Thread by @JohnMashey

CA1/ Nicotine addiction works 4 most ONLY during adolescent brain development, ~10-24. Big Tobacco thrives only by getting youths committed to slow, bur profitable, suicide.
In 2016, California was 2nd state to raise legal age from 18 to 21.
tobacco21.org/state/californ…

CA2/ Youths often make risky choices, but society tries to help them avoid lasting harm (ex:driver licenses).
This law reduces harm, but also nicotine profits, so:
In CA, 75 legislators voted Yes.
Of 44 who did not, 40 got Big Tobacco $ (34 Republicans, 6 Democrats) 2009-16.

CA3/ National Academies (2015) documented strong science:
People vary, but after 24 very few can get addicted.
By 30, most really want to stop, but early addiction is strong (& profitable).
Search PDF for adolescent brain, see (annotated) Fig2-3 p.45.
nationalacademies.org/hmd/Reports/20…

CA4/ Big Tobacco has known for decades they must addict adolescents to prosper.
For example, here’s RJ Reynolds in 1984 … 3 years before it introduced Joe Camel, which by 1991 was as recognizable as Mickey Mouse ... to 6-year-olds.
industrydocumentslibrary.ucsf.edu/tobacco/docs/#… (annotated)

CA5/ The voting record in CA Senate and Assembly was easy to find.
leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billVote…
With 2009-16 donation records (sources later), a clear pattern emerges:
No Vote Recorded (NVR) or No Votes were strongly associated with tobacco $, mostly to Republicans.

CA6/ 40 Senators & 79 Assembly members
75 Yes
[1] 60 Democrats(D) & 5 Republicans(R) took no $
[2] 9 (D) & 1 (R) took $

44 No|No Vote Recorded(NVR)
[3] 2 (D) & 1 (R) took no $
[4] 5 (D) & 27 (R) took $
[5] 8 of 9 NVR took $

Clearly, $ correlated with No|NVR: 40 of 44 took $.

CA7/ Yes & No votes are clear, but the 9 NVRs are ambiguous, as people may be absent for various reasons.
Of 78 (D) 1 NVR took $, 1 did not.
Of 41 (R), 7 NVR took $.
That does not seem random chance.
Perhaps tobacco $ avoided Yes, but some did not want to be on record with No.

CA8/ Summary numbers & charts are expanded here, laid out the same way.
Senate & Assembly data for those involved in vote were extracted August 2016 from data on 2010-2016 election cycles.
followthemoney.org/show-me?s=CA&y…[{1|gro=d-id,f-eid
Some Senators had been Assembly members.

CA9/ CA Assembly data
This covers election cycles for 2010, 2012, 2014 & most 2016.
As do other industries, Big Tobacco does not way for specific bills, but donates regularly to anyone who takes $ in anticipation of unwanted votes.

CA10/ Overall counts of votes and $:
Women traditionally support health issues, but here politics (or $) seem to override gender.
Of 19 Female (D) 18 voted Yes and 1 No.
Of 12 Female (R) 2 voted Yes, 6 No and 4 NVR.

CA11/ Big Tobacco gave 79% of its $ to Republicans and ~1.6X more per person than to Democrats.
Some people took $ and voted Yes anyway.
I have not checked to see if they continued to get $ later.

CA12/ Many No votes were cast, basically for profit via disease & death, most from legislators who received $ from Big Tobacco.
Following are Senators & Assembly members who are running in 2018 &
1) voted N = No or
2) (somewhat ambiguous) X = NVR AND took tobacco $

CA13/ Arguments *for* raising legal age to 21 are strongly-evidenced via good science.
Arguments *against* usually can be found in internal tobacco company documents, as can names of helpers like politicians or lobbyists (Paul Manfort Roger Stone), etc
industrydocumentslibrary.ucsf.edu/tobacco

CA14/ Big Tobacco partnered with Kochs’ think tanks in fostering the Tea Party,
so it is unsurprising if Tea Party Republicans support them.
desmogblog.com/2013/02/11/tea…
amazon.com/Poison-Tea-Tob…

CA15/ Many conservative/libertarian think tanks have been gotten Big Tobacco funding for decades:
desmogblog.com/sites/beta.des… p.39

CA16/ And those think tanks acted to influence political processes
desmogblog.com/sites/beta.des… p.40

CA17/ And those same think tanks quickly changed their views when Big Tobacco altered strategies:
desmogblog.com/2014/01/28/fam…

CA18/ The Chamber of Commerce likely talks to Republican legislators now and then:
desmogblog.com/2015/07/02/tho…

CA19/ If that’s not enough, Stanford Professor Robert Proctor’s fine book is a detailed analysis of Big Tobacco strategies and tactics:
amazon.com/Golden-Holocau…
(Check my review there.)

CA20/ So far, CA, HI, MA, ME, NJ, OR have passed tobacco21 laws, as have many cities.
tobacco21.org
States need to act, Big Tobacco spends more on US Senators:

https://twitter.com/JohnMashey/status/887443948901289984

https://twitter.com/JohnMashey/status/887198974230151168

CA21/ The CA tobacco21 bill was much simpler than many other health, climate & environment issues, but whether by $ or ideology, many legislators failed to vote Yes to protect adolescents, a clear marker of views.
Fortunately, many lives will be saved by those who voted Yes.
END