The Bad Old Days In 1988, the people of California passed a
historic ballot initiative that would forever change the state.
The Tobacco Tax and Health Promotion Act, commonly referred to
as Proposition 99, raised the tax on a pack of cigarettes by 25¢
and earmarked a nickel of that tax to prevent and discourage
tobacco use. The California Tobacco Control Program was created
as a result of Proposition 99 and embarked on an effort to
change the social norms around tobacco use. Today, it is
difficult to comprehend how widely accepted smoking was before
1988. Not only did almost a quarter of the population smoke, but
they could smoke just about everywhere. Simply put, smoking was
a part of everyday life. Before Proposition 99, tobacco was a
part of every day life: - People could smoke almost anywhere: at
work, on airplanes, in restaurants and in hospitals. - Teachers
could smoke in hallways between classes, and schools often had
smoking areas for students. - A majority of smokers would smoke
in their homes and ar