Should We Prohibit Cigarettes

US President Barack Obama’s doctor confirmed last month that the president no longer smokes. At the urging of his wife, Michelle Obama, the president first resolved to stop smoking cheapest Gauloises cigarettes in 2006, and has used nicotine replacement therapy to help him. If it took Obama, a man strong-willed enough to aspire to and achieve the US presidency, five years to kick the habit, it is not surprising that hundreds of millions of smokers find themselves unable to quit. Although smoking has fallen sharply in the US, from about 40% of the population in 1970 to only 20% today, the proportion of smokers stopped dropping around 2004. There are still 46 million American adult smokers, and smoking kills about 443,000 Americans each year. Worldwide, the number of cigarettes sold – six trillion a year, enough to reach the sun and back – is at an all-time high.

Unpleasant Smoking Outside Ban for Delawareans

As unpleasant as a ban on smoking outside state office buildings will be for some Delawareans, the twofold benefit is irresistible. The rise in residents' quitting a dangerous health habit directly linked to their tobacco addiction will continue. And the residual benefits of slowing the growth of a $1 billion health care tab -- almost 40 percent of the state's budget -- created by smoking workers, retirees and Medicaid recipients can be aggressively attacked. Making government campuses smoke-free removes the state's dubious role as an enabler of a habit that is both unhealthy and "will heavily burden future generations of taxpayers." As is the case with the pace of government innovation, this change precedes private industry moves to discourage smoking on or near the job, after Gov. Ruth Ann Minner pushed for Delaware's Clean Indoor Air Act of 2002. Since then the state's largest employers have slowly made their outdoor campuses smoke-free.

Cigarette Tax Hike in Massachusetts

Massachusetts smokers would pay more than $3 per pack in state taxes under a 50-cent hike in the state cigarette tax Gov. Deval Patrick plans to include in his budget next week, one of a series of revenue proposals that Patrick hopes will generate $260 million in new revenue for his spending plan. The increase in the cigarette tax would mark the second time in his tenure that Patrick has proposed raising the cigarette tax. In 2008, the Legislature approved a $1 increase. The tax on a pack of best quality Bond cigarettes would rise to $3.01 and the administration will also propose applying the new, higher tax rate to all other tobacco products sold in the state, according to Patrick’s budget chief. Under the governor’s plan, Massachusetts would have the fifth highest tobacco tax in the country, but still lower than New York and Rhode Island, said Administration and Finance Secretary Jay Gonzalez.

Hungary Tobacco Company Expands

Hungary’s tobacco industry grew almost 10% to HUF 500bn last year, industry insiders said at a press conference organised by the Hungarian Association of Tobacco Industry Investors (DBMSZ) on Thursday. Hungarian tobacco companies BAT Pecsi Dohanygyar, Continental Dohanyipari, Imperial Tobacco Magyarorszag and Universal Leaf Tobacco Magyarorszag established DBMSZ at the beginning of last December. This year tobacco sales are expected to fall because of the economy, the higher excise tax, expected stricter rule on tobacco sales and the expansion of the no-smoking policy in public places, they said. Making more public establishments smoke-free has resulted in as much as a 5% reduction in sales, judging from experience abroad, they added. An increase in the excise tax on tobacco products from the middle of this year is expected to raise retail prices by 20%, the association estimates. The association is pressing for a loosening of planned additional regulation of retail tobacco sales.

Albertans favour higher tobacco tax

Premier Alison Redford would have the support of most Albertans if she raises tobacco taxes in the upcoming provincial budget, according to a new poll. An online survey by Ipsos Reid, which polled 809 Albertans between Dec. 20 and 26, indicated that 70 per cent of the respondents support a $2-per-pack tax increase on best Ritm cigarettes if the proceeds are used to reduce tobacco use and promote healthy living. An increase in the cigarette tax could bring down smoking rates in Alberta, particularly among youths, said Candace Nykiforuk of the Alberta Policy Coalition of Chronic Disease Prevention and an assistant professor of public health at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.

Tobacco Free Laws in Montague, Public Smoking Ban

It's taken three years, but the shaky marriage between coffee and cigarettes was snuffed out here when town council Monday night approved a tobacco free policy for town owned places. The vote was unanimous and means that smoking is prohibited on all town owned properties from the hockey rink to the marina and waterfront. No more lighting up at the waterfront and watching the ducks or even standing outside the doors of the local rink. "People knew it was coming and it's about time,'' offered Scott Bell, the president of the committee operating the Wellness Centre. "We've had nothing but trouble with butts all over the place and people having trouble recognizing the need not to smoke at the entrances." Frank Morrison, with the Council for a Smoke Free P.E.I., said Montague has taken a long time to initiate a tobacco free policy, but the end result is welcomed. "We have about 25 per cent of Island communities still working on such policies," he said from the town hall gallery after the vote was taken. "So it is slowly becoming the norm. Smoking tobacco is a killer."

Revolution in Smoking Cigarettes

We are on the brink of a revolution in smoking which aims to eradicate the tax free Viceroy cigarette. Companies, including some of the biggest names in tobacco, are poised to launch a generation of devices that mimic the experience of smoking without the lethal effects. One, being developed by a 29-year-old Oxford graduate, has attracted the attention of BAT, one of the world's largest tobacco companies, which has bought the rights to market it. A profusion of electronic and other devices has appeared in the past year, thanks to a legal loophole which allows them to be sold freely so long as they do not make any health claim . An estimated 10 million "e-cigarettes", which are shaped to look like the real thing and simulate smoking by heating nicotine to produce an inhaled mist, have been sold worldwide.

60% of Underage Girls Smoke Cigs

About 60% of the 359 underage people caught smoking over the past 11 months in Penang were girls. Penang Health, Welfare, Caring Society and Environmental Committee chairman Phee Boon Poh said the figure was alarming. “We have to ensure that juveniles are not exposed to smoking,” he said. Phee warned that those who offer or sell cigarettes to underage children are liable to a minimum RM10,000 compound. “The local councils also have the right to withdraw their operating licence,” he added in an interview. As for those smoking in prohibited areas, Phee said they would be asked to give their particulars which would go into a database.

Adult Smoking Rates Could Fall

Smoking rates could fall below 20 per cent this year as thousands of Kiwis are expected to kick the habit. Quitline's Bruce Bassett said adult smoking rates could fall to the lowest levels since records began. He said 21 per cent of adult New Zealanders smoked and about 9000 people were expected to use Quitline services in January. "It's going to be really busy." He said more than a fifth of those who used quitting services stayed smoke-free. Leone Landells chose to stop smoking cheap Davidoff cigarettes just before the New Year brought a wave of resolutions and a price rise reaching more than $15 for popular packs of 20. "I feel so much better," she said. "I didn't realise how unwell I felt as a smoker." Landells, 53, said seeing her close friend's mother suffer from emphysema was the tipping point.