http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/tobacco/ en-us Wed, 16 Dec 2009 18:47:58 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2408902/posts Just Say No Smoking Malcolm A. Kline, December 16, 2009 On Monday the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) gave us some good and bad news. “The report says cigarette smoking was at the lowest point in the survey’s history on all measures for eighth, 10th and 12th graders,” NIDA reported on December 14, 2009. ‘For example, only 2.7 percent of eighth graders describe themselves as daily smokers, down from a peak rate of 10.4 percent in 1996.” “Similarly, 11.2 percent of high school seniors say they smoke daily, less than half of the 24.6 percent rate in 1997.” The... Accuracy in Academia http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2408902/posts#comment Wed, 16 Dec 2009 18:47:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2389630/posts A Brookline business that lets customers roll their own cigarettes has banned "pipe tobacco" from its rolling machines in response to a judge's order, the shop's lawyers said yesterday. The court order takes away only a portion of the business Tobacco Haven has been doing, but it is a portion that is of particular concern to the state. The state Attorney General's Office, which sued the retailer in August, alleges it is illegal for Tobacco Haven to stuff "pipe tobacco" into cigarettes unless the company pays taxes on it. The state has also argued that "pipe tobacco" is singularly Union Leader http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2389630/posts#comment Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:50:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2388047/posts With a simple marketing twist, tobacco companies are avoiding hundreds of millions of dollars a year in taxes by exploiting a loophole in President Barack Obama's child health law. Obama and Congress increased taxes on tobacco products earlier this year to pay for expanded children's health insurance, but tobacco for roll-your-own cigarettes saw a disproportionate leap, from $1.10 to $24.78 per pound. Some predicted the tax would kill the roll-your-own industry, which had offered a cheaper alternative to packaged cigarettes. http://www.newsday.com/ http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2388047/posts#comment Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:04:39 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2387954/posts OAKLAND — Former state Senate President Pro Tem and 2010 Oakland mayoral candidate Don Perata joined cancer research and health advocates Monday to launch a ballot measure that would hike cigarette taxes by a dollar a pack. "This is the right measure for the right time," Corey Goodman, a UC San Francisco professor and former biotech entrepreneur, said at a news conference in the Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute, adding the half-billion dollars per year this measure could raise would help move scientific breakthroughs "from the bench to the bedside" to save lives. Perata said he conceived of the measure... Oakland Tribune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2387954/posts#comment Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:18:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2385836/posts More than £1 million worth of counterfeit cigarettes filled with rabbit droppings instead of tobacco have been confiscated by customs officials in Spain. The fake cigarettes - due to be sold on the black market as famous brands - were discovered after British holidaymakers in the Canary Islands smelled a rat whenever they lit up. "They stunk. They smell just as you'd imagine burning poo to smell," said one customs official in Tenerife. Police and customs staff arrested 12 smugglers in an undercover operation to intercept the cigarettes as they landed on a boat from China. "They not only smell... www.ananova.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2385836/posts#comment Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:10:39 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2361545/posts One topic that has only recently begun to attract attention is the Nazi anti-tobacco movement. Germany had the world's strongest anti smoking movement in the 1930s and early 1940s,supported by Nazi medical and military leaders worried that tobacco might prove a hazard to the race. Many Nazi leaders were vocal opponents of smoking. Anti-tobacco activists pointed out that whereas Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt were all fond of tobacco, the three major fascist leaders of Europe-Hitler, Mussolini, and Franco-were all non-smokers. Hitler was the most adamant,characterising tobacco as "the wrath of the Red Man against the White Man for having been... BMJ [British Medical Journal] http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2361545/posts#comment Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:47:08 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2356919/posts All Michael Jordan wants to do is come to the City by the Bay and play, but San Francisco's laws have officials telling an American icon to butt out. Jordan is in town for the Presidents Cup golf tournament. He has more recognition than most of the players, but he is also getting attention for his habit of smoking cigars on the links. That is against the law in San Francisco and, famous or not, city officials are asking him to put out the cigar while on their property. "I've already sent an e-mail to the PGA Tour director," Recreation... NBC11 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2356919/posts#comment Wed, 7 Oct 2009 18:18:03 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2345947/posts WASHINGTON – Federal health officials Tuesday banned the sale of flavored cigarettes and hinted that they may soon take action against the far-larger market of flavored little cigars and cigarillos, the first major crackdown on cigarettes since the Food and Drug Administration was given authority to regulate tobacco. The ban is intended to end the sale of tobacco products with chocolate, vanilla, clove and other flavorings that lure children and teenagers into smoking. Menthol products are as yet unaffected. The ban comes three months after President Obama signed legislation giving the F.D.A. the authority for the first time to regulate... New York Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2345947/posts#comment Tue, 22 Sep 2009 23:29:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2340924/posts Indian smoke shops are feeling the heat NEW YORK - After doing time for possession and an accidental killing, crack dealer Rodney Morrison decided he was finished with drugs. He threw himself a "retirement" party in 1993 and got into a new line of work: tax-free cigarettes. It was a business operating in a gray area of the law, and the riches were enormous. Within a decade, the smoke shop Morrison opened on Long Island's little Poospatuck Indian Reservation had become one of the state's biggest dealers in untaxed cigarettes. Other drug dealers soon took note and followed him into... Tampa Bay Online http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2340924/posts#comment Wed, 16 Sep 2009 12:59:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2329864/posts Put down that coffee, and come out with your hands up! The owner of a Financial District tobacco shop was amazed to learn he was violating the law by offering his customers a free cup of joe while they legally puffed away on his cigars. Vince Nastri III, the third-generation owner of Barclay Rex -- where bankers, City Hall staffers, lawyers and detectives smoke while sitting in plush leather chairs or browsing in the walk-in humidor -- complained that the city is "trying to take away my livelihood over a cop of coffee." Health officials had no problem with all... New York Post http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2329864/posts#comment Tue, 1 Sep 2009 23:44:01 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2325051/posts San Diego Chargers fans who smoke say they are fuming over a new smoking ban sprung on them without notice. Fans can no longer light up in formerly designated smoking areas inside Qualcomm Stadium, the Chargers' home, which is owned by the city, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported Tuesday. The only public notice of the new rule came at the end of a long news release posted on the team's Web site before its first pre-season game, the newspaper said. Chargers officials will provide more information about the ban at a news conference before the Chargers' next home pre-season game... UPI http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2325051/posts#comment Wed, 26 Aug 2009 18:49:42 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2320323/posts RICHMOND, Va. -- Something unusual is cropping up alongside the tomatoes, eggplant and okra in Scott Byars' vegetable garden - the elephantine leaves of 30 tobacco plants. Driven largely by ever-rising tobacco prices, he's among a growing number of smokers who have turned to their green thumbs to cultivate tobacco plants to blend their own cigarettes, cigars and chew. Byars normally pays $5 for a five-pack of cigars and $3 for a tin of snuff; the seed cost him $9. "I want to get to where I don't have to go to the store and buy tobacco, but I'll just... The State http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2320323/posts#comment Thu, 20 Aug 2009 12:29:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2320149/posts WASHINGTON -- The Food and Drug Administration tapped a Veterans Affairs official with a long history of public-health experience to head the agency's new tobacco division. Lawrence Deyton was the chief public-health officer at the VA and initiated smoking-cessation programs that lowered smoking rates among veterans. He has served in the National Institutes of Health, started a community-based AIDS service organization in Washington, D.C., and was a legislative aide with the House Subcommittee on Health and the Environment in the 1970s. His experience at building public-health initiatives should come in handy as the FDA grapples with how to regulate the... WSJ http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2320149/posts#comment Thu, 20 Aug 2009 03:40:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2302628/posts *[EXCERPTED]* "...The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act allows the FDA to...control an industry ... Opponents from...N. Carolina argued that the FDA had proved through a series of food safety failures that it was not up to the job of regulation..." Ethiopian Review http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2302628/posts#comment Tue, 28 Jul 2009 11:51:07 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2297301/posts In the grand scheme of things, Donny Deutsch's radical prescription for health care might not count for much. Just a former-ad-man-turned-pundit spouting off. But let's consider. Deutsch is well-off and presumably harbors no electoral ambitions. He is free to say whatever's on his mind. And he is immersed in the liberal media-political culture. Is Deutsch giving voice to the radicalism that Obama/Pelosi/Waxman harbor but dare not fully express? Appearing on Morning Joe today, Deutsch offered a two-part plan for health care: 1. Make the rich pay for it: "I'm an extremist. I'm for redistribution of wealth." 2. "Outlaw tobacco." View... NewsBusters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2297301/posts#comment Tue, 21 Jul 2009 11:22:26 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-gop/2293962/posts "ANY USE OF TOBACCO WHILE IN UNIFORM SHOULD BE PROHIBITED!" Thats what the medical institute report to the Pentagon concludes. Brian Wise, executive director of Military Families United, decried even the discussion of such a ban. "With all the issues facing our military today and the risks our troops take to protect our freedom, banning smoking should not even be on the radar screen," Wise said in a written statement Wednesday. "Nobody doubts the effects of smoking, but it is not an illegal substance and should not be banned," he said. "Our troops make enough sacrifices to serve our nation.... The Edisto Joe Outlook http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-gop/2293962/posts#comment Thu, 16 Jul 2009 15:08:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2292395/posts As taxes on cigarettes have climbed in some jurisdictions, the shipping of untaxed smokes has become big business, authorities say. For example, New York City slaps $1.50 onto the state's $2.75 cigarette tax, and in Fairfax County the state and local tax combined is 80 cents. Meanwhile, Chinese counterfeiters have seized the opportunity for profit and have been flooding the market with hundreds of millions of fake cigarettes, according to U.S. Customs estimates. The Washington Examiner http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2292395/posts#comment Tue, 14 Jul 2009 17:51:40 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2292113/posts Mail Order Tobacco And the Global War On Terror The good news is that the Democrat-controlled Congress is finally taking the fight to Hamas, Hezballah and Al Qaeda! In a blow sure to bring these terrorist groups to their knees, the House overwhelmingly, yet quietly, passed H.R. 1676 on the 21st of May. This bill was sent to the Senate, where it is also likely to pass. There it is known as the “Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act of 2009” – that’s ‘PACT’ for short. The .pdf for this bill is here It’s a relatively small bill, at only 74... United States Congress http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2292113/posts#comment Tue, 14 Jul 2009 11:15:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2291567/posts Wow. And I thought we were supposed to smoke for the children. I can't believe this isn't some type of joke, but there it is in USA Today. Pentagon health experts are urging Defense Secretary Robert Gates to ban the use of tobacco by troops and end its sale on military property, a change that could dramatically alter a culture intertwined with smoking. Jack Smith, head of the Pentagon's office of clinical and program policy, says he will recommend that Gates adopt proposals by a federal study that cites rising tobacco use and higher costs for the Pentagon and Department... Write on Nevada http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2291567/posts#comment Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:29:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2291099/posts Currently running: Should the U.S. military ban tobacco use? Yes 31% 21697 No 69% 47193 Total Votes: 68890 CNN http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2291099/posts#comment Sun, 12 Jul 2009 23:29:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2289880/posts Link only: Ban on tobacco urged in military USA Today http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2289880/posts#comment Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:07:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2289628/posts WASHINGTON — Did you know that the Pentagon is urging Defense Secretary Robert Gates to ban tobacco use by troops? A quick google news search for "Smoking" and "Military" will give you the skinny. Google News Search http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2289628/posts#comment Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:00:34 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2280155/posts On Monday, President Barack Obama signed into law the nation’s strongest ever anti-smoking law. The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act will ban flavored forms of tobacco — with the exception of menthol-flavored cigarettes. Now, some observers are asking whether the Congressional Black Caucus’s close ties to the cigarette industry may have played a role in the menthol exemption. Menthol-flavored cigarettes are by far the most popular form of flavored tobacco in the United States. Menthol cigarettes account for some 30 percent of the U.S. cigarette market and are preferred by almost 75 percent of black smokers. The D.C. Writeup http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2280155/posts#comment Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:31:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2277138/posts PRINCETON, N.J., June 22 (UPI) -- A majority of Americans, especially smokers, said they disapprove of new laws expanding the government's regulatory power over tobacco, a poll indicated. By 52 percent to 46 percent, more respondents said they don't like the idea of government having greater authority over tobacco products, a Gallup Poll released Monday indicated. Congress last week passed such a measure last week. The poll indicated 69 percent of smokers said they disapproved, while 28 percent said they favored the broader government oversight. Views among non-smokers were closer, with 50 percent indicating approval and 48 percent indicating disapproval,... UPI http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2277138/posts#comment Mon, 22 Jun 2009 22:40:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2277069/posts President Obama signed landmark legislation Monday giving the Food and Drug Administration new power to regulate the manufacturing, marketing and sale of tobacco. President Obama says the new law "represents change that's been decades in the making." The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act gives the FDA power to ban candy-flavored and fruit-flavored cigarettes, widely considered appealing to first-time smokers, including youths. It also prohibits tobacco companies from using terms such as "low tar," "light" or "mild," requires larger warning labels on packages, and restricts advertising of tobacco products. It also requires tobacco companies to reduce levels of nicotine... CNN http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2277069/posts#comment Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:56:52 GMT