The suit alleged that the tobacco industry misrepresented and suppressed important information in a conspiracy to sell an unsafe product that, when used as intended, caused sickness, disease and death. It also alleged that the tobacco industry manipulated nicotine in its product and mislead Marylanders about the adverse health effects of tobacco while conspiring to keep safer, alternative products off the market. This was an effort to ease the burden on businesses and Maryland taxpayers caused by tobacco-related medical costs. Businesses in Maryland are the ones unfairly saddled with the extra health care costs the tobacco industry should be bearing, not to mention the lost productivity of workers who smoke. Each year, Maryland teenagers buy an estimated 10.4 million packs of cigarettes.
Teenagers are three times as likely than adults to respond to cigarette ads.
More than 7000 Marylanders will die this year because of tobacco use. Nationally, more than 400,000 people will die. According to a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, declines in smoking will actually result in a net GAIN of jobs. For instance, if tobacco sales had been eliminated in 1993, the economy would have an estimated 133,000 more jobs in the year 2000.