California State Court Urged to Overturn Ban on Free Tobacco

The San Franscisco Chronicle has an interesting story on states rights vs.interstate commerce:

A tobacco company lawyer urged the California Supreme Court on Wednesday to overturn the state's ban on cigarette giveaways, arguing that only the federal government can regulate tobacco promotions.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. was fined $14.8 million for handing out cigarettes at six events in 1999, including auto races and a jazz festival in Southern California and the San Jose International Beer Festival. Attorney General Bill Lockyer's office sued the company under a state law, passed in 1991, that prohibits free distribution of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco, except in limited circumstances when minors are securely excluded.

At a court hearing in Redding, Reynolds attorney H. Joseph Escher said a 1969 federal law gave the U.S. government sole authority to regulate health-related tobacco labeling, advertising and promotions. Federal law prohibits free distribution of cigarettes -- which the industry calls "sampling'' -- in federal buildings but allows it elsewhere.

Selling tobacco over state lines after all is interstate commerce.