Last year was a chaotic, stressful year for the tobacco industry and convenience store retailers. The federal government imposed a hike in the federal excise tax on tobacco products to cover an expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), and passed legislation empowering the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to regulate tobacco products and ban flavored cigarettes, rolling papers, filters and loose tobacco for ciga ... Jump to full article >>

It didn’t take long for tobacco companies to try to evade tough new restrictions on their ability to market to young people. Less than three months after a landmark federal law granted the Food and Drug Administration power to regulate tobacco products, several of the industry’s biggest companies filed suit in tobacco-friendly Kentucky. They contend that the law’s marketing provisions infringe their commercial free-speech rights. For the s ... Jump to full article >>