Big Tobacco trades cigs for waivers from addicts
 

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Ryan Arms, 24, shows his take of free cigarettes Tuesday, June 11, 2002, at the Back Door Lounge in Louisville, Ky., from representatives of R.J. Reynolds, maker of Camel, Winston and Salem brands. The representatives show up twice a week to hand out two free packs to anyone willing to show ID, answer a couple of consumer questions and sign a waiver promising not to sue. (AP Photo/Brian Bohannon)

meanwhile ...

June 11 -- $5,133.47 a cigarette. That's how much the jury awarded plaintiff Richard Boeken last week when it told Philip Morris to pay him $3 billion for having enabled his smoking habit, according to calculations by reader Nathan Clark by WSJ OpinionJournal "Best of the Web" (June 8). "Based on Boeken's claim that he smoked two packs a day for 40 years, Clark figured Boeken had smoked 584,000 cigarettes", which divided into $3 billion "comes to $5,133.47 per cigarette Boeken smoked. Look for a big increase in teen smoking as word gets around the schoolyards that it's a ticket to untold wealth."

Yeah! They need to come here and give some free ones! :)

When did the warning labels first come out? The early 70s? Anyone who started smoking after those labels came out, and tries to sue the tobacco industry for their ailments is a moron. God forbid, but if I get an illness related to smoking, I'm sure as hell not going to sue anyone for my stoopid behavior.

Woo Hoo! Free Smokes!
Just to sign a waiver...hmmm do you have to sign in blood?
Thats a pretty sneaky idea...smokes for votes in florida, now smokes if ya promise not to file a class action law suit.

I guess you can get people do do just about anything for free swag nowadays.
Throw in a 18 pack of Bud Light bottles, a fifth of Jack,
some marb mediums and your hitlist...Im your man.

Sucker is stamped on my forehead.

If they are doing this at bars where people are presumably getting drunk is it really legally binding?

They'd have to do this on a pretty massive scale if they ever hope to reduce their odds of being sued in the future.

Good point. I imagine it could be questioned...bring in writing experts, witnesses, etc. That could get messy.

In Minneapolis (where I am) they just give the damn things away. All you have to do is be at the right bar at the right time (and no, I'm not going to to you where and when).
As far as "enabling" smoking, why not just go ahead and sue your own family for letting you smoke, or your doctor. Hell, a few people get struck by lightning each year, so let's sue God!

Which god? Thor, seems to be my first choice, although I suppose suing all of them might bring the best settlement...

would that work? ive been looking for someone to sue.

~james