Marlboro marijuana might be coming to a smoke shop near you one day, but it won t be any time soon, despite eager Facebook users eating up the baloney story about the so called new Marlboro M brand of joint and sharing it like a blunt at a frat party.

The Epoch Times on Friday commented on the sham story, originally posted by the satirical website Abril Uno (Spanish of course for April 1, aka April Fool s Day).

And when we say eating the story up, we mean absolutely gobbling it down without even chewing (or stopping to think for that matter). The bogus story has been shared on Facebook over one million times.

Abril Uno writes

Phillip Morris, the world s biggest cigarette producer, announced today that they will join the marijuana legalization bandwagon and start producing marijuana cigarettes. Marketed under the brand Marlboro M, the cigarettes will be made available for sale through marijuana licensed outlets in the state of Colorado, and the state of Washington when it becomes commercially legal there later this year.

That sounds legit enough, since it’s playing on the legalization of marijuana in Colorado, except for the fact the story spelled Marlboro cigarette maker Philip Morris incorrectly. Then there s this

Serafin Norcik, Phillip Morris Sr. Vice President for Marketing said in an interview that the company has been high on the idea of marketing cannabis

Someone is high all right, but it s not the fictional Mr. Norcik.

The article claims Philip Morris has been contacting former drug lords in Mexico and Paraguay for the possibility of setting up a distribution ring across the North and South American continents, to streamline the supply lines.

In other words, advertising the largest illegal drug funneling operation ever seen in the U.S. But go on, keep believing the claptrap. Like this poor sap, who commented

I was quite interested until I got to the part where it told about Phillip Morris being in contact with former drug lords for a possible distribution ring .OMG!!!

Or this person, who was immediately concerned about the ingredients in the new cigarette

I’m more worried about what else is mixed in with the weed. If it were pure, natural weed I might think this was okay. But since cigarettes have loads of stuff other than tobacco in them, I’m willing to bet there is also tar and other crap in these.

For those who don’t care for the fine print, the site does end with a disclaimer, stating that the entire web page is “satire, parody and spoof” and that “any resemblance to the truth, actual events, actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and is intended purely as a satire, parody or spoof.”

But who cares about the truth when the fake news is oh so juicy.

The whole goofy thing sounds a lot like what went down just days after Colorado legalized weed. Another parody site, The Daily Currant, put out an article claiming close to 40 individuals died of a marijuana overdose.

For more on that, read this

Marijuana overdose? Web site tracks alcohol and weed deaths You’ll be surprised

And while we are on the subject of nonsense news

Really North Korea? Wonky news report claims dibs on ‘landing man on the sun’

Rise of the e-cigarette: the marlboro man is going electronic – corporate intelligence – wsj

Russian and ukraine marlboro cigarettes – cigarette forum & smokers community

Andrew Hinderaker for The Wall S

Marlboro maker Altria Group is diving fully into electronic cigarettes, which pose a small but growing competitive threat to traditional smokes.

The U.S. tobacco giant said Wednesday it plans to launch its MarkTen e cigarette nationally starting in the second quarter, after testing the product in Indiana and Arizona in recent months.

Altria controls roughly half of the $100 billion U.S. tobacco industry but is playing catch up in the estimated $1 billion market for e cigarettes, battery powered devices that turn nicotine laced liquid into vapor.

Some smokers are switching to e cigarettes amid growing scientific consensus that they re less harmful than regular cigarettes, which release toxins through combustion. But many public health groups warn not enough is known about the health effects of e cigarettes and authorities are debating how to regulate them. Annual U.S. consumption of regular cigarettes, the leading cause of preventable death, has been dropping 3% to 4% in recent years.

Newport cigarette maker Lorillard, the third largest U.S. tobacco company, is the market leader after acquiring the maker of Blu e cigarettes in 2012. Camel cigarette maker Reynolds American Inc., the No. 2 tobacco company, announced last year it would take its Vuse e cigarette national by mid 2014 after testing it in Colorado and Utah.

Blu and the namesake brands of Njoy Inc. and Logic Technology Development LLC boast a combined market share of about 75% in U.S. stores for e cigarettes, although there is broader competition in online sales.

Altria estimates 90% of adult smokers are aware of e cigarettes and about two thirds have tried them, but that only a small number use them daily.

“Many adult smokers and vapers are still looking for a product that meets their requirements and desires,” Marty Barrington, Altria s chief executive, told an analyst conference Wednesday in Florida, where he announced the broader launch.

Mr. Barrington said MarkTen built up a 48% e cigarette market share in Arizona stores in just seven weeks after leveraging its considerable distribution clout.

Altria also announced earlier this month that it would pay $110 million to acquire Green Smoke Inc., which sells its namesake e cigarettes mostly over the Internet. That deal is expected to close during the second quarter, widening its e cigarette portfolio.

See also
What Do Smokers Really Want E Cigarettes, or Safer Tobacco? Corporate Intelligence
E Cigarettes Encounter Rising Heat WSJ
Tobacco s Gateway Drug? New York Says E Cigarettes are Not OK Corporate Intelligence