The TFM coalition has a long and successful history of achievement.
2008: $1.00/pack cigarette tax increase. Dedicated revenue for Health Reform.
2008: Little cigars re-classified as cigarettes
2008: Preserved the minimum pricing law
2008: MassHealth smoking cessation benefit made permanent in Governor's FY 2009 budget proposal
2006: Pilot program signed into law that allows MassHealth subscribers access to free or low-cost pharmacotherapy, nicotine replacement products, and counseling
2005: MassHealth coverage of smoking cessation for pregnant women and mothers with children under age three
2004: Enactment of a law making Massachusetts workplaces 100% smoke-free
2003: Assisted multiple cities and towns to pass and sustain smoke-free workplace regulations, including the cities of Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville
2002: $.75 cigarette tax increase
1999: The Massachusetts Attorney General? 1999 Cigarette, Smokeless Tobacco, Cigar and Little Cigar Regulations that declare certain types of conduct by manufacturers, distributors, and sellers of tobacco products to be unfair or deceptive acts or practices prohibited under state law
1999: A law committing all of Massachusetts tobacco settlement revenues to public health and tobacco control programs, with over $22.8 million from tobacco settlement revenues going to tobacco control programs in Fiscal Year 2000
1998: The defeat of a Massachusetts Restaurant Association-backed bill that would have set a low threshold for restaurant smoking regulations and prevented local authorities from passing tougher regulations
1997: A law making Massachusetts the first state in the nation to divest all state pension fund holdings in tobacco stocks
1997: A law requiring the Massachusetts State House to be completely smoke-free
1996: The Tolman Disclosure Law, which requires cigarette companies to report their products ingredients and true nicotine yield ratings to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health
1992: Passage of the Question One ballot initiative that placed a $.25 per pack tax on cigarettes and dedicated a portion of the revenue to the creation of the Massachusetts Tobacco Control Program
"It took me four attempts to quit and
the loss of another friend to throat
cancer before it finally hit me smoking
kills! I began to educate myself
I became outraged that everyone had
a smoke-free workplace but me so I
began a crusade Imagine breathing
defensively every minute of every
hour of every workday. Imagine 25
years working in a smoking environment
watching silently, slowly as society
changes its attitude toward smoking
and left you out."
Jody, Boston