ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, November 1, 1996 TAG: 9611010057
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BOLLING AIR FORCE BASE
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
THE PRICE OF A SMOKE leaps 35 percent at military commissaries beginning today.
Call it the war on tobacco: Beginning today, the Pentagon will raise the price of cigarettes at on-base supermarkets by $4 a carton to discourage soldiers from smoking.
``I think it will work, too,'' smoker Eva Hamilton said Thursday as she stocked up on cigarettes at the commissary in Washington. ``I won't be able to smoke as much - can't afford it.''
The cartons of brand-name cigarettes, rising almost 35 percent from the current $11.50 to about $15.50, will still be cheaper than the $17.50 common at private grocery stores.
The Defense Department is imposing the increase despite opposition from a congressional panel, which contends the Pentagon doesn't have the power to make such a change without its approval.
Base exchanges - military-run department stores - will have the same higher cigarette prices.
Commissaries and exchanges, financed largely by the federal government, are part of the compensation package for millions of military personnel and their families.
But tobacco products are the only items deemed health hazards by the surgeon general that are sold at reduced commissary prices, said Pentagon spokeswoman Deborah Bosick.
``In a roundabout way, we're asking taxpayers to subsidize tobacco products and pay for the health problems that occur from smoking or other kinds of tobacco use,'' Bosick said in an interview. ``It's kind of hitting the public with a double whammy.''
She acknowledged that the 40 cents per pack increase may not prompt many smokers to quit, but the Pentagon does not want to abet the smoking habit with the extra incentive of cheap cigarettes.
This marks a change in policy for the Pentagon. For about a century ending in the early 1970s, the military had included a ``tobacco ration'' in package meals soldiers received in the field.
The Defense Department pursued the price increase even after members of the powerful House National Security Committee requested a delay so it could be reviewed by a subcommittee on military morale, welfare and recreation.
A Sept. 27 letter signed by all 12 subcommittee members - Republicans and Democrats - contended the increase violated federal pricing rules - because commissaries must sell products at the ``lowest practical price'' - and could lead to higher costs for other commissary products.
The military annually sells about $450million of cigarettes and chewing tobacco in commissaries.
About 32 percent of military personnel smoke, compared with 25 percent of all adult Americans, according to a 1995 Pentagon study.
Smoker Hamilton has mixed feelings about the price increase, although she's certain the higher prices will reduce her smoking. ``I'd like to keep them cheap,'' she said. ``But they should be trying to discourage people from smoking.''
Adds Joyce Shakal, of Fort Washington, Md., buying four cartons for her husband Thursday before the price went up: ``Once [people] get smoking, they are going to keep smoking, whatever the price.''
LENGTH: Medium: 66 linesby CNB