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Maryland wins $30 million in settlement with tobacco companies

FILE - A smoker in a pub in London, Wednesday Feb. 14, 2006. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has proposed raising the legal age that people in England can buy cigarettes by one year, every year until it applies to the whole population. Sunak said the planned change will mean that “a 14-year-old today will never legally be sold a cigarette." (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)
Kirsty Wigglesworth
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AP
The CDC estimates thirty million Americans use cigarettes regularly. Credit: Flickr/joka2000

Maryland is getting $30 million from a settlement with tobacco companies that dates back to the 1990s.

A panel of arbitrators ruled unanimously Monday in favor of Maryland’s attempt to recover funds withheld from a 1998 lawsuit against more than two dozen tobacco companies.

Corporations like R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris claimed that Maryland did not properly enforce regulations on the cigarette industry, making them exempt from paying the $30 million in question.

The disputed payments were part of a master settlement agreement where states recovered billions of dollars in healthcare costs associated with smoking.

“Tobacco companies harmed Marylanders, and in the late-1990s agreed to a significant settlement as a result of their actions. Now they attempt to backtrack on that settlement – but that won’t happen on my watch,” said Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown. “Marylanders should not have to bear the high costs of treating illnesses caused by decades of big tobacco hooking people to its deadly products.”

The United States has seen a profound drop in smoking since the settlements.

Between 1998 and 2019 cigarette consumption dropped by more than 50%.

Scott is the Health Reporter for WYPR. @smaucionewypr
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