Woman asked for ID pulls out marijuana

Police say they asked a 29-year-old woman for identification. They say she pulled out a bag of marijuana. They threw her in jail.
Clearwater police say the woman was sitting in a car in a hotel parking lot at 3 a.m. Saturday when an officer approached and asked what she was doing. She told them she was talking to her boyfriend and thinking about renting a room.
The officer asked for her ID card and police say she went into her purse and pulled out the card along with a bag of pot, which she quickly tried to hide.
The officer saw it, however, and searched her purse. Police say it contained painkillers and sedatives. She was arrested on drug charges.
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Tobacco vends flourish in prohibited areas

Sale and consumption of tobacco may be banned within 100 yards of premises of educational institutes, but a look around the cityscape reveals an alarming number of vendors selling cigarettes and other tobacco products within the restricted zone outside schools and colleges across Noida.

Most of the vends have been found to be operating outside educational institutes in sectors 12, 22, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 39 and 126. A number of kiosks have been set up in the vicinity of many hospitals. "Under the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003, selling tobacco products within 100 yards of school and college premises as well as medical institutions is prohibited," said a senior officer of the district administration. Moreover, schools and colleges are supposed to inform of any violation, but authorities allege they hardly receive any complaints.

The administration also claims that on its part they have been carrying out various campaigns to discourage tobacco use amongst youth. The most recent one has been setting up of an 'anti-smoking cell' that will penalize those who have a habit of smoking in public places. "Schools should make sure there are no shops within 100 yards of the their premises. School heads are supposed to inform authorities if shops near the school are found selling cigarettes," said a member of the district 'anti-smoking cell'. Local residents say that when they complain the kiosks are removed, but after a few days they come back. "Vendors close to educational institutions need to stop selling tobacco products, failing which they need to be taken to task very strictly," said a concerned parent residing in sector 17.

Australia plans cigarette brand ban

Australia is a step closer to becoming the first nation to introduce plain packaging for cigarettes.

Two bills have been passed by Parliament in the lower house, and are now heading to the upper house. If they receive smooth passage, as is expected, it will pave the way for a ban on tobacco companies using product branding.

The overall aim is to reduce smoking rates, which cost the country 31.5 billion Australian dollars (£20.3 billion) annually in healthcare and lost productivity costs.

Under the proposals, planned to be introduced next year, all cigarette packages in Australia will be free of logos. Instead, the brand name will be printed in a plain font.

All packets would also be the same colour, olive green, with graphic health warnings included.

Health minister Nicola Roxon said the move is a "courageous first step" by Parliament.

Tobacco companies have reacted angrily to the plans. Ms Roxon said the companies would have to live with it, while health charities pointed out that packs are designed to be attractive and communicate the "personality" of a brand, and that just as designer products are social cues to style, status, values and character, cigarettes can be "badge products".

"There isn't any safe amount of tobacco that you can smoke. It will kill you eventually and we obviously want to make sure that that message is heard loud and clear," said Ms Roxon.

Robin Hewings, Cancer Research UK's tobacco control policy manager, welcomed the news.

"It is great news that all Australian political parties have voted for cigarettes to be put in plain packs," he said.

"The current packs are attractive to teenagers unlike new unbranded packaging in a standard colour with prominent health warnings. The Government is planning to consult on plain packaging for the UK so we should follow Australia's lead as soon as possible."

‘Tobacco ads lure teens by linking smoking with sports’

Tobacco manufacturers are using a variety of advertising methods to lure young schoolchildren and teenagers into taking up smoking, according to Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeah, Minister of Health. This includes trying to associate smoking with sports and good times, he added.
Al-Rabeah said tobacco advertisers often resort to selling a lifestyle and image to market their products. He said advertisements geared toward young women focus on ideas of being liberated and in control, while at the same time taking advantage of insecurities over body image.
He said other advertisers have been known to use statistics and “pseudo-science” to create the impression that smoking is safe, and to enhance the credibility of their products. Also, tobacco advertisements feed the misconception that every smoker has lots of fun while doing it. Images of happy smokers in restaurants and in the “great outdoors” reinforce the connection between smoking and good times.
Al-Rabeah said most cigarette companies have long used pictures of healthy pursuits in cigarette advertisements to foster smoking as an acceptable, healthy lifestyle. These advertisements want consumers to associate smoking with outdoor sports and recreational activities such as tennis, bicycling and horseback riding.
He said all studies have proven that smoking causes a great deal of damage to women’s beauty. Studies on the effects of nicotine shows that smoking ages skin faster than anything else apart from the sun.
He said smoking affects women worse than men. The nicotine in cigarettes is more addictive for women and they have much greater difficulty quitting than men as a result. Moreover women smokers have twice the additional risk of heart attacks, strokes and lung cancer than men who smoke.
Al-Rabeah said smoking exerts such a noticeable effect on the skin that it is often possible to detect whether or not a person is a smoker simply by looking at his or her face. Smokers have more wrinkles and their skin tends to have a grayish pallor compared to non-smokers.
A questionnaire sent to 600 female university students in different parts of the Kingdom showed that half of them do not want to marry a smoker. A total of 20 percent said they would require their prospective husbands to quit before agreeing to marry.

Employers tie lower health plan premiums to tobacco screening

Chris Evans wants to qualify for a health plan with a lower deductible next year.

So the St. Paul man spent five minutes this week with a toothbrush-shaped swab tucked between his cheek and gums as part of a tobacco-use screening test at United Hospital.

The swab collected a saliva sample that will be analyzed to see if the 35-year-old is a smoker. A negative test result means Evans and his wife could save as much as $600 annually in health plan costs, an incentive that leaves a better taste in his mouth than the screening test did.

"It tastes like Alka-Seltzer or something," said Evans, who receives health benefits through his wife's Allina health system job. "It's really weird."

This year, Allina joins a national trend of companies that are linking eligibility for lower-cost health plans to results from tobacco screening tests. While some laud such programs for discouraging tobacco use, there also are concerns about a slippery slope.

"Tobacco would be the one risk factor I wouldn't mind getting draconian about," said Paul Terry, chief executive officer of StayWell Health Management, a St. Paul-based company that develops health promotion programs for employers. "But if you take that approach with smokers, will it logically follow that it's OK to do the same for people who are obese or people at risk of developing diabetes? What about people who participate in risky sports?

"It's never-ending in terms of the possibilities."

Colo. board to review dissolving tobacco products

The Colorado Board of Health will hold a public hearing to discuss health concerns over new dissolvable tobacco products being test-marketed in the state.

Some of the new dissolvable tobacco products resemble breath mints and strips, health officials said Friday. Counties throughout Colorado have reported seeing the new products in local stores.
Board president Laura Davis says the hearing Aug. 17 will focus on the new product packaging and flavoring.

"The public health concern is that the composition, packaging and flavoring may have a particular appeal to kids," Davis said.

Davis said the board set a precedent for intervening in marketing and sales in 1989 when it adopted a resolution opposing the marketing and sale of new tobacco products.

The health department says Colorado research has shown children have easy access to tobacco products, with nearly half the children who purchased tobacco illegally telling officials they were not asked to show any proof of age.

Man in clown wig robs tobacco shop

A gunman wore a clown wig when he robbed a Portage Road smoke shop, police said.

A store clerk told police the man walked into Smokes For Less in the 1400 block of Portage Road Thursday morning at about 9:20 asking, “Is the old man here?”

The man - a black male in his 30s, 6 feet tall, wearing a red shirt, jeans, white tennis shoes and an orange, reddish curly wig - then walked behind the counter, police said.
When the clerk said nobody was allowed behind the counter, the man allegedly pulled out a silver pistol and ordered the clerk to open the cash register.

The gunman allegedly forced the clerk to hold a black plastic bag open while he took money out of the register and put it in the bag, then said, “Don’t move or I will you shoot you.”

He then grabbed three cartons of cigarettes and fled the store with the stolen loot, police said.