On Wednesday, Oct. 24, the Maryland Health Care For All! Coalition will release a new study showing that the tax increase on small cigars and smokeless tobacco products enacted in May during the 2012 General Assembly Session has dramatically increased the price of these deadly products. These increases will save thousands of children’s lives by deterring them from purchasing these tobacco products.
The coalition will release the study by experts at the University of Maryland School of Law Legal Resource Center at Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical High School in Baltimore City, and celebrate with students and Dr. Donald Shell of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Last year, students at Mergenthaler High joined state health officials in releasing data showing a dramatic increase in cigar smoking among youths and calling for the kind of action the Governor and General Assembly took this year.
When: 11 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 24
Where: Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical High School, 3500 Hillen Road, Baltimore.
Who: Craig Rivers, Principal, Mergenthaler Vocational Technical High School
The Honorable Mary Pat Clarke, Baltimore City Council
The Honorable Shawn Tarrant, Maryland General Assembly
Mergenthaler High Student Lia Harris, Law and Leadership Program (12th grade) Dr. Donald Shell, Director of the State’s Center for Tobacco Prevention and Control Dr. Brian Avin, President, MedChi, the Maryland State Medical Society
Olivia Farrow, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Human Services Vincent DeMarco, President, Maryland Health Care For All! Coalition MichaelineFedder, American Heart Association
