John Ashcroft

Mr. ASHCROFT

Mr. ASHCROFT. It is very important.

Mr. ASHCROFT. I am aware of it. I think it is very valuable that they have done so.

Mr. ASHCROFT. I would be pleased to yield for a question to the Senator from Wyoming.

Mr. ASHCROFT. I am aware of that. It seems to me that it actually confronts, in a very direct way, those other studies that make serious presumptions that are unwarranted.

Mr. ASHCROFT. I definitely agree with the Senator. I think that habits by young people in the marketplace frequently do not reflect traditional economic analysis.

Mr. ASHCROFT. I am aware of that particular statement.

Mr. ASHCROFT. I yield for the purpose of a question, and I would request the person to whom I am yielding to please preface your remarks. Does the Senator agree or not agree, if there is going to be a very strict approach, which, frankly, there has never been in my understanding of the Senate to that kind of question. I ask that he start his question that way. I don't want to yield the floor based on technical failure, if the Senator will begin with words of an interrogatory nature.

Mr. ASHCROFT. I am.

Mr. ASHCROFT. I hope I can answer these questions.

Mr. ASHCROFT. I agree our pricing strategy is potentially very seriously misplaced in this measure.

Mr. ASHCROFT. I am aware of the Senator's position in that respect. I believe if this were truly an antismoking measure for teenagers and that were its real intent, we would have things like making illegal the possession of tobacco in areas where the Federal Government has jurisdiction.

Mr. ASHCROFT. It is very wise to point that out. I have to say that the studies which the Senator has cited I think make that a compelling conclusion. You have to ignore an overwhelming weight of scientific evidence to persist in the naive notion that there is a straight line in extrapolation of price increase and demand reduction among teenagers.

Mr. ASHCROFT. Yes, I am.

Mr. ASHCROFT. I think the Senator is entirely correct; to assume that you can just automatically make that kind of change really is poor economics. It starts in the primer and stays there rather than finding out the way in which the real world would react.

Mr. ASHCROFT. I am.

Mr. ASHCROFT. I am aware of that. I think it is a point well made.

Mr. ASHCROFT. The Senator from Missouri has yielded for a question, which is underway. As soon as the Senator from Utah is finished with his question, I will be happy to yield for another question.

Mr. ASHCROFT. I think this is important.

Mr. ASHCROFT. I am aware of that citation and study. I don't believe it.

Mr. ASHCROFT. If the Senator is asking if that represents a black market for cigarettes in Canada, I think he is right. These were imported to the United States for smuggling back into Canada, and it represents that while the prices were high in Canada, there was a real aggravated problem with a black market in Canada. As long as you sell cigarettes illegally, I think selling them to underage individuals is an easy next step.

Mr. ASHCROFT. I am aware of that.

Mr. ASHCROFT. Yes, I am.

Mr. ASHCROFT. I am aware of that. I was grateful for his important contribution.

Mr. ASHCROFT. Yes. I have pointed out that not only would elevated activities in black-market sales result in perhaps even lower prices for cigarettes, but it could, as a matter of fact, be a way in which individuals are introduced to drug use.

Mr. ASHCROFT. I certainly am. And I think the nature of the questioning of the Senator is very helpful in developing for us all an understanding of the real impact of price in terms of teen smoking. I welcome his questions.