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Excerpts from Tobacco maker tested pot-scented cigarettes:
Brown & Williamson's product was called `marketable' in memo

by  DAVID HANNERS, Pioneer Press [03/23/99]

                    Hoping to cash in on the growing popularity of marijuana in the
                    1970s, a major U.S. tobacco company developed a cigarette that
                    smelled just like marijuana, according to once-secret industry
                    documents.

                    One industry chemist wrote in a June 1974 memo that the fake pot
                    cigarette developed by Brown & Williamson Tobacco's research and
                    development unit was a ``marketable product'' and ``should have great
                    appeal to marijuana smokers.''

                    A cigarette that smelled just like marijuana could be used to confuse
                    police, said John Banzhaf, executive director of the Washington group
                    Action on Smoking and Health. ``Basically, they're saying guys could
                    smoke these cigarettes and some marijuana, and then if a policeman
                    came along, they could claim it was a legal cigarette,'' he said.

                    Still, the fact that cigarette companies had actively researched
                    marijuana-related products surprised tobacco-control activists,
                    marijuana proponents, law enforcement officials and health researchers
                    alike.

                    ``I thought I was beyond shock at what the tobacco industry would do.
                    But now, suggesting promotion of a product to help cover up an illegal
                    activity does shock me beyond anything I thought they would do,''
                   Banzhaf said when told of the Brown & Williamson project.

                    Among their interests were the differences between the effects
                    marijuana smoke and tobacco smoke have on the lungs.

                    The industry's interest was little known, even among longtime marijuana
                    researchers.

                    The documents in the Minnesota Tobacco Document Depository, set
                    up under terms of the state's $6.6 billion legal settlement with the
                    cigarette makers, show the industry was aware of many of these
                    findings, and also kept watch on other marijuana-related issues.

                    But the documents also show that the companies were looking at ways
                    to cash in on the popularity of marijuana. In October 1975, CBS
                    reported that product names with vague -- or not-so-vague -- ties to
                    marijuana, including Acapulco, Aztec Gold, Dealers Choice, Hard Hit
                    and High Time -- had been trademarked for tobacco products.

                    The files show that at least one firm, Brown & Williamson, had
                    achieved a breakthrough in developing a cigarette that smelled just like
                    marijuana and had an acceptable taste.

                    ``A cigarette blend is now available which has a marijuana-like
                    sidestream aroma,'' a company chemist wrote in a June 3, 1974,
                    memo. ``Development was stimulated by past observation that various
                    herbs and spices possess aromas reminiscent of marijuana when
                    burned. However, incorporation of most of these materials into tobacco
                    blends produce unacceptable taste properties.''

                    The chemist noted, however, that mixing Virginia and Turkish tobaccos,
                    pekoe and orange pekoe black tea, rooibosch tea (a South African
                    tea), alfalfa and oregano produced ``a foreign taste, liked by some, with
                    a sidestream aroma easily mistaken for marijuana.''

                    The chemist believed the cigarette had potential.

                    ``Since the aroma of marijuana is easily recognized and difficult to
                    cover up, a marketable product of similar aroma should have great
                    appeal to marijuana smokers,'' he wrote. ``Alternate uses might include
                    a curiosity item, research placebo, or educational tool.''

                    Keith Stroup, executive director of the National Organization for the
                    Reform of Marijuana Laws, agreed a cigarette that smelled like
                    marijuana could be used to confuse police. ``It would drive the drug
                    police crazy,'' Stroup said of the smoke.

                    The once-secret documents show that Brown & Williamson had
                    particular interest in marijuana because its research showed many pot
                    smokers liked to smoke Kools, a Brown & Williamson product, after
                    smoking marijuana.

                    A 1974 report titled ``Young Adult Smoker Lifestyles and Attitudes''
                    noted ``what seems to have become a cultural ritual -- menthol and
                    plain filter smokers alike smoked Kool after smoking marijuana. Not
                    just any menthol would do -- it had to be Kool. The consensus was
                    that the two `just go together.' ''

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