Free Republic

Ohio Supreme Court properly rejects smoking-ban exemptions - editorial Monday, June 09, 2008 The Ohio Supreme Court did the right thing in snuffing out the Strickland administration's effort to allow patrons to smoke in fraternal and veterans clubs. In a 4-3 ruling, the high court last week rejected the governor's attempt to exempt those clubs from the statewide ban on smoking in almost all public places. Obviously pandering to veterans, the Ohio Department of Health exempted those private clubs from the Smoke-Free Workplace Act, approved by voters in 2006. A trade association that represents bar owners challenged the exemption in...

Present-day anti-smoking forces are following the same blueprint that Adolph Hitler used in his hopes for a smoke-free Nazi Germany. Smoke Nazis' quest for control and regulatory power closely mirror the original National Socialists of 1930s Germany. We list the Nazi anti-smoking accomplishments alongside of those of the Smoke Nazis. * The Nazis banned tobacco advertising and financed huge public relations campaigns to propagandize people into giving up smoking. In April 1970, Congress passed the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act banning the advertising of cigarettes on television and radio starting on January 2, 1971. The Virginia Slims brand was in...

Second-hand Smoke Caution Signs on WV BarsLatest evidence of the Smoke Nazis "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, secure the Blessings of Liberty, and to protect us from all risks and especially from ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." --Preamble, U.S. ConstitutionThe Preamble to the Constitution really does not contain the words above in red. There is a segment of government and society, however, that is confused...

SMOKE NAZIS On the March in: Chicago Smoke Nazis in the Chicago area rolled over the right of free association, when they forced attendees to the Chicagoland International Pipe and Tobacciana Show to go outside to smoke. At the Chicagoland International Pipe & Tobacciana Show in St. Charles, IL, attendees have been told that, due to a statewide smoking ban that went into effect in January, they may not light up even though theirs is a private gathering of only willing participants. This, despite the fact that the conventioneers bent over backwards to try to reach an accommodation. There was...

Mention air pollution, and what comes to mind? Factories. Oil refineries. Auto tailpipes. Now Bay Area smog regulators are trying to crack down on another source that they say is just as significant, even if beloved: home fireplaces. Citing growing medical research that soot causes more severe health problems than was previously realized, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District is proposing a ban on all wood burning in fireplaces and wood stoves in the nine Bay Area counties during winter "Spare the Air" nights. --snip-- If approved, fireplace police would enforce the rules, and neighbors would be encouraged to...

Smokers could be forced to pay £10 for a permit to buy tobacco if a government health advisory body gets its way. No one would be able to buy cigarettes without the permit, under the idea proposed by Health England. Its chairman, Professor Julian Le Grand, told BBC Radio 5 Live the scheme would make a big difference to the number of people giving up smoking. But smokers' rights group Forest described the idea as "outrageous", given how much tax smokers already pay. Professor Le Grand, a former adviser to ex-PM Tony Blair, said cash raised by the proposed scheme...

Illinois to Enact New Public Smoking Ban Email this Story Dec 31, 6:01 PM (ET) CHICAGO (AP) - New Year's resolution or not, health experts are hoping Illinois' new smoking ban provides smokers the kick-start they need to ditch the habit. Starting Jan. 1, the Smoke-Free Illinois Act will make it illegal to light up in virtually any public place in the state. But experts caution smokers still need more than just willpower - and a new state law - to break nicotine's hold. "Some people can just make the decision and quit," said Andrea King, director of the clinical...

DAYTON, Ohio -- Tens of thousands of complaints about violations of Ohio's new smoking ban -- many from the same few businesses -- have resulted in just hundreds of fines, leading county heath departments to say they plan to step up enforcement of the law. Fines for violating the ban, which outlaws indoor smoking in most public places, are about to get bigger and more frequent for delinquent business owners, health officials warned. The ban was approved by Ohio voters in November 2006. Local health departments began enforcing the law on May 3, and have since logged more than 19,000...

A lawyer for the owner of the Player's Club Bar and Grill in Independence has challenged in court the enforceability of the city's Clean Indoor Air Act ordinance and won. John Carnes, an Independence attorney for Player's Club owner Jennifer Brashear, got Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey Bushur to overturn two clean air citations given to Brashear. Municipal judges in Independence had found Brashear guilty of violating the city's health code by allowing patrons of the lounge to smoke on two separate occasions. "There are some holes in that ordinance that basically makes it unenforceable," Carnes said. "It's an...

Livermore resident Bruce Griffing regards a proposal to ban wood fires on bad air nights in the Bay Area as a government intrusion into his hearth and home "I don't want some fireplace Nazis telling me I can't burn," he said. Tom Foley, who has asthma, yearns for a ban to spare him from a neighbor's fireplace smoke that leaves him coughing and choking. "When I come home from work at night, it's like walking into a cloud of smoke," the Redwood City resident said. "What about my right to breathe clean air?" A proposal to regulate indoor wood fires...

There are smoke-free offices, smoke-free bars, smoke-free malls. Could smoke-free apartment houses and condo towers be next? Scattered apartment units across the state already ban smoking. But early next year, the Department of Public Health plans to survey landlords, condominium associations, and tenants about the feasibility of making smoke-free residential zones the norm, rather than the exception. There could even be a state-run registry to connect tenants with landlords and condo boards that offer developments entirely devoid of smoke. The state review emerges as an influential coalition of health and housing officials is issuing a sweeping call to make smoke-free...

Motorists bringing large numbers of smokes into state will be charged — NASHVILLE — Starting today, state Department of Revenue agents will begin stopping Tennessee motorists spotted buying large quantities of cigarettes in border states, then charging them with a crime and, in some cases, seizing their cars. Critics say the new “cigarette surveillance program” amounts to the use of “police state” tactics and wrongfully interferes with interstate commerce. But state Revenue Commissioner Reagan Farr says his department is simply doing its job, enforcing a valid state law while protecting Tennessee retailers who properly pay state taxes. Agents have already...

Health district takes the wrong enforcement approach So this 105-pound Southern Nevada Health District clerk walks into a bar and tells a tired, 265-pound, tattooed construction worker, 'You can't smoke in here. I'm citing you. That'll cost you $100 ...' " It's not a joke. The Southern Nevada Health District is preparing to turn office staff into the Puff Patrol, a crack law enforcement squad charged with sniffing out violators of the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act. The new law, approved by voters in November, prohibits smoking inside most businesses, including bars that serve food. Because a Clark County district...

RUSH: The New York City council is preparing a new ban on smoking by parents in cars. "A City Council member of Queens and chairman of the council's environmental protection committee, James Gennaro, said he is planning to introduce a bill later this month that would ban smoking from cars carrying minors. 'I am just seeking every opportunity I can to denormalize smoking and to try to put it out of the reach of kids,' Mr. Gennaro said. 'I've lost family members to lung cancer and I've seen what happens.'" Somebody better tell this guy that the entire national and...

HARRISBURG, Pa. - A coalition of health associations on Tuesday pulled its support from Senate legislation to ban indoor smoking in Pennsylvania because the bill would extend partial or full exemptions to private clubs, bars and casinos. In addition, Gov. Ed Rendell threatened a veto over an exemption added Monday that he said would allow smoking in small home-based child-care settings. The legislation, which also would upend a stricter ban enacted in Philadelphia last year, was scheduled for a final vote in the Senate on Tuesday, one day after the chamber added the exemptions to a broadly written bill. The...

In a state where it's illegal to light up in nearly all public places, a panel of lawmakers yesterday voted to ban smoking in more personal spaces -- inside private vehicles when children are present. The Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee approved a bill that would allow police to stop drivers who are smoking while traveling with children under the age of 17. "There are very few activities more dangerous for children than being confined in a car where someone is smoking," said Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Union), who sponsored the bill, S2641. Violators would pay a $100...

When it was reported last week that House Republican Leader John Boehner (Ohio) is now frequenting the Democratic National Club over on Ivy Street (which is, as it turns out, one of the very few places in the new Washington where the inveterate smoker can light up), I took notice because, well, sometimes little things can tell you a lot about people and the way they look at the world. As everyone who lives, works or spends much time in the District knows, a citywide anti-smoking ordinance passed the D.C. City Council last year and went into effect on Jan....

PROPOSITION: Municipality denies claims that it's trying to influence April vote. A group that wants to stop the new smoking ban in bars, bingo halls and other public places filed a lawsuit Monday, saying the Anchorage city government is illegally campaigning on the issue. Last year, the Assembly voted to expand the city smoking ban to almost everywhere people still smoke in public. But a group calling itself Stomp the Ban said the new rules go too far. It has collected thousands of signatures to wipe out the changes before the new law kicks in July 1. That petition drive...

In recent years, legal scholars have produced a voluminous literature on the rule of law in indirectly controlling social norms and individual preferences. Smoking bans provide on of the favorite "success stories" of those who laud the use of legal rules to change norms and preferences. According to these scholars, smoking bans affect behavior, even if under-enforced, because they change the social norm regarding smoking in public. With the advent of smoking bans, non-smokers who previously felt embarassed about publicly expressing their distaste for ETS are speaking up. By providing a de facto community statement that public smoking is unacceptable,...

If there's a heaven, it will have a smoking section. And if there's a God, it will be located at Club Habana in Charleston, S.C. Reclining in an overstuffed chair, a Padron Anniversario Maduro in one hand, a perfectly blended martini in the other, a view of Meeting and Market on a summer's evening below ... who would want to disturb such an idyllic scene? Politicians, of course. You had to ask? The same Charleston City Councilmembers who banned "inappropriate language" from their public meetings (after a black activist dropped the "N-bomb") has now voted to strip private property owners...

A year after a statewide smoking ban took effect at workplaces, restaurants, bars and other public places, a new battlefield over secondhand smoke is emerging: apartment buildings. Spurred on by nonsmoking tenants and public-health leaders, more private landlords are considering restricting smoking inside their rental units. And local public-housing agencies are also looking at banning smoking in the units of some buildings. *snip* While the state ban prohibits smoking in the common areas of private apartment buildings, such as hallways, community rooms and libraries, residents may smoke inside their units unless the landlord prohibits it. But smoke from one unit...

Marijuana is not a "gateway" drug that predicts or eventually leads to substance abuse, suggests a 12-year University of Pittsburgh study. Moreover, the study's findings call into question the long-held belief that has shaped prevention efforts and governmental policy for six decades and caused many a parent to panic upon discovering a bag of pot in their child's bedroom. The Pitt researchers tracked 214 boys beginning at ages 10-12, all of whom eventually used either legal or illegal drugs. When the boys reached age 22, they were categorized into three groups: those who used only alcohol or tobacco, those who...

If you catch someone smoking in a non-smoking area in Omaha, Neb., call the police. The Omaha Police Department (OPD) is encouraging city residents to call 911 in the wake of the citywide ban on smoking that went into effect on Oct. 2. Teresa Negron, sergeant in charge of public information of the OPD, explained that the department encourages observers of infractions to pick up the phone to report the infraction -- just like they would for any other crime they observe being committed. "Citizens or business owners that observe a violation to the smoking ban are urged to call...

People who smoke marijuana do not appear to be at increased risk for developing lung cancerlung cancer, new research suggests. While a clear increase in cancercancer risk was seen among cigarette smokers in the study, no such association was seen for regular cannabis users. Even very heavy, long-term marijuana users who had smoked more than 22,000 joints over a lifetime seemed to have no greater risk than infrequent marijuana users or nonusers. The findings surprised the study’s researchers, who expected to see an increase in cancer among people who smoked marijuana regularly in their youth. “We know that there are...

The smoke from burning marijuana leaves contains several known carcinogens and the tar it creates contains 50 percent more of some of the chemicals linked to lung cancer than tobacco smoke. A marijuana cigarette also deposits four times as much of that tar as an equivalent tobacco one. Scientists were therefore surprised to learn that a study of more than 2,000 people found no increase in the risk of developing lung cancer for marijuana smokers. "We expected that we would find that a history of heavy marijuana use--more than 500 to 1,000 uses--would increase the risk of cancer from several...

view lo speed video view hi speed video (WSBT) It snuffed-out lighting-up in St. Joseph County, but now there's a fight over an amendment to the smoking ban. Tuesday morning County Commissioners vetoed an amendment that would have let some businesses have a smoking room for their workers. The two commissioners who voted down the amendment say it's really a matter of people's health. Cindy Bodle and Steve Ross say they supported the ban in the first place because they wanted people to have cleaner air in public places. Some businesses had complained that workers should have a place to...

Bars wait for smoke ban ruling Law takes effect today;7 businesses will learn whether they're exempt By Kymberli Hagelberg Beacon Journal staff writer The smoking ban is now law for many Summit County businesses for at least the next five weeks, but a Common Pleas Court will decide today whether seven bars are temporarily off the hook. Attorney Chris Tipping has filed for a temporary restraining order on behalf of seven clients who own bars in Summit County townships that must comply with the Summit County Clean Indoor Air Ordinance. The law prohibits smoking in bars, restaurants and most other...

Companies are charging smokers more money for health insurance CINCINNATI — Smokers already feeling pressure from increasing cigarette costs and workplace smoking bans are now feeling squeezed from another direction — health insurance premiums. A growing number of employers — private and public — are charging employees who use tobacco more money for their health insurance coverage. Employers hope that the higher charges will motivate more employees to stop smoking, resulting in improved health and lower health care costs for the companies and their workers. "With smokers costing companies about 25 percent more than nonsmokers in the area of health...

SPOKANE, Wash. - The state's tough new anti-smoking law has an unlikely opponent: a retired doctor who argues the ban is forcing elderly smokers in nursing homes to take unnecessary risks. Dr. Robert Guild, 71, says the law is forcing him and other smokers at the Maplewood Gardens Retirement Apartments — some in wheelchairs and walkers — to brave an ice- and snow-covered lawn to get to a structure that is far enough away from the retirement facility to meet the ban's requirements. The smokers have dubbed the structure "Butt Hutt," and argue that it is a poor replacement to...

THE public are to be told not to smoke in their own homes as part of plans to protect public sector workers from the effect of passive smoking. The move is the latest part of the Scottish Executive's ban on smoking in public places, which will come into force on 26 March next year. Ministers have told councils, health boards and social work departments that they should compile a "smokers' map" of Scotland, focusing on those who regularly receive visits from officials and carers. This would identify individual households where a smoker is resident. The smokers would then be sent...

"Also, starting in October, Scotts won't let its employees smoke -- even when they're away from work."

Dutch Politicans Seek Marijuana Rules Amsterdam, Netherlands -- A broad coalition of political parties unveiled a pilot program Friday to regulate marijuana farming on the model of tobacco, which opponents say would be tantamount to legalizing growing the drug. Under the test program, to be conducted in the southern city of Maastricht, existing health and safety standards will apply to growers, but they would no longer be the target of police raids or prosecution. Coffee shops permitted to sell marijuana would be required to provide consumers with information about the health hazards of smoking - similar to tobacco companies -...

Man sacked after being caught smoking at home By Kate Connolly in Berlin (Filed: 03/12/2005) A German company has sacked one of its employees for smoking at home after hiring a detective to catch him in the act. Sandro Beier was dismissed from his £19,000-a-year job with a Berlin printing company after being photographed smoking in his back garden. The company, Laserline, which runs a rigorous health and fitness programme for its 100 staff, said Mr Beier, 42, had "defrauded" it by lying about his smoking habits. It claimed that Mr Beier had signed an agreement, renewable every month, in...

BEIJING, China (AP) -- China, home to more than 300 million smokers, has ratified an international treaty prohibiting tobacco advertising and will ban tobacco vending machines, the government said Monday. The World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control was ratified Sunday by the National People's Congress, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Parliament leaders "supported the treaty by announcing that China will ban tobacco vending machines of any kind" in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, Xinhua said. The treaty requires China to ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship on radio, television, print media and the Internet within five...

I have been concerned that so many of our soldiers seem to smoke. This includes the woman at the Abu Gaibe (sp?) imprisonment camp. Don't you think that it would be better if this were restricted, at least to when they they are not on duty? That way, it would be be safer, both for them and for those around them.

Major decisions have been made at the polls, including...the controversial Issue 2, which would permit smoking in Columbus bars and taverns. With 99 percent of districts reporting in, voters have apparently rejected Issue 2, the smoking ban exemption. Bar owners and employees had campaigned hard for the exemption that would have allowed businesses that make most of their money from alcohol, bars and taverns, to permit smoking. On Tuesday, about a hundred supporters fanned out at polling places to reach out to voters. Bar owner Kari Hansley says, "We want them to know our business has dropped. We're laying off...

My local city government (St. Peters, MO) is making noises about banning smoking from bars. Does anyone have or know of anyone or group who has sucessfully stopped such a law and might be able to provide help and advice?

Beach smoking ban under construction Sentinel Staff Report The City Council will decide whether to ban cigarettes on the main beach tonight. If second reading of a proposed ordinance is passed, the law could be enforceable in time for the winter holidays. Earlier this year, Councilman Dennis Norton suggested the city look into the ban, saying Capitola’s beach is not the public’s ashtray, while also citing health and environmental issues as reasons for a cigarette ban. In July, the Santa Cruz City Council began researching a proposal to ban smoking on city-administered beaches. While noting that secondhand cigarette smoke causes...

No more smoking, ever, in Oregon schools (Portland-AP) - The Oregon Board of Education has approved a rule that bars smoking or chewing tobacco on all school property at all hours, beginning in 2006. Prohibitions against smoking at school already are entrenched. This makes it official. Officials in Oregon's education or health departments say they have no evidence that smoking is being tolerated at any public school. Yet a survey of about 20,000 eighth- and 11th-graders, taken last year, indicates that about 15 percent reported seeing a teacher or other school employee smoke on school property during the previous...

PROVIDENCE -- In a highly-anticipated ruling this morning, U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith found on the the side of the state in the Narragansett Indian tribal smokeshop dispute, saying that it has the authority to impose a tax on cigarettes sold at the shop on tribal lands. Smith also ruled that the state did not violate federal law or the tribe's sovereign rights in executing a search warrant at the shop. "This conclusion is driven by the finding that the legal of the State's cigarette's tax scheme falls on the purchaser or consumer of cigarettes, and not on...

ALBANY - The state Tax Department, concerned about threats of violence from members of the Seneca Nation of Indians, is poised to go after consumers who buy untaxed cigarettes from Internet and mail-order Native American retailers. The agency's head of enforcement told a state tobacco control panel Thursday that tax officials are working with federal and state agencies to get names of consumers who make those purchases. Peter Farrell, deputy commissioner at the Tax Department, said consumers could become targets if the agency can't get shipping companies and Native American retailers to comply with a state law enacted in 2000...

<p>New Yorkers who have been dodging the state's sales tax on cigarettes by buying their cigarettes online lose that right today due to a law that was passed in 2000 but has been bottled up in litigation.</p> <p>The law, which is still being challenged by pro-tobacco interests, prohibits the delivery of cigarettes purchased over the Internet to a consumer in this state and specifically targets Internet sales. A violation is a class A misdemeanor and can bring a jail sentence of up to a year.</p>

LCC smoking ban includes outdoors College campus goes tobacco-free on Tuesday By Sharon Terlep Lansing State Journal Lansing Community College on Tuesday will become one of the first - if not the only - Michigan colleges to ban outdoor smoking. But lighting up is still allowed on a city-owned strip of land that runs through the heart of campus. LCC - Michigan's third- largest community college - planned to forbid smoking there until discovering Wednesday it couldn't. "We just want a healthier environment for our students and employees," LCC spokeswoman Ruth Borger said. "This isn't intended to punish someone." Smoking...