Marketing: Rolling Papers Come Unstuck

Time was when every cigarette in America was handmade by smokers themselves, who lovingly swathed dollops of tobacco inside their favorite rolling papers. Today the practice has become linked in the public mind with a different kind of weed, marijuana. In an era of abstinence, that connection is proving hazardous for the makers of rolling papers. Last week the K Mart chain said it would no longer sell rolling papers unaccompanied by tobacco.

K Mart, the second largest U.S. retailer, insists that it had been considering pulling the papers because of declining consumer demand. Still, K Mart faced pressure from an Arkansas-based group called Doing in God's Name Incredible Things Yourself, or D.I.G.N.I.T.Y. The group's national profile has increased dramatically since Dick Gregory, the social activist and health guru, joined its antidrug crusading.