WITH THE BILLIONS OF TOBACCO MONEY AT STAKE, EVERYONE WANTS A PUFF

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Sunday, March 12, 2000

In all the history of Missouri, there probably never has been a food fight quite like the one now under way over what to do with Missouri's stake in the tobacco litigation, said to begin flowing in over the next 25 years in the amount of $6.7 billion. (Recently, experts have informed us that the actual amount will likely be far less.) Every spending constituency you can imagine has emerged with ideas for how to spend this unlegislated windfall. From our two great metropolitan areas come spokesmen for our great centers of medical education and biomedical research. In telling us what can be done, they have stopped just short of promising to cure cancer. From the same urban centers come advocates for the life sciences, plant research and more. The March of Dimes folks were in Jefferson City this past week to offer their ideas, along with staffers from the American Cancer Society. As things heat up, this is just the beginning.

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