replay to president tobacco commission - Haywood J.Hamlet,
3/27/01 2:27PM
DARK TOBACCO SALES COOPERATIVE
P.O.BOX 447
FARMVILLE,VIRGINIA 23901
PHONE (804) 392-3785
FAX (804) 392-8586
Dark Tobacco Sales Cooperative which represents
Virginia Dark-Fired Type 21 and Virginia Sun-Cured Type 37 would like to offer
the following views on the Preliminary report
of the President's Tobacco Commission.
Our Association strongly supports a quota
buyout that would pay a reasonable price to quota owners and put the quota in
the
hands of growers. We also support a continued
price support program. The preliminary report with recommendations for Flue-
Cured and Burley has several recommendations
that differ from what we would support in a settlement or buyout.
We do not support the U S Food and Drug
Administration regulating tobacco production.
We want to continue to produce tobacco for
adult consumption and believe adults should have that freedom of choice to
purchase
and consume traditional tobacco products.
We strongly oppose granting any new regulatory
authority with respect to tobacco products without strong safeguard to
guarantee
that such authority is exercised reasonable and
cannot be used to achieve outright or back-door prohibition. Numerous
government
reports today tell us that illegal youth usage
of smokeless tobacco products are low and decreasing.
We believe that we should be included in the
settlement, and would expect to have the opportunity to have input in any
legislation
that the commission and congress takes. We
strongly recommend the commission support assistance for all tobacco growers
in any proposals made by the President or
Congress on spending the budget surplus.
Thank you for the opportunity to make our views
known to the commission.
Sincerely,
Haywood J.Hamlet
General Manger