The background. A new health commissioner comes on board, he wants to impress the bureaucracy and earn a bulletpoint for his resume.
In 2011 the new health commissioner Dr. Dale Magee postulated that locals are dropping like flies because of cigarettes. According to Magee Worcester’s cigarette related deaths exceed the state average by 47%. Ya see, Wusta is above average is some things.
My guess is that Dr. Magee got the stats from UMASS, a hospital that services not only Worcester, but the county, the state, and New England, uses the data to create a portrait that shocks the city council into acting irresponsibly. Nothing new there eh.
So the council sicced the city's crack legal team to battle the trillion dollar cigarette industry, not to mention the 1st Amendment, and redirects municipal resources, 100’s of thousands of dollars of taxpayer dollars for a lawsuit that was destined to fail. And it did.
Going up against the likes of RJ Reynolds, Philip Morris and Lorillard Tobacco is more than folly, its irresponsible. The group's combined legal staff exceeds the City’s by a ratio of 55:1. Their combined financial resources make the City’s $425 million budget look like chump change.
Now Moore is considering an appeal. You go dude.
Welcome to Wusta!
