As my 8 year old daughter would say.......purzackery.
All kidding aside, you are exactly correct in your assessment of the MSA and the greed of the states that signed onto it, and 46 did. The other 4, I only remember Mississippi, have their own agreements with the companies, but in those states, as far as I know, it only is with the companies that were sued to begin with, no other companies. What is now happening in the 46 states that signed the MSA is that Philip Morris (Marlboro) is getting them to pass laws to force ALL cigarettes makers, even those tht didn't exist in 1998, to pay into the fund....which means passing the cost on to the consumer to the tune of 45-50 cents per pack.........and all that money goes into the pockets of the people seeking to ban the use of the product where anyone can see it.
And remember who was very instrumental in this whole mess -- none other than John McCain.
Some conservative.
The people here who still believe him to be a conservative must be blind.