The Citizens' Commission to Protect the Truth is working to end smoking by children and teens by demanding that the big tobacco companies - Philip Morris (Altria), Lorillard, RJ Reynolds, and Brown & Williamson - accede to court-supervised funding of the Public Education Fund through the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA), which they signed with the states in 1998. This fund provides the financial resources necessary for the American Legacy Foundation to wage counter-marketing campaigns like truth®, credited with playing an important role in significantly reducing the number of American teenagers who use tobacco.
The Commission has filed amicus briefs in appropriate tobacco litigation. It has asked courts to order tobacco companies to provide funds for the truth® campaign as one of the remedies for tobacco company misconduct.
The American Legacy Foundation launched truth® in early 2000 and not long after, Monitoring the Future, one of the nation's most comprehensive substance abuse surveys, cited the truth® campaign in explaining the sharp decline in cigarette smoking among 8th, 10th, and 12th graders. From 2000 to 2002, cigarette smoking among high school students fell by more than one million, thanks in large part to truth®. See truth® campaign spots and other materials.
Principal funding for the Commission comes from the National Association of Attorneys General through a $1.5 million pass-through grant from the American Legacy Foundation. The grant is administered by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, which also provides staffing for the Commission.
For more information, please contact Tamara Schlinger at 212-841-5305 or at info@protectthetruth.org
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