I hope to learn something new each session.

Weeks before the public hearing, I knew the outcome for my legislation that would ban the sale of gateway products for young smokers – unpackaged, or single-wrapped, cigarillos and other flavored  tobacco products.

As I expected, House Bill 1158 got an unfavorable report from the House Economic Matters Committee.

To overcome the influence of the tobacco industry, the Governor needs to sponsor the bill or it must be the highest priority of a very broad coalition.

That’s also the case with gun control.

You’d think that wouldn’t be the case with two products that can kill people, but it is.

I read this today:

Smoking, the leading cause of preventable death in the country, is now increasingly a habit of the poor and the working class.

How should we target our smoking prevention efforts so that we can reverse that trend in Maryland?

As I work on that for next year’s session, I hope I’ve learned something from this year’s experience.