Risks: Youths See Some Dangers but Not Others

Most teenagers these days think smoking cigarettes is very dangerous. Yet most adolescents also do not consider frequent binge drinking or occasional marijuana smoking to be anywhere near as risky.These findings are drawn from the responses of 44,979 people ages 12 to 17 who took part in national drug use surveys conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration in 2007 and 2008.
While nearly 70 percent of youths perceived “great risk” from smoking a pack or two of cigarettes a day, only 40 percent thought having five or more alcoholic drinks once or twice a week was very risky, and only 34 percent perceived great risk from smoking marijuana once a month. About half thought using cocaine or LSD once or twice a month was very risky.
Use closely matches the perception of risk, said Pete Delaney, a researcher with the administration, adding that only about 9 percent of youths 12 to 17 said they smoked in 2008, while 26 percent of 16- and 17-year-olds reported drinking. Some 12.7 percent of the older teenagers reporting smoking marijuana.
“We’re doing a great job convincing kids that smoking can really have an impact on their health,” Dr. Delaney said. “We need to learn how we can help them understand other drugs can also cause harm.”

Teen charged in store burglary

A Limestone County investigator said an Elkmont teen took his parents’ vehicle, drove to a convenience store and broke into the business.
Sheriff’s Department Lt. Brad Curnutt said the 15-year-old male took cigarettes, bracelets and baseball caps worth $2,000 from Jeff’s Mini Mart on Alabama 99 on Friday or Saturday.
Investigator Jay Looney recovered cigarettes and caps in a pillowcase at the teen’s home, Curnutt said. Authorities charged the teen with third-degree burglary and unauthorized use of a vehicle and released him into his parents’ custody. Further arrests are pending, Curnutt said.

Cigarettes blamed for Marysville garage fire

Carelessly discarded cigarettes were blamed for a fire Thursday night that displaced a family and caused $65,000 damage.
The fire ripped through a garage just after 5 p.m. in the 9500 block of 66th Drive NE, Marysville Fire District spokeswoman Kristen Thornstenson said.
Firefighters quickly contained the blaze to the garage but smoke damage made the home uninhabitable for now, she said.
Three people had to find someplace else to spend the night.

DNA of tobacco damage laid bare

THE damage that cigarettes and sunlight wreak on human DNA has been laid bare for the first time, along with the valiant, if eventually futile, effort of cells to repair the harm done.
Scientists have worked out the entire genetic code of two of the most deadly types of cancers - lung and melanoma - revealing the tens of thousands of mutations present in these tumours.
The research, regarded as a pivotal point in the search for new treatments for cancer, reveals a typical smoker would acquire one mutation, on average, for every 15 cigarettes smoked. More than 23,000 mutations were found in the lung cancer cells of a 55-year-old man, most of them caused by the cocktail of chemicals in cigarettes, the British-led team said.
Melanoma cells from a 43-year-old man were found to be ravaged by more than 33,000 mutations.
Mike Stratton, of the Cancer Genome Project at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, said that the research provided an unprecedented view of the genetic impact of smoking and exposure to ultraviolet light.
''We have been able to explore deep into the past of each tumour, uncovering with remarkable clarity the imprints of these environmental mutagens on DNA, which occurred years before the tumour became apparent.''
The ''desperate'' attempts by the genome to defend itself against these attacks were also obvious, Professor Stratton said. ''Our cells fight back furiously to repair the damage, but frequently lose that fight.''
The mutations identified in the studies, which were published in the journal Nature, ranged from changes in single letters in the DNA code to missing sequences or rearrangement of hundreds of thousands of letters.
Tracking down mutations responsible for driving the cancer's development was the next challenge, the researchers said, as it enabled the development of drugs to target the cancer.

45 packs of cigarettes stolen from car wash

A large brick was thrown through the glass door of the Delta Sonic car wash at 2590 Delaware Ave. on Saturday and 45 packs of Newport menthol cigarettes were taken, Buffalo police reported.
The burglary was reported around 7 a. m. The value of the cigarettes was placed at about $317. It’s unknown whether anything else was taken, but video from a surveillance camera is being examined, police said.

Indian reservation cigarettes under fire in NY

The City of New York has accused several cigarette dealers on a Long Island Indian reservation of secretly defying a court order that was supposed to have shut them down.
The charge is the latest in a legal battle between New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and smoke shops on the Poospatuck Indian Reservation over the sale of millions of dollars in untaxed cigarettes.
In August, a federal judge ordered most of the largest shops on the reservation to stop selling untaxed packs to the general public, saying such sales were illegal, despite the state's tolerance of the practice.
Publicly, the shops promised to abide by the ruling, but in a motion filed in federal court on Wednesday, lawyers for the city said three dealers quietly continued to do business through newly formed cigarette stores not covered by the court order.
"It shows contempt for the court's authority," said Eric Proshansky, an attorney for the city.
The tribe's chief, Harry Wallace, didn't immediately return a phone and e-mail message from The Associated Press on Thursday, but told Newsday that the allegations are false.
The city has asked U.S. District Court Judge Carol Amon for thousands of dollars in penalties against the three dealers.
Lawyers for two of the dealers declined comment. Richard Levitt, a lawyer who represents dealer Wayne Harris, wouldn't discuss his client's case in detail but said, "the evidence will show that he is not in contempt of the court's order."
In August, Amon ruled that the tribal shops' longtime practice of selling cigarettes without collecting required state taxes was illegal.
She ordered eight shops to stop selling cigarettes to anyone who wasn't enrolled in the tribe, and barred 11 people affiliated with those stores from further sales to the general public. The three dealers were all named in that order.
The shops have appealed, but all had also publicly claimed to have ceased operations by September.
City lawyers didn't buy it, and investigated with the assistance of agents from the state's tax enforcement division.
The case is being watched closely because of its potential effect on other Indian reservations around the state.
Shops on tribal land now account for nearly a third of all cigarettes sold annually in New York. This booming business is a product of the state's longtime reluctance to collect taxes on cigarettes sold on tribal land, which means reservation shops can offer tobacco at a huge discount.
Relatively few shop owners have ever been charged in criminal court over their dealings in untaxed cigarettes.

NY Budget Cuts Turn Toward Anti-Smoking Campaign

In trying to solve the state's fiscal crisis, Governor David Paterson is expected to pull funding for the state's anti-tobacco program.
Advocates say the state's anti-tobacco program has proven very effective, and these proposed funding cuts would be a step in the wrong direction.
Cassie Coombs, Director of the Southern Tier Tobacco Awareness Community Partnership or STTAC, tells me youth smoking rates are the lowest they've ever been in the state.
Governor Paterson’s plan to cut $10 million could be devastating to STTAC's programs.
“We really want to see the program continue to reduce those rates, but also offer assistance to the adults that want to quit as well,” Coombs said.
Right now, STTAC reaches tobacco users in Chemung, Schuyler and Steuben counties.
But Coombs says a funding cut would limit the communities they're able to serve.
The governor's plan could also reduce funding for programs that provide free nicotine patches.
Last year, the state yanked $40,000 from STACC's funding.
Coombs says that's taken a toll on the program's effectiveness, and this would only make it worse.
“For the community members they're not getting that outreach,” she said. “Those smokers that want to quit, we've seen a reduction in quit-line calls.”
A spokesman for Governor Paterson says the state will continue the anti-smoking advertising campaign and still provide free nicotine patches to smokers.

Dieting while quitting smoking can work better

Smokers who know they should quit for their health often balk because they don’t want to gain weight - and a new health problem - once cigarettes’ appetite-suppressing nicotine leaves their bodies. Quitting smoking while starting a weight-control program may seem like a recipe for failure, and guidelines for doctors discourage embarking on both simultaneously. But a new analysis suggests that not only do combined programs work, in the short term they work better than smoking-cessation programs alone.Bonnie Spring and her colleagues at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine pooled the results of 10 randomized clinical trials in which some 2,233 smokers - all but 154 of them women - were divided into two groups. Some were assigned to programs that combined smoking cessation with weight control and others were enrolled in smoking cessation programs alone. After three months, people in the combined programs were 29 percent more likely to have stopped smoking than people in the smoking-cessation alone group. But after six to 14 months, when the programs had ended, the difference between the groups was no longer statistically significant.
People in the combined program, which emphasized more exercise and eating fewer calories, also gained less weight in the short term. After three months, they gained 2.1 pounds less than people in the smoking-only treatment group. After six months, however, the difference was not statistically significant.
BOTTOM LINE: People who quit smoking while enrolled in a weight control program put on fewer pounds and had more success staying off cigarettes after three months.
CAUTIONS: Because so few men participated in the trials, the results may not apply to them.
WHAT’S NEXT: The researchers want to see if they can replicate the success of the combined programs, which varied from study to study.
WHERE TO FIND IT: Addiction, September
Surgery in older people not linked to cognitive decline
There have long been worries about the effects of anesthesia on older surgery patients’ memory and cognitive abilities. Research dating to the 1950s in patients recovering from heart surgery has pointed to postoperative deterioration in mental skills. A new study calls into question the role of surgery in cognitive decline.
Dr. Michael Avidan of Washington University in St. Louis led a team that looked retrospectively at 575 people who volunteered for studies at the university’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, which meant that after age 50 their cognitive function was tested annually. When Avidan’s study began, 361 people had mild to moderate dementia, and 214 were dementia-free. They were divided into three groups: people who had non-cardiac surgery, major illness, or neither. Heart surgery was excluded because it carries a heightened risk of stroke.
About one-quarter of the participants who did not have dementia at the outset eventually developed symptoms, but this was no more common in people who had had surgery than in the other two groups.
BOTTOM LINE: Surgery in older people was not linked to cognitive decline.
CAUTIONS: People who volunteered to participate in Alzheimer’s research may not reflect the general population.
WHAT’S NEXT: The authors plan a larger study to look at whether specific anesthetics and procedures pose a higher risk of cognitive problems in older people.

Tracking device leads to stolen cigarettes

A Lebanon man has been charged in federal court with stealing $15,300 worth of cigarettes from a tractor-trailer.
Jack Roberts, 44, is accused of taking 17 cases of cigarettes out of a truck early on the morning of Sept. 16.
The truck, which was shipping cigarettes from Winston Salem, N.C., to Nashville, had stopped in Lebanon for the night when the theft occurred.
According to court documents, authorities used a tracking device mixed in with the cigarettes to find them in a storage unit Roberts had rented in Wilson County.
Roberts was indicted by a federal grand jury Tuesday. He has been in police custody since his Nov. 3 arrest in eastern Kentucky.

Going up without the smoke

Need a nicotine hit? Want to beat the smoking ban? A smokeless cigarette could be the answer, for the long – or short – haul. Just be prepared for some funny looks, writes ROSEMARY Mac CABE SMOKELESS CIGARETTES are (allegedly) the solution for the smoker who hates the rain, can’t make it through a two-hour movie, can’t make the trek outdoors during the workday or finds the idea of a four-hour flight unbearable.
There are various types, the most widely available being the electronic cigarette, which contains a liquid containing nicotine that is vaporised and inhaled. Ryanair now sells the other most popular type, in the form of Similar smokeless cigarettes.
Ryanair’s head of communications, Stephen McNamara, says the product was introduced due to customer demand. “Some passengers can find it stressful to spend long journeys without a cigarette so we introduced the product based on customer feedback and to cater to passenger demand. It seemed a logical step to introduce a product that could provide smokers with relief from nicotine withdrawal.
“Smokers enjoy the ‘taste’ of the product while many have reported that is has helped them take the stress out of flying as they no longer worry or feel anxious about missing when they can get their next nicotine hit during a flight.” But how similar are Similar cigarettes? While it seems feasible that these cigarette-alikes will substitute for the real thing on a short-haul flight, how do faux fags fare in the real world? Dan Kinsella is an IT consultant who tried electronic cigarettes as a somewhat healthier alternative to smoking. “They only provide nicotine, as opposed to all the chemicals in a normal cigarette.” Was he satisfied? “You don’t get quite the same feeling,” he says. “After a while I went back on normal cigarettes.” He did, however, find them useful for avoiding the smoking ban. “I used to smoke at my desk, when I didn’t have time to go out for an ordinary cigarette.” Richard and Celine O’Connor both use electronic smoking devices – he a pipe, she cigarettes. Richard says that, aside from a minor issue – “they come in many flavours (anything from vanilla to Red Bull) but I’m finding it difficult to find a flavour I like” – they are very convenient for the couple. “My wife had to spend a night in hospital recently, and we both brought our electronics in. We were happily puffing away when we were caught by a nurse.” A quick demonstration allayed her fears.
I spent a day with Ryanair’s Similar branded smokeless cigarettes: a packet of 10, purchased for €6 on board a Ryanair flight, to see how it feels to smoke on the right side of the law.
The first thing I notice is that they smell, to all intents and purposes, like what one’s mother might call “sucky sweets” – irrefutably better than mainstream cigarettes, albeit slightly strange. They feel like real cigarettes and, crucially, they look like them.
I initially thought my Luas journey might cause difficulty. People, in my experience, are usually – and rightly – quick to complain when they see someone lighting up and, unlike clubs or pubs, bright lights mean I’m in plain sight. No waiting for plumes of smoke or that tell-tale smell.
People look – probably wondering whether I’m insane, given that I am sucking on what looks like an unlit cigarette – but complaints are few. The embarrassment, for the self-onscious, is one big drawback of the smokeless cigarette. Whether they’re saying it or not, people are wondering what in the world you’re doing.
I see a flicker of interest from the woman across from me. “You’re not going to light that, are you?” No, you don’t light smokeless cigarettes. You suck on them as you would an ordinary cigarette, without the irritating lighter fumblings. I take a drag.
“They’re smokeless cigarettes,” I say, and exhale. No smoke; any idea I might have had about smoking being “cool” – has gone out the window. I am slightly embarrassed. I take another pull and glance at my interrogator.
“I’m spending a day with smokeless cigarettes.” She looks sceptical.
“But when do you know when it’s finished?” A-ha. The problem with not lighting a cigarette is immediately apparent; for as long as you suck on it, it emits that slightly sweet, fabricated taste. You will never get to the end of your smokeless cigarette. Of course I didn’t spend a day smoking the same one, but you get my drift; furthermore, there is something infinitely wasteful about putting a whole, seemingly unsmoked, cigarette in the bin. If you can’t find a bin, you risk putting it back in the packet and re-smoking it later on. A handy money saver, if a little disgusting.
At work there is more confusion. Explaining what a smokeless cigarette is gets tiring quickly.
Smoking in the lunchtime queue in the deli seems precarious; the place is packed and it’s all I can do to balance my sandwich and bottle of water while counting out change. I give up. Later that evening, five smokeless cigarettes down, I go to the cinema with another friend who, in the dim light and without the odour or glowing embers, is the only one to notice what I’ve got in my mouth. “What is that?” I almost wish I’d painted a sign. “It’s a smokeless cigarette,” I whisper. “Oh, are you giving up?” Well, no, not quite.
Similar cigarettes contain 0.8mg of nicotine – compared to 0.5mg in my usual cigarette of choice. They do, therefore, sate my nicotine cravings – but so do patches, and they don’t come with endless questions. What they don’t, in fact, do, is act like a cigarette. There is no smoke and the taste is entirely different – the problem is nicotine on its own isn’t enough, which is why we smoke at all. In order to work, nicotine replacements need to be coupled with large amounts of willpower.
Smoking a cigarette that looks like a cigarette, acts like a cigarette but neither tastes nor feels like a cigarette (while giving you more nicotine than a cigarette) seems an odd choice.
Smokeless cigarettes allow you to smoke and obey the law – in the comfort of your desk chair, on public transport, in the back of a taxi – but you don’t get what smokers (perhaps mistakenly) see as the “satisfaction” of smoking. It’s like being on a diet where you’re advised to sniff a piece of chocolate without eating it.
If you can’t face going without smoking for four hours or so (Ryanair’s longest flight from Dublin is currently to the Canary Islands), you may want to indulge in some smokeless cigarettes. Alternatively, you could consider that four hours is about as long as Titanic – and the prospect of watching that is infinitely more painful than a few hours of nicotine cravings.

Organizations Call on U.S. Senate to Pass Legislation Preventing Tax-Evading Online Cigarette Trafficking

Representatives of law enforcement groups, public health organizations and trade associations today gathered on Capitol Hill to urge the Senate to pass S. 1147, the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act of 2009 (PACT Act). This legislation will help combat online cigarette sales that have robbed hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues from the states and that undermine state laws that prevent youth access to tobacco products. This bill closes gaps in current federal laws regulating "remote" or "delivery" sales of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products.
These organizations were joined by Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI) and Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY), advocates of combating illegal cigarette sales. Numerous stakeholders have worked with Sen. Kohl through the years to pass the PACT Act, which was passed in the House of Representatives this May.
"The PACT Act will strengthen our tobacco laws to ensure that law enforcement has the tools they need to investigate and prosecute cigarette traffickers, said Sen. Kohl. "Each day we delay its passage, terrorists and criminals raise more money, states lose significant amounts of tax revenue, and kids have easy access to tobacco products sold over the internet."
"We must crack down on the illegal sale of tobacco, which gives terrorists and criminals the ability to raise more money," said Rep. Weiner. "Every day we delay is another day that states lose significant amounts of tax revenue and kids have easy access to tobacco products sold over the Internet. I urge my colleagues in the Senate to pass the bipartisan PACT Act."
Organizations represented at the press conference included the National Association of Convenience Stores, American Wholesale Marketers Association, National Black Police Association Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids and American Legislative Exchange Council.
"At the very time when states have undertaken extraordinary efforts to restrict minors' access to cigarettes and continue to increase cigarette excise taxes, the Internet still offers minors a virtually risk-free and attractively priced means to easily obtain them," said Henry Armour, president and CEO, National Association of Convenience Stores. "The PACT Act addresses long-standing concerns that law-abiding neighborhood convenience stores have with respect to tax evasion and underage sales."
The American Wholesale Marketers Association also released its latest findings from a study it conducted examining the prevalence of illegal Internet cigarette sales and the cost to the country. In the study AWMA found the cost to states in illegal cigarette sales could be upwards of $5 billion per year, and that with online sales there is almost no age verification at the time of purchase.
"The results of this updated study stunned us and the problem of illegal sales of cigarettes has gotten worse," said Scott Ramminger, AWMA president and CEO. "This study is a clear indication that the PACT Act must be passed immediately so we can effectively combat illegal Internet sales of cigarettes and other tobacco products."

Careless disposal of cigarettes blamed for Berwick apartment fire

The careless disposal of cigarettes was blamed for igniting a blaze Sunday night that heavily damaged an apartment building on Jordan Street.
The fire likely started in a pile of cigarettes outside the building and was accelerated by dry leaves, according to Dan Young, an investigator with the Maine State Fire Marshal's Office.
Two units were damaged in the fire. Two others were occupied when the fire broke out; Fire Chief Dennis Plante said smoke detectors alerted the inhabitants, who escaped uninjured.
The fire caused about $40,000 worth of damage to the units, which had been undergoing renovations, Plante said. A family of four lived in one unit; a family of two lived in the other.
Plante said the residents will likely move back in to the units, as the landlord is working to repair them.

Japan Tobacco's UK Unit Closing Gap On Imperial Tobacco

Japan Tobacco Inc.'s (2914.TO) U.K. business is closing the gap on market leader Imperial Tobacco PLC (IMT.LN) and will retain its recent market share gains, despite pushing up prices at the end of this month, JT's U.K. managing director said Wednesday.
Daniel Torras told reporters at a briefing in London that the company had increased its U.K. cigarette market share to 40.8% in September, up 1.8 percentage points on a year earlier. Imperial Tobacco's share meanwhile fell 1.5 percentage points in the same period to 42.3%, he said.
"Since Oct. 2008, we've seen very dramatic share growth," he said, "we've had share growth in every single segment."
Torras said he was confident these gains can be retained despite the company's planned price increases on Nov. 24. "We don't expect any share loss," he said.
He said the company's momentum in the U.K. allowed it to take a lead with price increases rather than following Imperial's pricing action.
A packet of Sterling will increase by 12 pence to about GBP4.47, while Mayfair will rise 11 pence and the company's premium and sub-premium brands such as Silk Cut and B&H will rise by 10 pence.
Torras conceded that this represented a good opportunity for Imperial to regain its lost share but said JT's strong brand equity would allow it to retain share.
The company is raising its prices to offset a rise in input costs - related largely to higher tobacco leaf prices.
He said Imperial was facing the cost pressure as JT and may therefore raise its prices too.
"They will be experiencing the same cost pressures," he said, adding "we're not pricing ourselves out of the market."
However, he conceded that it would be very difficult to get customers back if they do desert JT's brands for cheaper alternatives.
"We think the momentum is with us and we can do it," he added. "They are already fighting back," he said, "but they are losing share and we are gaining."
He said JT's mainstream brand Mayfair had now overtaken Imperial's Lambert & Butler to become the U.K.'s number on brand.
JT's Sterling brand meanwhile was now the number-one value brand, he said, ahead of Imperial's JPS.
This had been achieved through improved packaging and blend, better distribution and increase in the company's sales force.
"Competitor brands have not been able to catch up," he said.
The U.K. is now among JT's top five markets following its acquisition of Gallaher in 2007. Torras said Gallaher had allowed its market share in the U.K. to slip since the late 1980s as it focused on short-term profit rather than long-term investment.
The company has invested GBP80 million in the U.K. market since the acquisition, expanding its sales force by 30%, upgrading factories and investing in training.
"We're definitely closing the gap," he said, "our goal is to be number one."

10 retailers cited in latest tobacco sale sting

Ten Ottawa County retailers were cited for underage tobacco sales during the most recent round of quarterly compliance checks.
This latest round of compliance checks completes a year-long operation of ensuring that tobacco retailers comply with the tobacco law, county officials said. In the past year, 177 Ottawa County retailers were checked, with 27 making sales to an underage decoy from October 2008 through this past September.
The compliance checks are part of an effort called "No Cigs for Our Kids." The group partnered with the Ottawa County Sheriff's Department, Holland Police Department and Spring Lake/Ferrysburg Police Department. They focused on Jenison, Hudsonville and Spring Lake Village. Local law enforcement, along with teenage decoys, visited tobacco retailers selected on a random basis to assess compliance with the Youth Tobacco Act, which requires stores not to sell tobacco to anyone under age 18.
"We need to get better results on a more consistent basis if an impact is to be made," said Sgt. Valerie Weiss of the Ottawa County Sheriff's Department. "Decreasing opportunities for minors to purchase tobacco at retail stores is a way to reduce access and the initiation of smoking."

Raiders ransack Tesco store

Police are investigating after thieves ransacked a supermarket in Ashton.
The burglars smashed the windows of Tesco Express with a crowbar and tried to break into the tills and cigarette counter at about 2.30am on Thursday morning.
The thieves were not able to get into the tills and made off with just a quantity of cigarettes, possibly being forced out of the store by a security device that lets off a large amount of smoke.
Fire crews were first on the scene after the smoke cloak, which is intended to get rid of thieves quickly, filled the shop with smoke, setting off the alarm.
After the crews arrived at the shop on Bolton Road, they alerted the police to the break-in, but the raiders had already made their get away. According to reports, the shop had been totally ransacked, shutters had been pulled down and displays had been smashed up.
It is not known at this stage how many people were involved in the robbery.

Health Committee

MSPs took evidence on proposed legislation on 4 November 2009 which will make buying cigarettes illegal for people under the age of 18.
The Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Bill would also allow police to seize cigarettes from teenagers, as they currently can with alcohol.
The committee heard from Danielle Rowley, a member of the Scottish Youth Parliament, David Roderick, chairman of the Society of Chief Officers of Trading Standards in Scotland, David Woodrow from the National Federation of Newsagents and Andrew Barker from the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland.

Council votes to ban sale of flavored tobacco products

NEW YORK -- The City Council voted overwhelmingly today to ban sales of all flavored tobacco products.
The bill bars the sale of products such as strawberry- and blueberry-flavored cigars and chewing tobacco, which health experts say are a blatant attempt to hook young people on a dangerous product.
Staten Island councilmen James Oddo (R-Mid-Island/Brooklyn), Vincent Ignizio (R-South Shore) and Ken Mitchell (D-North Shore) voted in favor of the bill.
In a law enacted this June, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned manufacturing, importing, marketing and distribution of cigarettes made to taste like candy, fruit and cloves. But since the legal definition of a cigarette is vague, manufacturers have found a way to circumvent the ban with products every bit as attractive to kids, like smaller "cigarillos" and SNUS, pouches of flavored tobacco used like snuff.
Mayor Bloomberg is expected to sign the bill into law.

Exercise to quit smoking

Exercise can make cigarettes less tempting to smokers and may help them kick the habit, says a new study.
Research from the University of Exeter shows that exercise can decrease the power of cigarettes and smoking-related images that grab the attention of smokers.
The study involved moderately heavy smokers, who had abstained from cigarettes for 15 hours before the trial.
"We know that smoking-related images can be powerful triggers for smokers who are abstaining," said Kate Janse Van Rensburg, doctoral student at the University of Exeter, who led the study.
"While we are no longer faced with advertisements for cigarettes, smokers are still faced with seeing people smoking on television, in photographs or in person. We know that this makes it more difficult for them to quit," added Rensburg.
"During two visits to our laboratory participants began by being shown smoking-related and neutral images, and then spent either 15 minutes sitting or exercising on a stationary bike at a moderate intensity. Afterwards, they were again shown the images," she said.
While participants were shown the images, the research team used the latest technology to measure and record their precise eye movements.
They were able to show not only the length of time people looked at such images but also how quickly pictures of cigarettes could grab their attention, compared with non-smoking matched images.
The study showed an 11 per cent difference between the time the participants spent looking at the smoking-related images after exercise, compared with the after sitting.
Also, after exercise, participants took longer to look at smoking-related images. Exercise, therefore, appears to reduce the power of the smoking-related images to grab visual attention.
Numerous studies have shown that a single session of light to moderate intensity exercise, for example five-15 minutes of brisk walking, can reduce cravings and responses to smoking cues, said an Exeter release.

Convict pleads guilty to kidnapping family

GAFFNEY -- Jerry Douglas Case, a convicted murderer who sat on death row but was paroled, pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to kidnapping five members of a North Carolina family in July.
The crime spree began near Gastonia, where some members of the family had been fishing, and ended in Gaffney.
Case, 52, admitted he carjacked the family and committed two counts each of kidnapping and kidnapping involving a child. Testimony shows Case threatened to kill a Gastonia man, his adult daughter and two grandchildren, including an infant.
Case was accused of forcing the woman to drive aimlessly through North and South Carolina for 12 hours while pointing a gun at his victims. The victims told investigators Case forced the woman to stop and buy alcohol and cigarettes for him.
The next day about 5 a.m. while stopped at the Kangaroo Express convenience store on Highway 18 near Gaffney, Case accidentally left the keys in the car.
As he walked toward the store, the family drove away and used Case's cell phone to call 911. They were met by law enforcement officers several miles away from where they left Case.

UM looks at other tobacco-free campuses

The University of Montana is gearing up to become a tobacco-free campus by fall 2011 and it is not alone in its effort to ban tobacco products on school grounds — 172 other college campuses across the nation have done the same thing.
And not just colleges are taking such initiatives.
Designating tobacco-free grounds is becoming a “mega-trend,” said Clare Lemke, coordinator of the Montana Tobacco Free Medical Campus Project that helped four local hospitals go tobacco-free on Oct. 1.
“When I started this position in fall of 2007, there were three hospitals with tobacco-free campuses and by the end of November (there will be) 30,” Lemke said. “That’s just about half of the hospitals in the state.”
Along with the 172 tobacco-free university campuses nationwide, there are at least another 322 smoke-free campuses, said Julee Stearns, UM health promotion specialist and chair of the UM Tobacco Task Force that drafted the University’s tobacco-free plan. These tobacco-free university and hospital campuses serve as models for UM’s plan.
The plan is framed similarly to one used by Oklahoma State University, a school with more than 21,000 students that went tobacco-free last year, Stearns said. In her research, Stearns focused particularly on Oklahoma State as an example of how UM can successfully implement a tobacco-free campus using a “phase-in” plan. That phase-in will include gathering more feedback this semester and going to the faculty and staff senates in the spring.
President George Dennison sent an e-mail to the campus community Monday to inform students and faculty of the plan, and the ASUM Senate voted in support of it on Oct. 7. Education and development will continue until full implementation in 2011.
Yvon Fils-Aimé, a tobacco health educator with Oklahoma State’s University Health Services, said enforcing the tobacco ban at his university hasn’t been difficult and officials haven’t seen many students smoking on campus since it took effect last year.
Oklahoma State is an agricultural and mechanical university with a rodeo culture that is tolerant of chewing tobacco, Fils-Aimé said. In a 2006 survey, about 33 percent of students there said they used a tobacco product within the past 30 days.
Fils-Aimé said that if Oklahoma State can implement a smoking ban, any school can.
A few months after the policy was implemented in July 2008, tobacco use at Oklahoma State dropped from 33 percent to about 23 percent, he said.
“We cannot be a healthy campus with tobacco,” Fils-Aimé said, adding that every day 1,200 people die from tobacco use. While some argue it’s their personal right to smoke or chew tobacco, he said, this personal choice doesn’t trump the university’s responsibility to provide a healthy campus for all.
Aside from the harms of secondhand smoke, chewing tobacco use has the potential to be unhealthy for others as well, Fils-Aimé said. Spit bottles are sometimes left around campus full of saliva that can transmit disease to other students and university employees that have to clean up the mess, he said.
Fils-Aimé disagreed with Oklahoma students who argued that banning tobacco on campus oppressed the minority – smokers – saying that the university has a right to protect the health of non-smokers from secondhand smoke regardless of the number of smokers.
Though the university encountered some resistance, enrollment wasn’t negatively affected and only increased following the ban, Fils-Aimé said. The school didn’t experience a drop in the number of applicants for student housing, he said.
His only regret is not fining students for smoking on campus. Some students have complained to him that it’s unfair that people breaking the rules don’t get penalized.
Maintenance and insurance costs also played a role in turning Oklahoma State tobacco-free.
While designated “smoking zones” were considered as an alternative to the tobacco-free plan, research showed that those areas are rarely used, Fils-Aimé said. It’s difficult to get insurance for structures in smoking areas and cleaning these areas costs money and poses a health threat to maintenance workers, he said. A structure-less “smoking zone” was designated on the Oklahoma State campus for the year following the plan’s implementation at the request of a faculty committee, but it has since been taken out.
Mary Windecker, director of strategic planning and spokesperson for Community Medical Center, said the hospital campus went tobacco-free on Oct. 1, partly because people weren’t going to designated “smoking zones” to light up, sometimes still smoking in front of doorways. Making their entire campus tobacco-free made enforcement easier because it erased the ambiguity surrounding smoking zone boundaries. She said the center hasn’t encountered problems with people not complying with the ban.
Community Medical Center went tobacco-free at the beginning of the month, along with St. Patrick Hospital, St. Joseph’s western Montana clinic, and Tamarack Medical Clinics throughout western Montana.
Montana Tech will be completely tobacco free in July 2010.
Tobacco policy changes are backed by anti-tobacco legislation across the state. The Montana Indoor Clean Air Act, passed in 2005, prohibits smoking in all work places. Another 13 states across the country have similar smoke-free laws. The Montana Collegiate Tobacco Prevention Initiative, led by the BACCHUS Network, is also working with UM and six other universities across Montana to reduce tobacco use.
Lemke said that while she doesn’t have a magic wand to change opponents of tobacco legislation into supporters, working to help hospitals transition into tobacco-free campuses has shown her that educating people about the harms of tobacco and getting the word out early regarding upcoming policy changes has made transitions to “tobacco-free” much easier. Oklahoma State spent two years preparing their campus for the transition and Community Medical Center spent six months.
“Don’t rush through this and think you can do this in two months, it really takes time,” she said.
The university needs to make it clear that they aren’t “anti-smokers,” Lemke said. Anti-tobacco policies are put in place to promote safer and healthier environments, they aren’t about segregating people from each other, she said.

Scottsdale PD: Robber grabs cigarettes, lighters and cash

SCOTTSDALE, AZ -- Police say a suspect robbed a Circle K at gunpoint, getting away with cash, cigarettes and lighters.
According to Scottsdale police, a Hispanic male went into the store near Shea Boulevard and the Loop 101 around 9:15 Tuesday and demanded cigarettes, butane lighters and cash from the 43-year-old clerk.
The suspect reportedly pointed a dark-colored semi-automatic pistol at the clerk during the robbery.
The robber left in an older white commercial-style van driven by an older male, according to police.
The suspect was described as 5 feet 6 inches tall and 120 pounds. He was reportedly wearing a dark shirt and jeans.
Officers searched the area but were not able to find the suspects.
No injuries were reported, according to police. There was no word on how much money was taken.

Free Press finds Rich Rodriguez does not really eat Corn Flakes (kidding)

In its continuing fight to give the whole truth and nothing but the truth to the people of Michigan, the Detroit Free Press through information given to them through the Freedom of Information Act, found out that contrary to his statements to the contrary, Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez actually eats Count Chocula and not Corn Flakes as he stated.
Rodriguez issued a statement saying, "I am a frequent eater of Count Chocula, but thought Corn Flakes would put the program in a more positive light"
Obviously the above is not true, but I think it points out the ridiculousness of what the Detroit Free Press is after in their investigation of Rodriguez and Michigan. I understand about the investigation on the practice time, but going all out to find that Rodriguez may have exaggerated the grade point average of his football team is a bit much.
Investigating alleged NCAA rules violations are one thing, monitoring everything Rodriguez says is something else. What's next, exposing that Jim Schwartz actually sings Barry Manilow tunes in the shower instead of Metallica? Or are they going to use the Freedom of Information Act to seek the truth that Jim Leyland really does not inhale his cigarettes?
Let's just wait for the NCAA findings. Personally I don't care if Rodriguez actually fudged the facts on their grades in a talk to alumni or to the media as long as he did not fudge the actual grades. Who knows soon the Freep will let us know if Rodriguez actually likes fudge.

Yao Ming enlisted as China anti-smoking ambassador

Basketball star Yao Ming has joined up with the wife of China's vice president to lead an anti-tobacco campaign in the country with the world's largest number of smokers, state media said Tuesday.
The NBA All-Star Houston Rockets centre was named as an ambassador to the Chinese Association on Tobacco Control and is expected to appear in public service announcements urging people not to smoke, Xinhua news agency said.
Also named was pop singer Peng Liyuan, the wife of Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, the report said.
About 350 million Chinese, or nearly 27 percent of the country's population, smoke cigarettes, with the nation consuming up to one-third of the tobacco products sold annually worldwide, said the report, citing the association.
Up to one million Chinese die every year from lung cancer or cardiovascular diseases directly linked to tobacco consumption, it said.
In 2006, Yao, the most successful Chinese player in the NBA, joined a Wild Aid campaign against the eating of shark fin's soup, a popular Chinese delicacy that has left the fish at risk of extinction.
Peng has also served as a spokeswoman for a public awareness campaign against the stigmatisation of HIV/AIDS sufferers.

Mickey Rourke on the priest who saved his life

In the Year for Priests, here's a story that reminds us the impact a priest can have on just one life:
Mickey Rourke has revealed that he was on the verge of suicide before he turned to the Catholic Church for help.
"The Wrestler" star, who battled alcohol and drug addiction for several years, claims in PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk's new book "One Can Make a Difference: How Simple Actions Can Change the World" that a priest helped save his life.
He explained: "One day I looked in the mirror and I saw myself the way others saw me. I saw the armour and I scared the f**k out of myself.
"I did see a priest for a while, a great one who stopped me from blowing my brains out. We'd go in the basement, he'd pour me a glass of wine, we'd smoke cigarettes, and then we'd pray. But I needed a shrink too, so I forced myself to go.
"I had to learn not to let people push my buttons, find out what was triggering all this rage, and stop throwing things away. I've barely missed a therapy session in over a decade, and that takes willpower."

Ban still permits sale of menthol cigarettes

This ban, authorized by the new Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, is part of a national effort by the FDA to reduce smoking in America. The ban on flavored cigarettes is aimed at reducing the number of children who start smoking and become addicted to tobacco products. In fact:
In 2004, 22.8 percent of 17- year-old smokers reported using flavored cigarettes over the past month, as compared to 6.7 percent of smokers over the age of 25.
A poll conducted in March 2008 found that one in five young people between the ages of 12 and 17 had seen flavored tobacco products or ads, while only one in 10 adults reported having seen them.
According to one study of youth smokers between the ages of 13 and 18, 52 percent of smokers who had heard of flavored cigarettes reported interest in trying them, and nearly 60 percent thought that flavored cigarettes would taste better than regular cigarettes.
The statistics, along with the fact the about 90 percent of smokers begin smoking as teenagers, certainly seem to support claims that candy- and fruit-flavored cigarettes are just another attempt by the tobacco industry to recruit "replacement smokers," replacing the number of people who quit smoking or die from smoking-related diseases each year with new, young smokers.
The new ban on flavored cigarettes is certainly a step in the right direction; however, for all the good intentions of the FDA, this ban stops short of eliminating the No.1 most prevalent cigarette flavoring in use today: menthol.
Research at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School has shown that menthol cigarette smokers take in more nicotine and carbon monoxide per cigarette than regular cigarette smokers, and a recent study at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey has shown that menthol smokers find it harder to quit, despite smoking fewer cigarettes per day.
Although I fully support the ban on flavored cigarettes, it is obvious to me that the tobacco industry still has enough influence to continue selling the cigarettes that are the real money makers for them, and that probably have the most influence on our nation's teenagers, menthol.
Hopefully, the ban on menthol cigarettes will be considered in the near future.

Fire Prevention Week Begins

Burnt sofas, pianos and even fans, all on display at the Valley Mall to show just how serious a fire can be.
The Harrisonburg Fire Department is putting out this fire, in hope that it may prevent another one.
Wanda Willis, with Harrisonburg Fire Prevention says, "It's very important to let people know that they need to be aware of fires. Fires still kill almost 3,000 people a year in the United States in home fires."
The Staunton Fire Department is also doing preventative education throughout schools this week.
The fire fighters believes it's the small things that people often forget.
Joey Ayers, A Staunton Fire Fighter says, "It's just getting the word out to the people and getting them to understand the importance of everything and why smoke detectors are important and why it's important for them to get out of the house."
Harrisonburg Fire Department says kitchen accident are a leading reason they are called to put out a fire.
Willis says, "Cooking fires are the number one reason why people get burned in fires and they are also the number one reason why a home burns. So, it's very, very important to take a look at your kitchen and see what you can do to prevent the fire from happening."
Firefighters also want creating awareness about problems caused by cigarettes and lighters.
Willis says, "The last death that we had in the city of Harrisonburg was due to a cigarette fire on a couch and they fell asleep. So, that is one of the things that we know is very important to make sure that people are aware of cigarettes and how they can burn a house down very quickly.
The Harrisonburg Fire Department will have their fire safety display out from 9 a.m. until 9 p.m. through out the week
While 66% of Americans have an escape plan in case of fire, only 35% have practiced it.

Smoking! AUB sewer tests leaves downtown offices in a cloud

The Athens Fire Department has been called to Downtown Athens twice this week after people spotted smoke filling buildings.
Firefighters responded to the Murray Willis Edward Jones office on White Street Tuesday morning. This morning, they responded to Pope Law Offices on Washington Avenue after smoke was sighted in the building.
Neither case turned out to be an actual fire. The smoke was caused by Athens Utilities Board pouring smoke into wastewater lines to find areas where the main lines have leaks. AUB spokesman Wayne Scarbrough said both instances downtown involved buildings with an empty toilet so there was no water barrier to prevent the smoke from entering the buildings.
Scarbrough said AUB contacts the fire department every morning to inform them where they will be conducting smoke tests and sent out news releases before testing began. But he said he understood with testing going on across several weeks how it can slip people's minds and he would much rather people be safe than sorry if they spot smoke in their buildings.
He said people may see similar incidents in their homes if they have an unused or empty sink or toilet. Scarbrough suggested people keep water in the sink and toilet traps and ensure there is adequate pipe venting because the smoke might also indicate other problems like th

Love is all you need

ARARAT - Ararat Retirement Village resident Ivan Reid notched up a significant milestone last week, celebrating his 96th birthday with family and friends.
The quick-witted nonagenarian puts his longevity down to a healthy lifestyle, which includes avoiding the temptations of alcohol and cigarettes.
''I made a pact with God when I was 12 to avoid all intoxicating drinks and to try to convince others around me to do the same,'' Ivan said.
His one foray into smoking saw Ivan roll some lucerne, used by his mother to feed her chickens, in brown paper before proceeding to smoke it.
''I ended up burning my tongue and I've never smoked since,'' he said.
Enjoying the birthday cake alongside Ivan was the love of his life, wife Madge, 93.
The couple will celebrate 70 years of marriage on February 24 next year.
Ivan and Madge met at the Church of Christ in Geelong, where they courted for a number of years before marrying in 1940.
The couple moved to Ararat in 1954, buying a small business on the corner of George Road and Barkly Street that served as a tuck shop to the nearby high school.
Upon selling the shop, Madge moved to a Barkly Street florist while her husband worked at Cunningham and Murphy for a number of years before relocating to the Stawell Brick Company.
The Reids enjoy spending time with their close-knit family, which includes ten grandchildren and a number of great grandchildren.
The couple's three sons, Ken, Don and Trevor, all live nearby.
When asked the secret to a long and happy marriage, Ivan listed communication as an important factor.
''You've got to be honest with one another for a start,'' he said.
In a day and age where people often get married too quickly and divorced even quicker, Ivan and Madge's lifetime commitment to each other seems even more special.
''It's not hard to stay married - we love each other,'' Ivan said.
Remembering back to when they first met, Ivan added, 'plus, she was a smart looking chick, I can tell you'.

Tax deadline looms for reservation smoke shops

Cigarettes sold tax-free on Indian reservations now account for nearly a third of all packs sold in New York state, but the future of the multibillion-dollar business is in doubt.Smoke shops on Long Island's Poospatuck reservation face a Friday deadline to comply with a court order barring them from selling tax-free cigarettes to the public.
New York tribes have long refused to collect tobacco taxes, and since the mid-1990s a string of state governors have agreed not to enforce the law out of respect for Indian sovereignty.
That discount has made them among the state's largest suppliers of cigarettes.
The Cayuga Indian Nation of New York sells untaxed cigarettes from its stores in Union Springs and Seneca Falls.
A mid-level state appeals court has ruled that practice is legal, but Cayuga and Seneca counties are appealing that decision.
After New York City sued over hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue, a federal judge ruled in August that cigarette dealers on the Poospatuck reservation were acting illegally by selling huge quantities of untaxed product.
She gave the shops 30 days either to start collecting taxes or to limit sales to tribe members.
The merchants sought an emergency stay this week, which was denied Thursday by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
It wasn't immediately clear what the shops would do next.
An attorney for one group of owners, James Simermeyer, said they were still weighing their options and hoping the appeals court would reverse itself and issue a last-minute stay.
Harry Wallace, the chief of the Unkechaug tribe, which controls the reservation, did not return phone and e-mail messages, but has said he believes the state has no power to enforce its tax policies on tribal land.
An attorney for the city, Eric Proshansky, said in a court filing that the shops didn't deserve a reprieve.
“The defendants' greedy desire to continue raking in the millions of dollars that they divert from the public treasury by their tax-evading sales deserves no weight in any event, but certainly not balanced against the injury to the public health already proven in this case,” he wrote.
The judge's order only applies to eight Poospatuck shops sued by the city, but its findings could be influential in legal disputes involving tribes throughout the state. Separately, a federal jury convicted one of the Poospatuck smoke shop owners last year of racketeering for dealing in untaxed cigarettes. His sentencing is set for December.
Several of the shops sued by New York City have appealed, but it could be months or longer before a 2nd Circuit panel hears their case.
Cigarette sales on the reservations have topped more than 300 million packs a year, according to state tax officials.

Oneidas buy cigarette factory

The Oneida Indian Nation has bought a cigarette manufacturing plant in western New York and plans to make its own cigarettes.
The tribe has agreed to purchase Sovereign Tobacco in Angola for $6.6 million, according to sales documents filed with the federal government. The transaction is expected to be completed by October 2010, Bob Hilburger, a business development director for the nation, said Thursday.
The nation already runs the Turning Stone Resort & Casino, a dozen SavOn gas station-convenience stores, a gaming software company and five golf courses. It sells about $34 million of untaxed cigarettes a year at its stores.
Sovereign Tobacco produces Niagara and Bishop discount cigarette brands that sell for $30 a carton, about half the cost of taxed, name-brand cigarettes sold in non-Indian outlets.
The Erie County cigarette plant employs about 28 people and sold 1.4 million cartons of cigarettes last year, distributing mostly to about 60 Native American outlets in upstate New York. Hilburger said the plant expects to add another 20 workers as it expands during the next year.
The Oneidas are following a trend of Indian tribes making their own cigarettes to prevent the state from collecting taxes on the middlemen, said Jim Calvin, executive director of the New York Association of Convenience Stores.
The nation agreed to buy the cigarette plant last year, two months after the state Legislature passed a law requiring cigarette manufacturers to make sure that wholesalers that buy from them pay the $27.50-per-carton state excise tax before selling the cigarettes to retailers, including Indian tribes.
Tribes in New York have long claimed sovereignty from state and local laws, and they have refused to collect sales and excise taxes for the state on cigarettes they sell, despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 1994 that states have the right to collect those taxes. Successive governors in New York have all declined to enforce the tax laws.

Fake cigarettes seized

UK Border Agency officials at a Suffolk port seized one million counterfeit cigarettes after an attempt was made to smuggle them into the country.
They were found when they arrived at Felixstowe concealed in a consignment of industrial electric fans.
The cigarettes had been shipped from China and were hidden inside hollowed out sections of the fans.

Convenience stores are top violators of smoking rules

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The convenience stores that operate around the clock have turned out to have the most violations of selling cigarettes to underaged customers.
There were 233 registered cases as of Aug. 1 in Taipei City alone concerning the violation of the new and stricter tobacco hazard prevention regulations which took effect on Jan. 11, according to the statistics compiled by the Taipei Municipal Department of Health.
The figure resulted from stepped-up spot inspection of major retailing outlets like convenience stores, grocery stores and betel nut stands during the summer vacation.
Health officials found that the four leading chains of convenience stores — 7-Eleven, FamilyMart, Hi-Life and OK — committed 112 violations of selling cigarettes to customers under 18, accounting for almost half of the total.
Betel nut stands and traditional grocery stores were caught with 58 and 51 violations respectively.
The officials said teenagers tended to more easily purchase tobacco products during summer vacation because they usually were not required to wear school uniforms.The failure of store staff to ask for ID from young-looking customers was another major factor, they said.Those violating the rules prohibiting the sale of cigarettes to people under the age of 18 are liable for a fine between NT$10,000 and NT$50,000.
Officials urged the leading chains of convenience stores to conduct adequate training for their staff to avoid repeating the same mistakes.
The violations in Taipei could reflect the same situation throughout Taiwan, which now has more than 9,000 convenience stores.

Quit Smoking to Save Money

Smoking cigarettes can be a very expensive habit. Money spent on cigarettes each week could have gone towards groceries, bills, going out to eat, or a host of other items that could be added into your budget. Spending money on smoking can directly impact a family budget, especially if the budget is tight already. Many people decide to quit smoking because of the financial burdens it places on their family.
To feel the continuing mood enhancement that the nicotine in cigarettes provides, many smokers smoke more than one pack per day. A person may begin smoking only a couple of cigarettes per day, but eventually they need more to feel the nicotine effects. What started out as a cigarette here and a cigarette there turns into a pack, a pack and a half, two packs a day, and so on.
To calculate how much you spend on cigarettes per week determines how many cigarettes you smoke per month and then multiply that by 12. If your pack of cigarettes is generally $4.00 and you smoke 2 packs per day, you are roughly spending $3,000 a year on cigarettes, lighters, etc. If you were to quit smoking your budget would have an additional three grand per year added to it. That could pay for all sorts of nice things that you could afford.
If you were to take the money you were saving from not smoking and place it into a 401k plan you could retire with thousands upon thousands of dollars just from the money you were going to spend on cigarettes plus interest.
Another benefit of not smoking that will save you money is with insurance costs. Most insurance companies will not even insure a smoker. The insurance companies that will cover you may charge outrageous premiums and have high deductibles. Even then they may not cover some medical conditions you incur due to your cigarette use.
If you smoke in your car you have greatly depreciated the value of it. A non-smoker can tell quickly that a car has been smoked in. For smokers it is hard to smell cigarette smoke because not only have they gotten used to the smell of smoke, but the harmful effects of smoking have decreased their ability to smell.
Not only that, but many companies across the US are putting bans on smoking on their premises and have even gone so far as to not hire employees that smoke. You could be missing some wonderful job opportunities because of you cigarette addiction.
The time to quit smoking is now.

Beer, Cigarettes and Flat Screen TVs: Targeting the Poor in Times of Economic Crisis digg stumble reddit

If I received one bailout dollar for every time a poor person was accused of spending hard earned tax payer money on beer, cigarettes, and flat screen televisions, I'd be rich -- or at least as rich as AIG, who coincidentally received over $70 billion from the government to stave off bankruptcy.

In the stimulus bill, the government allocated $5 billion dollars to states to help needy women and families whose financial situations have been made worse by the current recession. Conservatives and others have responded to the relief by calling it a misuse of tax payer funds and accusing mothers of purchasing beer and cigarettes with the money. The question is where were these concerned citizens when the government was doling out money to banks and businesses with little to no accountability?

When it comes to lending a helping hand to poor people, there seems to be a double standard. Since the start of the recession, the Administration has implemented several programs to help families and businesses in need -- tax cuts, the $8,000 home buyer's credit, cash for clunkers, the homeowner affordability plan, among others. For the most part, all of these programs have been targeted toward the middle-class with an aim toward stimulating the economy and helping families recover. Very few poor people have been able to take advantage of the above-mentioned programs.

Of the few programs in the stimulus package designed to help those living in poverty or families in need, the government requires states to put up a 20 percent match in order to tap into the funds. To date, only 26 states have been able to meet the requirements to receive the funds.

Matching funds are nothing new, but during this economic crisis requiring states that are already strapped or in fiscal despair to come up with 20 percent to receive so-called emergency funds does not make much sense. Why didn't banks have to put up a 20 percent match in order to receive federal dollars?

On a separate but related note, the idea that if cash is given directly to poor people they will squander or misuse it is without merit. When women struggling to make ends meet receive extra money, they use it to provide for their families, buy food and clothing, and to pay utility bills and rent. Yes, there may be a few in the bunch who may choose to misappropriate the money, but those individuals are in the minority. They are the exception and not the rule.

In the U.S., the poor have always been considered a burden to shoulder or a problem to be solved. Programs to help individuals and families living in poverty should be viewed as social investments and economic stimuli. They should go hand-in-hand with the Administration's current efforts to revive the economy and move families into the middle class.

The Administration should revisit the match requirements for states to receive emergency funds to help and provide support to families in need. And conservatives should be more concerned about how the $750 billion given to banks is being spent as opposed to the paltry $200-per-child given to women to help make ends meet in this downturn. At the end of the day, what difference does it really make if a woman chooses to buy pizza over bread to feed her hungry family?

DOF sees only small rise in take from excise tax on 'sin products'

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Finance (DOF) expects excise tax collections from tobacco and alcohol products to rise by a measly 3.7 percent next year as it earlier agreed to defer to 2012 any further increases in “sin tax” rates.
Estimates made by the government showed that the imposition of higher excise tax on cigarettes and liquor would yield P60.16 billion in 2010 or P2.12 billion higher than the projected collection of P58.04 billion this year.
The projections, contained in the government’s proposed 2010 Budget of Expenditure and Sources of Financing, also put collections from cigarette manufacturers at P26.51 billion next year or 4.8 percent higher than this year’s P25.3 billion, while collections from liquor makers are expected to increase 6.2 percent to P21.29 billion from P20.05 billion.
Tax collections on sin products rose to 12 percent to P47.1 billion in 2008 from P42.2 billion in 2007 as manufacturers withdrew more from their warehouse to avoid the eight percent increase in excise tax at the start of 2009, data from the DOF showed.
Of the amount, excise taxes paid by cigarette manufacturers increased 17.9 percent to P27.35 billion. Finance officials said this is due to the increase in the volume of withdrawals — up 14.37 percent to 4.727 million packs from 4.133 million packs.
The amount paid by liquor makers, meanwhile, increased 3.9 percent to P15.63 billion as volume of withdrawals of fermented liquor rose 2.85 percent while that of distilled spirits increased 10.4 percent.
Republic Act 9334 or the indexation of sin tax on alcohol and tobacco products mandates that excise tax slapped on sin products would increase every two years until the increase reaches 20 percent by 2011.
At present, the tax system on sin products is four-tiered. It had a mixed specific and ad valorem system in place since 1997 wherein cigarette brands are classified into four categories — low, medium, high, and premium — based on their net retail price.
The Finance Department earlier agreed to defer any possible increase in the excise tax on sin products to 2012 due to the global economic slowdown. It hopes to raise P19 billion in additional taxes in 2012, another P42 billion in 2013, and P57 billion in 2014 and onwards.
Under the proposed adjustment, the DOF seeks to implement a two-tier excise tax structure in 2012 and 2013 until it is harmonized to a single rate in 2014.
Major industry players such as Fortune Tobacco of taipan Lucio Tan, Philip Morris Philippines Manufacturing Inc., La Suerte Cigar & Cigarette Factory and alcohol producers Ginebra San Miguel, Tanduay Distillers, Consolidated Distillers of the Far East, Diageo Philippines and Distileria Bago want the government to defer moves to raise taxes on cigarettes.

Jury awards punitive damages to smoker's daughter

A jury has recommended that cigarette maker Philip Morris USA should pay $13.8 million in punitive damages to the daughter of a longtime smoker who died of lung cancer.
The panel voted 9-3 on Monday in favor of Bullock's daughter Jodie Bullock, who is now the plaintiff in the case. Betty Bullock died of lung cancer in February 2003.
She had sued Philip Morris in April 2001, accusing the company of fraud and product liability. A jury in 2002 recommended Philip Morris pay a record $28 billion in punitive damages to Bullock, but a judge later reduced the award to $28 million.
In 2008, the 2nd District Court of Appeal reversed the jury's decision and remanded the case for a new trial over the punitive damages. Philip Morris said the $28 billion remained excessive.
However, the original jury recommended the tobacco company pay Bullock $750,000 in damages and $100,000 for pain and suffering, a verdict that still stands.
In a statement, Richmond, Va.-based Altria Group Inc., which owns Philip Morris, said any amount given to Bullock's daughter is unwarranted.
"After hearing weeks of improper arguments and evidence that violated state and federal law on punitive damages, the jury still managed to reject plaintiff's patently unreasonable request," said Murray Garnick, Altria Client Services senior vice president, speaking on behalf of Philip Morris. "Even so, we believe that any punitive damages award is unwarranted based on the facts in this case and that this award is unconstitutionally excessive."
Defense attorney Frank P. Kelly said outside of court that Philip Morris hasn't decided yet whether to appeal the decision.
Plaintiff's attorney Michael Piuze said the jury's verdict amounted to a "slap on the wrist for Philip Morris."
"I liked it better when it was $28 billion," said Piuze, who represented Betty Bullock after she filed the lawsuit. "She wanted me to beat the crap out of Philip Morris, and we did it once."
Betty Bullock, 64, of Newport Beach, started smoking Marlboros when she was 17 and later turned to Benson & Hedges, both Philip Morris products.
Attorneys for Philip Morris argued Betty Bullock could have stopped smoking at anytime, and the harmful effects of cigarettes were known to smokers.
Jurors said the figure they reached was a compromise, with some arguing that Philip Morris shouldn't pay anything, while others believed the cigarette maker should pay billions of dollars in damages.
Matt Reed, 37, of Burbank was one of the three dissenting jurors, who believed Philip Morris should pay a higher amount than the verdict.
"Some of us looked at it as an opportunity to deter this behavior," Reed said. "I don't find $13.8 million to be much of a deterrent."
Other jurors felt Betty Bullock should have been more responsible, but using a formula decided on an amount for the years she suffered from lung cancer.
"I saw it as a personal choice," said Poulet Minasian, 25, of Los Angeles. "There was a big gap in the amount (during deliberations), but the $13.8 million made ense."

Keeping Track Of How Many Cigarettes You Smoke Each Day

Have you noticed that you are smoking much more lately than you normally do? Smoking is a dangerous and deadly enough habit without turning yourself into a chain smoker. It can be very easy to let yourself get into the habit of lighting one cigarette after another if you do not watch very carefully what you are doing. This happens easier for those who are in a situation where there is no restrictions placed on their smoking amount by something like where they work or other activities they engage in.

When you work in a place where you have a designated break time, you might only be allowed to smoke during those times. Whether you like it or not, at least this will help to keep your smoking habit under control during the time you are there. Other places where you are not allowed to smoke is in church, public buildings like restaurants or government offices, schools, and lots of other places. You must control your urge to smoke at these places just because it is not allowed.

When you are given free reign over your smoking you can light up whenever you wish too. You might work from home or your work could be traveling around in a vehicle of some kind all day. This can allow you to smoke non-stop and this can be easy to get into the habit of doing. How do you think chain smokers become chain smokers? It is because they do it whenever they want to. So, what can you do if you have complete control over your smoking habit and you are losing that control?

The first thing to do is realize that you are doing it. After you have admitted to yourself that you are smoking far too much, you have to learn to set your own limits. Pick certain times of the day or when you are doing certain things and make the commitment to not smoke during those times and do your best to stick to it. If you drive around for your work, try taking only a certain number of smokes with you and make them last. If you work inside your home, like using your computer, make a rule to not smoke inside. Smoke only outside and set the times when you allow yourself to go out.

Maybe you do not think you have the willpower to do this, but if you do not take the problem into hand yourself, who will? Who knows? This might the first steps to get yourself to stop smoking all together. Willpower might come easier if you use it a little at a time instead of trying to be completely strict with yourself all at once.

Thieves steal hundreds of cigarettes in South Yarra heist

THIEVES have made off with thousands of dollars worth of cigarettes during a brazen heist in South Yarra this morning.
A delivery van driver was travelling along Toorak Rd, near Chamber St, about 7am when two men approached the van and threatened him with a weapon.
The driver, 57 from Mulgrave, was ordered to get out of his white Mercedes van before the thieves drove it to nearby Claremont St.
They then unloaded the cargo of cigarettes into another white van before fleeing.
The delivery driver was uninjured and his van is undergoing forensic testing.
Armed Crime Squad Acting Sen-Sgt Andrew Stamper said police believe the thieves were well prepared.
“This appears to be a well planned robbery because of the time and location," he said.
Police are now hunting three men over the heist.

SoCal man gets death penalty for double murder

A judge has sentenced a Southern California man to death for the execution-style slayings of two liquor store clerks during a robbery in 2006.
Jean Pierre Rices, 27, was sentenced Friday after a jury recommended capital punishment in June.
Rices pleaded guilty to murdering Heather Mattia, 22, and Firas Eiso, 23, in 2006 as the two were closing shop at Granada Liquor in El Cajon.
An accomplice, Anthony James Miller, had packed cigarettes and $1,250 in cash into a bag before Rices shot them in the head.
Rices had prior convictions for selling drugs, robbing banks and carjacking.

Customs officers detain over 11 500 boxes smuggling cigarettes

Customs officers from mobile group for control and monitoring of General Toshevo checkpoint have seized 11 540 undeclared boxes of cigarettes of different brands with Ukrainian excise label. The smuggled cigarettes have been seized after a check of a suspicious mini-bus with Ukrainian license plate while entering the state. The shipment has been seized. The authorities drew up a statement of customs violation.

Capitol Hill tries to eliminate cigarette butts

Cigarette butts — the most-littered item in America — will soon become more scarce in the Capitol Hill area.

For the first time, the Capitol Hill Business Improvement District linked up with the Keep America Beautiful Cigarette Litter Prevention Program to help clear out tossed-away cigarettes left behind by smokers.

Three high-traffic areas on Capitol Hill were picked: the southeast corner of Eighth Street and Pennsylvania Avenue SE; on First Street SE in front of Bullfeathers and Tortilla Coast; and on the south side of Pennsylvania Avenue between Third and Fourth streets SE.

In 2008, nearly 200 communities reported an average 46 percent reduction in littered butts as a result of implementing the program.

"Cigarette litter is not only unsightly and costly to clean up, but also harmful to waterways and wildlife. Simple actions like installing ash receptacles and distributing pocket ashtrays will make a big difference in decreasing litter and ultimately keeping Capitol Hill beautiful," said Patty Brosmer, BID president.

The nonprofit Keep America Beautiful has field-tested and expanded the Cigarette Litter Prevention Program for the last six years with support from Philip Morris USA, an Altria company.

Limit smokers buying cigarettes abroad, says chief medical officer

Anti-smoking campaigns are being undermined by "ridiculous" European Union rules allowing British travellers to bring back 3,200 cheap cigarettes from member states, the chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, said yesterday.
Ministers should use next year's review of tobacco tax laws to impose a limit of 200 cigarettes or 250g of hand-rolling tobacco to tackle legal shopping and the burgeoning criminal trade in smuggled and counterfeit goods, he said.
Sir Liam, bemoaning the fact that 106,000 Britons still die each year from smoking-related causes, said: "Tobacco is a lethal product. It kills more people than anything else, yet by the pattern of price and regulation that is in place, death is made cheaper.
"For example, a holidaymaker going to Spain, can quite legally bring back into this country 160 packs [of 20 cigarettes].
"If they are a smoker that is enough to keep them going for six months and, given cheap flights and the opportunity to have a holiday along the way, it also gives quite a cost saving."
The price of a pack of popular cigarettes in Spain was £1.36, the equivalent in Britain was £4.89, and just two trips a year would save a smoker more than £1,000 in tax and duty.
"As well as a ready source for personal consumption, the temptation to sell on large amounts can prove hard to resist," he said.
The illicit street price for cigarettes in Britain was £2.50, and about a quarter of all cigarettes smoked here, and three-quarters of roll-ups, avoided UK tax and duties - either legally or illegally. This meant that government policies of raising prices - 10% increases traditionally brought 4% cuts in consumption - were being eroded.
Sir Liam, presenting his annual report on the state of public health, said the EU should insist on higher minimum prices for tobacco by fixing levels of duty and questioning "the illogical and health-damaging shopping allowance for tobacco ... It is quite ridiculous we have a limit of 3,200 cigarettes. It ought to be 200 in my view."
He also pressed ministers to follow the lead of Ireland, Sweden, Italy, Malta, some states and cities in the US and soon Scotland by having smoke-free public places and workplaces.
Cancer Research UK welcomed Sir Liam's attacks on low-price cigarettes, but Forest, the smokers' lobby group, condemned them.
Forest's director, Simon Clark, said a reduction in the number of cigarettes people could legally bring in would be "illiberal and impractical" and would "almost certainly see a return to the bad old days when ordinary cross-Channel shoppers found themselves routinely harassed and intimidated by over-zealous Customs officers".
Sir Liam, in a wide-ranging review, criticised some hospitals for failing to act speedily and comprehensively to safety alerts demanding changes in equipment and procedures. NHS trusts that have claimed to have complied with the rules had been found subsequently not to have done so.
"The NHS has not yet fully embraced the culture of patient safety," he said, adding that managers and other staff were "not wilfully bad people".
Sir Liam also called for the debate on school meals to spread to catering in hospitals, prisons, the armed forces and meals-on-wheels. The public sector as a whole served more than 1.8bn meals a year. "They need to be healthier and more nutritionally balanced. The public sector should use its huge financial muscle to improve the nation's health."
National standards were also required to improve the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a respiratory illness which killed 30,000 Britons each year.
The report showed continuing concern about strains of E coli infections resistant to antibiotics that have caused several deaths and much severe illness through urinary tract infections and blood poisoning.

Nonetheless, with the blessing of this vocal minority, this is exactly what cigarettes giant Philip Morris intends to do in August.

This summer Philip Morris will introduce a cigarettes product called snus (pronounced, snoose) in the Dallas/Fort Worth area to test market its appeal to adult smokers. And some cigarettes experts are applauding this effort. Snus is a form of cigarettes developed in Sweden that seems to be less risky than American smokeless cigarettes products such as moist snuff (like Skoal), chewing cigarettes (like Red Man) or dried, powdered snuff (Dental, Tube Rose, Peach and other brands). Using snus for smoking cessation falls under the banner of "harm reduction," and has some support in the field of cigarettes control. Such an approach seems appealing: By reducing a smoker's dependence on cigarettes, switching to smokeless cigarettes (particularly snus) potentially reduces the risk for a whole host of smoking-related illnesses. Harm reduction has been used successfully in other addictions: methadone administration for heroin addicts, for example, or clean needle exchanges for injecting drug users. But residual cigarettes-related health risks remain when a smoker quits by using smokeless cigarettes, and these risks are not trivial when compared to quitting totally. Less Risk Is Still RiskAlthough smokeless cigarettes is much less risky than cigarettes, nonetheless mouth cancer and poor oral health definitely occur. There are also studies among large populations that show cardiovascular disease and even death by using this product. Overall, in terms of cancer, the risk of developing mouth cancer drops from an eight-fold increased risk to a 1.2-fold increase risk when switching from cigarettes to smokeless cigarettes. This is an impressive drop, but still leaves a 20 percent increase in mouth cancer risk compared to the use of no cigarettes at all.'Snus' Less Harmful Than Cigarettes, but Still Harmful Smokeless cigarettes use also seems to be associated with increased blood pressure. Among 135 middle-aged healthy volunteers, smokeless cigarettes users had on average a five-point elevation in blood pressure measured throughout the day. Another large study among over 30,000 construction workers showed that smokeless cigarettes users were nearly two times more likely to have higher blood pressures than noncigarettes users. This study was not without limitations, but is plausible in the light of other evidence. Other studies, while not definitive, indicate that smokeless cigarettes users may have higher rates of diabetes and abnormal cholesterol levels. Furthermore, among youth, use of smokeless cigarettes correlates with other risky behaviors such as alcohol and marijuana use, higher rates of carrying weapons, increased physical fighting, and sexual activity without condom use. Nonetheless, some leading cigarettes control advocates have championed smokeless cigarettes as a means of kicking the smoking habit. To an extent, they do have a point: Stopping smoking, even by switching to smokeless cigarettes, would greatly reduce the burden of cigarettes-related illnesses in the United States. They also argue that many smokers have already made the switch to smokeless cigarettes and remain smoke-free -- particularly men. But there are several reasons why, in the opinion of other well-known cigarettes researchers, this approach is flawed. First of all, the smoking cessation drugs currently on the market such as nicotine gum, patches, Zyban or Chantix are very safe and carry no cancer risks. Most devastatingly, however, there are no randomized, double-blinded placebo controlled clinical trials that compare the success of quitting smoking by using smokeless cigarettes versus using a placebo. The name of this type of study design is a mouthful, but basically boils down to a totally unbiased study. Such clinical trials are the gold standard in terms of determining if a given treatment actually works. on as even mediocre evidence to support the use of snus as a means of smoking cessation. Many of the other studies that these researchers cite are surveys of people who had never used cigarettes. While these studies may suggest an association between snus use and smoking cessation, in the scientific community a survey like this is a very poor method for determining a treatment's success. Furthermore, virtually all of the harm reduction studies predate the introduction of the extremely safe and exciting new drug Chantix (varenicline), which shows the most promise of any smoking cessation drug on the market. Nor do the harm reduction experts acknowledge that combination therapy -- using the nicotine gum or patch or both) combined with, say, Zyban (bupropion) -- can be quite powerful and safe. None of these pharmaceutical approaches has cancer-causing potential; smokeless cigarettes on the other hand increases the risk for cancer by at least 20 percent, and also is associated with poor oral health. A Dangerous AlternativeIt is in this context that cigarette maker Philip Morris has announced its new campaign to introduce snus. Starting in August, this company will test market Marlboro Snus in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. According to Philip Morris' Web site, "Marlboro Snus is a smokeless cigarettes pouch product designed especially for adult smokers in the U.S." With harm reduction in mind, Philip Morris states, "We are introducing this product into the Dallas/Fort Worth area to understand adult smoker acceptance." Of course, even Philip Morris on its Web site admits the obvious: smokeless cigarettes carries risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease and other oral diseases, can cause adverse birth outcomes among pregnant women, and is not a safe alternative to smoking. Taken together, all of the evidence points toward this unambiguous public health message: cigarettes use in any form must stop. With new, safe and effective smoking cessation aids on the market -- and more being currently studied -- it seems unethical to promote smokeless cigarettes as a means to quit smoking. Even in the name of harm reduction.
Dr. John Spangler is director of cigarettes-intervention programs and a professor of family medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

How To Smoke On The Road: Finding A Smoker-Friendly Airport

In the past fifteen years, the premium-cigar industry found itself in rebound. After decades of competition from cigarettes, the aging of its customer base, and overall consumer trends indicating a decline in smoking in general (we'll return to this in a moment), many observers figured cigars were done for. Then came 1992. The fourth quarter of that year showed some of the first industry growth in years, and this trend metastasized in coming years. By 1996, the industry was seeing 36 percent first-quarter growth.
But cigars returned at an ironic time. High-profile class-action suits, controversy over Joe Camel, and decreasing general consumer interest in smoking, among other things, led to an increase in smoking bans in public buildings, offices, and, eventually, whole cities. Airports helped lead the trend; among the major travel hubs where you're no longer welcome to light up are Los Angeles' LAX and Dallas-Fort Worth.
All of which raises a question - if you're a smoker going on vacation, what are your options?
Thankfully, the web site SmokingSection has, aggregating information sent in by smoking readers, listed and ranked over fifty major airports by their friendliness to smokers. Their rankings, like those of your high-school English teacher, run from A to E: A for airports where you can smoke by the waiting gate; E for airports where you not only can't smoke indoors, but the nearest smoker-friendly outside areas require a small trip in themselves (and may be unacceptably far from takeoff gates).
So where should you travel if you want to smoke, not only when you reach your destination but on the way there? Well, the answer seems to be: Texas. The Lone Star State offers the only A-ranked airport out of the dozens surveyed. That's Dallas Love Field, a smallish airport that receives only flights from major area transport provider Southwest Airlines. Frequently-flying cigar smokers who live in that wildcatter's capital should feel lucky.
Texas offers us a B airport as well - these are the places where you can't smoke near the gates, but that do offer smoker-friendly bars, restaurants, and/or lounges nearby. That would be at Lubbock - the same city from which Buddy Holly hailed. (But don't take that as a bad omen.) Other southern and southwestern states are well-represented among the B airports, which makes sense, given the close links between many of these states and the history of the tobacco industry. Restaurants at New Mexico's Albuquerque Airport, as well as at airports in Charlotte, North Carolina; Charleston, West Virginia; Phoenix, Arizona; Tucson, Arizona; Norfolk, Virginia; and - appropriately enough - Richmond, Virginia, that famous tobacco town. (Where would American smoking be without Virginia?)
Orange County, California, offers an airport named for John Wayne, and appropriately the tobacco-loving Duke's namesake airport also offers B-class accommodations. So do the major regional airports in Tampa, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Detroit, Boston, and New York City (both JFK and LaGuardia), in several large cities in Ohio (Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus and Dayton), in Fairbanks, Alaska; Moline, Illinois; and Ontario, Canada. Visitors to our nation's capitol can also light up at a few of Washington, DC's airport bars, though these are apparently hard to find.
It's a good thing that the weather in Texas and California is generally fairly clement, because some major airports in both of these states ban all indoor smoking - but outdoor smoking areas are available at a conveniently close distance. The aforementioned Dallas-Fort Worth and LAX both disallow indoor smoking, which accounts for their C rating, but they do invite smoking customers to step outside. The Worcester, Massachusetts airport has a similar arrangement. (Enjoy that brisk Massachusetts air.) These are the C-class airports.
After that it gets dicier. Quite a few major American airports seem to fall into the D or E classes, with smoking accommodations within the airport that require a bit of a hike, or (in the case of the E-class airports) nothing at all but outside areas located far from gates. Many D airports offer those ubiquitous glass lounges where smokers are invited to light up and take a load off; these include Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Las Vegas (McCarran), and Atlanta (Hartfield). Happy hunting!

Has The Price Of Cigarettes Made You Want To Quit

With the economy the way it is now days, there are a many people that wish they would have given up smoking once and for all a long time ago. Now that the price of a pack of cigarettes is reaching nearly five dollars a pack and even more in many places, it is a good time to seriously start thinking about giving them up. No matter what age you are, unless you are just plain wealthy, a heavy smoker these days can cost as much as 20 % of a pay check of average working men and women in the United States who make minimum wage or a little more.

Going back just only a few years ago, cigarette prices were around two dollars a pack, but with the new taxes being applied, they are now doubled in price. If you are a smoker and think that is bad, the states are beginning to apply their own tax on top of the one the government just put in place. This is similar to the gasoline issue in that it keeps going up, but we need gasoline to travel, we do not need cigarettes at all. Spend nothing on cigarettes and you will have plenty left to pay for that expensive fuel.

Finally, the cost of gasoline has peaked for the time being and came back down. Now you can at least make it to work without taking out a loan to get there. But smokers out there need to get ready to see the price of cigarettes be the back up for a tax revenue increase. Even though the extreme taxing of cigarettes might not be something that everyone, especially smokers, agree with, because they might actually go up in price so much that it will force some people to have to quit, but is that such a bad thing in itself?

When you are addicted to nicotine and what ever the thousands of chemicals are that go in the processing of cigarettes, it is similar to being an addict hooked on some of the harder drugs like heroine or methamphetamine. It is almost as difficult for some to stop smoking as it is for these other drug users to kick their habits. What is amazing to some people is that cigarettes are killers just like any of these other drugs, yet they are still legal for adults to buy. What many people do not understand about the government is how they determine that it is perfectly alright to tax one drug like cigarettes to death, and outlaw others. There is the argument that some drugs like methamphetamine or heroine alters the personality of the user and this is true. But have you ever seen a smoker who is really addicted to cigarettes when they can not get one? That also can be a very ugly picture.