoking kills at least 7,000 Marylanders each year, leaving their despairing families with high medical costs that are frequently passed on to the taxpayer.

The state has spent some $3 billion since 1970 treating smoking-related illnesses. Maryland residents also pay for the results of smoking in higher insurance premiums and higher costs of goods and services, since employers increase prices to cover their share of employee health premiums.

Though the tax increase bill is expected to be approved by the House, its future is uncertain in the state Senate.

Some Maryland lawmakers apparently have been taken in by Big Tobacco's advertising and lobbyists.

It's time for the other side to be heard. Lawmakers must read the research, examine new evidence unearthed by states showing that the industry tried to conceal the health hazards of smoking and look at experiences from Canada to Oregon, where smoking has decreased as the price of tobacco products increased.

The Congressional Budget Office has concluded that most poor people will prioritize spending on basics such as food and shelter before they spend their money on tobacco products.

The proposed tobacco tax will improve the lives of poor smokers by giving them incentive to quit.

We cannot stand by while tobacco companies entice more low-income people to buy a product that causes disease and death.

The argument that raising tobacco prices will hurt the poor and their families is absurd. If we are really concerned about poor Marylanders, let's raise the cigarette tax by $1 per pack, give the poor access to smoking cessation services and spend the eventual cost savings on programs that can effectively reduce poverty and promote good health. Helping families overcome poverty and its many related problems helps all of us.

That's my commercial. I like it much better than the one paid for by Big Tobacco.

Robert V. Hess is president and chief executive officer of the Center for Poverty Solutions.

Pub Date: 3/26/99