You don't have to be a brain surgeon to know that a new $2-per-pack tax on cigarettes is going to meet some resistance.

But that isn't stopping four former surgeons general.

Yesterday in Washington, D.C., the health-conscious quartet of Dr. Jesse Steinfeld (1969-73), Dr. Julius Richmond (1977-81), Dr. C. Everett Koop (1981-89), and Dr. David Satcher (1998-2002) laid out a plan that they believe will reduce smoking in America.

The proposal calls for insurers to provide health coverage for smoking cessation treatment, such as counseling and drugs. They also want community-based antismoking programs in schools, workplaces and faith-based organizations.

The group got immediate attention with their suggestion for a nationwide counseling and support line for smokers trying to quit. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said more than $25 million would be dedicated for the toll-free national "quitline" that will be established by the end of the year.

"The benefit of this network is that it provides a single access point for smokers so that every smoker can get the tools that he or she needs to stop smoking," Thompson told The Associated Press.

But the part of the plan that just jumps out at you is this $2-per-pack tax thing.

The thinking is that if the cigarette excise tax is raised from the current 39 cents to $2.39 -- with 50 percent of the money going toward these other proposals -- at least 5 million smokers will quit.

You see, if cigarettes cost you an arm and a leg, your lungs are safer. (Light 'em if you can afford 'em.)

The tobacco industry, of course, isn't buying it. Jennifer Golisch, a spokeswoman for tobacco giant Philip Morris USA, said the company supports government efforts to educate the public about smoking, such as the national quitline. But a $2-per-pack excise tax could promote counterfeiting and illegal sales over the Internet.

No word on whether anyone is putting together a quitline for government taxes.

You better make sure your one phone call is to the quitline
Meanwhile, officials at Westmoreland County Prison near Greensburg have come up with another way to curb smoking. By the end of the year, all tobacco products will be considered illegal contraband at the jail.

Cigarettes will join drugs, weapons and cell phones on the forbidden list.

Naturally, the inmates won't be the only ones affected when the jail becomes a tobacco-free facility. The guards won't be allowed to smoke either.

"It will be as rough for the officers as the inmates when we first start," Warden John Walton told The Associated Press.

Walton estimated about 90 percent of the prisoners, and half of the prison's staff, use some kind of tobacco product. Of course, the inmates aren't able to spark up on the drive home.

The guards and inmates will have access to programs and other aid to help them quit.

Thinking healthy early
Students in seventh through 12th grades will enter the 2004 ATN Fitness Program, a statewide initiative in which they design and implement personal fitness and nutrition plans.

Developed by ATN Integrated Media and presented by UPMC Sports Medicine, the program will award scholarships to three finalists who most successfully meet the challenge.

The ATN Fitness Challenge combines curriculum-based health and physical education programming with a state of the art computer delivery system installed in school districts.

To satisfy the requirements of the eight-week challenge, students will undergo fitness assessments. Based on the results, personal fitness and nutrition plans will be developed.

First Published: February 4, 2004, 5:00 a.m.