Up in smoke
Proposed laws to increase cigarette tax and ban smoking on Oceanside beaches draw ire of tobacco businesses
By Andrea Powell | Special to Today’s Local News
| Gregg Engels, owner and founder of Cigar Grotto in
Oceanside, began his business in 1999. Engels said his
profits could suffer if Proposition 86 passes in
November. Christian Calabria | christian@tlnews.net |
Thursday, September 14, 2006
The proposal to ban smoking on Oceanside beaches and the upcoming ballot measure Proposition 86, which would raise tobacco taxes by 88 percent, have small tobacco shops like the Cigar Grotto in Oceanside all fired up.
The Cigar Grotto opened in January 1999 and has been a local hangout for sports enthusiasts, military personnel and the after-work crowd. Owner Gregg Engels said the business has had a gradual profit increase for almost eight years. If Proposition 86 passes and tobacco costs increase, he said his profits could go up in smoke.
“If (Proposition) 86 passes, I will lose a lot of my clientele, and, for the first time in almost eight years, I will see a huge decline in sales, which I think is unfair,” he said. “People are going to get it one way or another. Why not from a controlled and legal tobacco shop?”
Proposition 86 on the Nov. 7 ballot proposes an additional $2.60 a pack excise tax on cigarettes that indirectly increases taxes on other tobacco products. The tax is expected to raise an estimated $2.1 billion annually in new revenues.
According to the California Attorney General, the money will be used for various health programs, children’s health coverage and tobacco-related programs.
A study by the California Department of Health Services says Proposition 86 will keep 700,000 kids from becoming adult smokers and prevent 300,000 smoking-related deaths. The same study says Proposition 86 will save more than $16 billion in health care costs.
But those who oppose the measure say it doesn’t amount to enough.
“Proposition 86 is an unreasonable tax increase that advocates say is about encouraging people not to smoke, but it isn’t,” said Bob Rufer, a tobacco manufacturer’s representative for International Cigar. “The rise in the tobacco tax will not affect smoking, and less than 10 percent of the proposed revenue will go toward helping smokers quit or keeping kids from starting.”
Rufer called the proposition “a big money grab for people who see the tobacco industry as an easy target.” He said consumers will discontinue buying their tobacco from local vendors and seek out avenues like the black market or out-of-state purchasing.
Others, like Kris Deutschman, disagree. Deutschman is part of the “Yes 86” campaign supported by the American Cancer Society, American Lung Association of California, American Heart Association, California Hospital Association, emergency room doctors and nurses, community clinics and health centers, among others.
“When you break through all of the smokescreens being thrown up by tobacco companies, what’s left is the fact that tobacco companies know what we do; that if Prop 86 passes, 312 million packs of cigarettes won’t be sold each year,” she said. “Tobacco company opposition is solely about protecting their market share and keeping the next generation of California kids addicted.”
Dr. Robert Stein, board president of the American Heart Association’s San Diego office, said it is vital voters say yes to the initiative.
“Proposition 86 will save lives,” he said. “The initiative will achieve two goals: it will reduce smoking especially among kids and fund critical health care priorities, such as disease prevention, medical research, children’s health insurance and emergency room care.”
Besides the proposition, a proposal to ban smoking on Oceanside’s beaches is also stirring public debate. Smoking is already banned on the beaches of Solana Beach, Del Mar, and, more recently, San Diego.
Engels disagrees with the ban because, he said, secondhand smoke isn’t an issue on the beach. Rene Gibson, who lives on the Oceanside Strand, does not believe the smoking ban will deter people from lighting up on the beach.
“Ultimately, people need to be responsible and pick up their own stuff,” Gibson said. “I smoke and I live 2 feet from the sand, but I don’t litter my front yard with cigarette butts. I see people leave their fast food wrappers out here all the time. Why not ban fast food on the beach?”
