Correspondence via
Governor Jennifer Granholm on
Michigan's 1909 Cigarette Ban Law

Michigan law MCL § 750.27, MSA § 28.216, says, "Any person within the state who manufactures, sells or gives to anyone, any cigarette containing any ingredient deleterious to health or foreign to tobacco, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor." The writer contacted Michigan Governor Jennifer M. Granholm about having the law enforced.

THE CRIME PREVENTION GROUP 8401 18 Mile Road #29 Sterling Heights, MI 48313-3042 (586) 739-8343 lpletten@tir.com https://medicolegal.tripod.com/cost.htm 21 April 2003 Governor Jennifer M. Granholm P.O. Box 30013 Lansing, Michigan 48909 Re Aiding in Michigan Budget Situation Dear Governor Granholm: Please instruct the Michigan State Police to enforce MCL § 750.27, MSA § 28.216. Copies of verification letters received via contact with your predecessor are attached, and those from during your administration (Enclosures 1-4). Also enclosed is a cost analysis summary (Enclosure 5). Note that the costs of non-enforcement in terms of harm to Michigan, range from a low estimate of .8 billion dollars per year, up to over two tens of billions of dollars per year. Whatever number is deemed valid, savings via enforcing MCL § 750.27, MSA § 28.216, can thus be expected sufficient to help balance the budget. The law (MCL § 750.27, MSA § 28.216) has been on the books since 1909. About time it is enforced, we hope you agree. Please instruct the Michigan State Police to enforce that law, starting immediately. Instruct the MSP to interdict, and confiscate, the contraband being smuggled into Michigan on a daily basis. Respectfully,       THE CRIME PREVENTION GROUP       /s/Leroy J. Pletten Leroy J. Pletten, Ph.D. Medicine and Law History Substance Abuse Issues Counselor and Lecturer Enclosures: 1. Verification Letter of July 1997 2. Verification Letter of [Sep] 1997 3. Verification Letter of March 2003 4. Support Letter of April 2003 5. Cost Analysis Summary of Data

State of Michigan John Engler, Governor Department of Community Health Lewis Cass Building Lansing, Michigan 48313 James K. Haveman, Jr., Director July 9, 1997 Leroy J. Pletten, Ph.D. The Crime Prevention Group 8401 18 Mile Road #29 Sterling Heights, Michigan 48313-3042 Dear Dr. Pletten: Thank you for taking the time to write Governor Engler. Since the Department of Community Health is responsible for health concerns, he has asked me to respond to your suggestion to begin enforcing [MCL § 750.27] the law that prohibits the sale of adulterated cigarettes. Interesting, the law does appear to prohibit the sale of cigarettes with any ingredient foreign to tobacco or any ingredient deleterious to health. Although we are not privy to the list of ingredients that are added to cigarettes, we do know that a number of additives are used. A bill has been introduced in our legislature (House Bill 4778) that would require tobacco companies to list the ingredients that have been added. The department is presently doing an analysis of the bill. Additionally, we are closely monitoring and involved in national discussions concerning tobacco settlements. Again, thank you for your interest and for sharing your suggestion. I will share a copy of your letter with the office of the Attorney General. Cordially, /s/ James K. Haveman, Jr. James K. Haveman, Jr. JH/ms

State of Michigan John Engler, Governor Department of Community Health Lewis Cass Building Lansing, Michigan 48313 James K. Haveman, Jr., Director   September 11, 1997 Leroy J. Pletten, Ph.D. The Crime Prevention Group 8401 18 Mile Road #29 Sterling Heights, Michigan 48313-3042 Dear Dr. Pletten: Thank you for your letter of July 18. Research by my staff indicates that there is no case law resulting from the statute you cite, MCL 750.27. There has been no opinion by the Attorney General on this statute, and the Michigan State Police are not aware of any particular reason why this specific law may not be routinely enforced at the local level, as you suggest. Because this is an issue of whether or not local law enforcement agencies find this law credible enough to enforce, I suggest that you pursue this matter with local law enforcement officials. Cordially, /s/ James K. Haveman, Jr. James K. Haveman, Jr. JH/ms

State of Michigan JENNIFER M. GRANHOLM OFFICE 0F THE GOVERNOR JOHN D. CHERRY, JR. GOVERNOR LANSING LT. GOVERNOR March 4, 2003 Mr. Leroy Pleten 8401 18 Mile No. 29 Sterling Hgts, Ml 48303 Dear Mr. Pleten: Thank you for taking the opportunity to become engaged in your state government. I appreciate you sharing your concerns and ideas with me on smoking in the state of Michigan. According to the Centers for Disease Control, Michigan currently ranks 50th out of 50 states in terms of spending tobacco settlement funds on cessation and prevention efforts. In addition, Michigan has the 38th highest rate of tobacco-related deaths annually. These facts are not acceptable to me, and I am deeply committed to smoking prevention. Our state's new Surgeon General, Dr. Kimberlydawn Wisdom, will focus on preventing teen smoking and on smoking cessation. The best way to accomplish our goal is to replicate practices in successful programs found in other states. Your concerns are clearly heard, and rest assured we are working to find the best way to make these changes a reality in Michigan. Ed. Note: We already have constitutional and common laws to pure air and put out fires (including those causing smoke), and a statutory law to do prevention and cessation. The latter institutionalizes the former, by preventing smoking starting in the first place. The issue is not to devise a new program, nor to pass a new law, but to enforce the already existing common and constitutional laws, and the statute, MCL § 750.27, MSA § 28.216. I am grateful to you for sharing your concerns. It is the involvement and genuine concern of individuals like you that will help chart the course for a brighter future for our entire Michigan family. Sincerely, Jennifer M. Granholm Jennifer M. Granholm Governor

Jennifer M. Granholm, Governor DEPARTMENT 0F COMMUNITY HEALTH Lewis Cass Building Lansing, Michigan 48313 Janet Olszewski, Director April 17, 2003 Mr. Leroy J. Pletten, Ph.D. 8401 18 Mile Road #29 Sterling Heights, Ml 48313 Dear Mr. Pletten: I have been asked to respond to your recent letter to Governor Granholm dated March 11, 2003 concerning smoke-free work environments. Your comments regarding the health risk of secondhand smoke are valid and understood. Please be assured that we also share your concerns about exposure to secondhand smoke and use every opportunity to inform the public that everyone is at risk whenever they are exposed to tobacco smoke. The Michigan Department of Community Health has developed and continues to implement a comprehensive strategy to educate and engage the public on the health risk of secondhand smoke. The components of this plan include: a statewide communications campaign to inform the public of the dangers of secondhand smoke; local community coalition projects to educate and encourage local businesses and municipal officials to implement smoke-free policies in worksites, businesses and public places; the Smoke-Free Environments Law Project that promotes and assists individuals, businesses and local units of government with smoke-free policy development; and the Smoke-Free Homes campaign that engages parents to take a pledge to make their homes smoke-free for the sake of their chiidren. We believe that these efforts have resulted in thed public being much more aware and interested in the health risks associated with secondhand smoke. They have also played a role in strong smoke-free worksite regulations being passed by the city of Marquette, and Ingham and Washtenaw counties. California's clean indoor air campaign began in the same manner. It is our belief that these local policies reflect the will of the population and are fundamentally important steps toward saving lives in Michigan. Mr. Leroy J. Pletten, Ph.D. Page Two If you would like more information about Michigan's strategy to promote and establish smoke-free environments, please feel free to contact our clean indoor air specialist, Orlando Todd, at (517) 335-9377. Thank you for your concern about the public's exposure to secondhand smoke. Sincerely, /s/ Janet Olszewski Janet Olszewski Director

THE CRIME PREVENTION GROUP 8401 18 Mile Road #29 Sterling Heights, MI 48313-3042 (586) 739-8343 CIGARETTES AND MICHIGAN BUDGET ‘CRISIS' The common estimate of tobacco-health-care-costs to Michigan is $800 million per year. Over 25 years (the term of the Attorney General deal), that is $20 billion. The so-called "tobacco money" deal only recovers about $8 billion of those $20 billion. In essence, the taxpayers are getting nothing for current and future costs. There is NO "tobacco settlement money" for current expenses, only for a fraction of the past's, 40 cents on the dollar. Michigan gets ZERO for the current $800 million damages per year. Each year is a net loss, cutting into the budget. Using the accepted cost figure, we'd be $800 million ahead every year it we enforced the optimum "smoking cessation" law, the consumer protection act deleterious cigarette manufacturing and selling ban law, MCL § 750.27, MSA § 28.216. Enforcing the ban law would be doing the "smoking cessation" when it counts, 'cessating,' preventing the smoking starting in the first place. But is the $800 million figure correct? Or is it itself a low-ball figure? Do cigarettes actually costs Michigan much more than $800 million per? Calculate the damages yourself. Don't use the tobacco settlement figures. Use the ones announced by impartial analysts. You'll see that the received figure UNDERSTATES the damages to Michigan. Smoking as of 2002, costs Americans $157.4 billion per year. The annual amount is about $3,391 per person. Each pack leads to medical costs. Each pack reduces productivity. The total per-pack cost is calculated at $7.18.—U.S. Centers for Disease Control, http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/statehi/statehi_2002.htm. That means, dividing equally by 50, over $ three billion per year! from Michigan taxpayers and residents. In addition, tobacco is the starter drug, leading to other drugs. Those drugs drain an additional $160 billion a year from America's economy, says http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/news/press02/012302.html (23 January 2002). Again dividing by 50, that means another $ three billion per year from Michigan taxpayers and residents. Last, crimes cost American over another one trillion dollars per year.—David A. Anderson, "The Aggregate Burden of Crime," 42 Journal of Law and Economics (#2) 611-642 (Oct 1999). Smokers typically commit 90% of the crimes in America, and constitute 90% of the prison population. This means, dividing equally by 50, $900 billion/50, another $18 billion from Michigan residents and taxpayers. Add this up, cigarettes are costing Michigan about $24 billion per year. Now do you see why Michigan has a budget ‘crisis'? Read more about this at TCPG's free educational site https://medicolegal.tripod.com/cost.htm.

State of Michigan JENNIFER M. GRANHOLM OFFICE 0F THE GOVERNOR JOHN D. CHERRY, JR. GOVERNOR LANSING LT. GOVERNOR April 28, 2003 Mr. Leroy Pletton 8401 18 Mile #29 Sterling Heights, Ml 48303 Dear Mr. Pletton: Thank you for taking the opportunity to become engaged in your state government. I appreciate you sharing your perspective and concerns regarding law enforcement in the state of Michigan. I understand what a frustrating situation this must be for you. To help address your concerns I have taken the liberty of forwarding your information to the Director's Office of the Michigan Department of State Police (MSP) for their careful review and consideration. As you may know, the MSP has the responsibility of deterring criminal activities, arrest those who break the law, and assist local public safety agencies in their efforts to protect the public. I have asked MSP to look into your specific situation and to report their findings directly to you. The late Congresswoman Barbara Jordan once said, "The stakes are too high for government to be a spectator sport." I couldn't agree more. Government is a team sport - I'm so pleased that you've taken the initiative to get on the field. Your engagement truly steels the bonds of our democracy and fosters excellence in government. Thank you for contacting me personally. I urge you to stay connected as we move Michigan forward, together. Sincerely, Jennifer M. Granholm Jennifer M. Granholm Governor

STATE OF MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT 0F STATE POLICE EAST LANSING JENNIFER M. GRANHOLM COL. TADARIAL J. STURDIVANT GOVERNOR DIRECTOR May 29, 2003 Leroy J. Pletten, Ph.D. The Crime Prevention Group 8401 18 Mile Road #29 Sterling Heights, Michigan 48313-3042 Dear Mr. Pletten: I am in receipt of your letter to Governor Granholm dated April 21, 2003, and have been asked to respond. In your letter you express concerns about tobacco tax enforcement and asked Governor Granholm to instruct the Michigan State Police to enforce MCL § 750.27 and MSA § 28.216. This section of law is a misdemeanor violation for the manufacture, sale, or giving away of adulterated cigarettes. I am pleased to advise that the Michigan Department of State Police - Tobacco Tax Fraud Team does enforce all laws pertaining to the Michigan Tobacco Product Tax Act (MCL 327 of 1993). We are cognizant of MCL § 750.27 (Act 328 of 1931) and can assure you that we most certainly keep this statute in mind when taking enforcement action. Tobacco Products Tax Fraud Team members consistently serve as a resource for other law enforcement agendes on the proper methods of detecting contraband tobacco and are in constant contact with out-state local and federal agencies, sharing investigative information and working on joint tobacco cases. In closing, please be assured that the Michigan State Police enforces the Tobacco Products Tax Fraud Act and seizes every opportunity to interdict and confiscate contraband or adulterated tobacco products being smuggled into the State of Michigan. I am hopeful your concerns have been adequately addressed. If you have further concerns related to Tobacco Tax enforcement please direct them to D/F/Lt. Theodore Monfette at (734) 525-4434. Sincerely, /s/Robert J. Bertee ROBERT J. BERTEE, LT. COLONEL Deputy Director Investigative Services Bureau RJB:CB 714 SOUTH HARRISON ROAD     EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN 48823 www.michigan.gov   (517) 332-2521