Friday, Nov. 7, marks the 25 th anniversary of the day Oklahomans went to the polls and voted “yes” for better health for themselves and future generations.

That day, voters approved State Question 692, to amend the state constitution and create the Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust. The vote took place less than two years after the nation’s largest tobacco companies entered a Master Settlement Agreement with Oklahoma and 45 other states on Nov. 23, 1998.

The tobacco industry had never lost a court case before opting that year to settle numerous lawsuits filed by states to recover billions in health care costs associated with treating smoking-related illnesses. That lawsuit and the creation of TSET are detailed in the new book “The Battle Against Big Tobacco and the Birth of T

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