Seattle's Anti-Cigarette Law Made Possession a Crime
A new Washington law going into effect in June 1909 banned not just selling cigarettes but simply having them.
Seattle — A provision of the new anti-cigarette law, which went into effect at midnight, June 10, is that "every person who shall manufacture, sell, give away or have in his possession any cigarettes, cigarette papers or cigarette wrappers, shall be guilty of misdemeanor." It is the opinion of the attorney-general's office that the law means that the cigarettes are banished under the new law and any person who has them in his possession is subject to a fine and imprisonment.
“Every person who shall manufacture, sell, give away or have in his possession any cigarettes, cigarette papers or cigarette wrappers, shall be guilty of misdemeanor.”
Washington's 1909 ban on cigarette possession anticipated a century of tobacco-control fights and today's debates over vaping and nicotine regulation. Then as now, criminalizing possession raised questions about enforcement, personal liberty, and public health.
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