Smoking Banned at Suffolk County Parks, Beaches

The Suffolk County Legislature narrowly passed legislation June 19 to outlaw smoking in most areas of county parks and beaches. Local Democrats were divided on the bill which passed, 10-7. Legis. Steve Stern, D-Dix Hills, voted against the smoking ban. Legis. William Spencer, D-Huntngton, the bills sponser, and Huntington Station Democrat Lou D'Amaro voted for the resolution. "The smoking ban smoking because the effects of secondhand smoke pose a serious threat to the health, safety and welfare of citizens who do not smoke," according to the bill. Smoking will be allowed in designated park or beach smoking areas, golf courses and campgrounds owned or operated by the county, according to the resolution.

 No penalties or plan of enforcement is written into the law. Spencer told Patch last month, those caught smoking in banned areas may be asked to leave by park employees but no other penalties will be enforced, according to Spencer. According to the Legislature, many smokers discard their cigarettes on the ground when smoking outside, leaving unsightly litter which detracts from other residents’ enjoyment of county parks and beaches and creates an environmental hazard as toxins from the cigarettes break down and absorb into the surrounding land and water.

Cigarette Tax Proposal Gets Smoked

When we last checked in nearly three weeks ago, supporters and opponents of Proposition 29, which would increase a cigarette tax by $1 per pack, were probably tempted to chain smoke away the nerves from too-close-to-call election results. Now you can dump those ash trays, because the ballot initiative appears to be destined for defeat. Technically, as of the weekend, there were still some 100,000 uncounted ballots.

But an Associated Press analysis concluded that the contest was already decided, and on Friday the "Yes on 29" campaign conceded defeat. So, for tobacco companies, it was $47 million well spent. To put that amount in perspective, the San Jose Mercury News notes that "Jerry Brown spent about $36 million in his successful 2010 bid to become governor of California. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and his allies spent $47 million to beat back his recall challenge on June 5." While the vote see-sawed soon after the polls closed on June 5, the Nays have had a tight but steady lead since. The tally going into the weekend was 50.3 against and 49.7 in favor.

The difference, as of last count, was about 28,000 votes. Many of the final uncounted ballots, though, are from areas that opposed the measure. As a result, California's cigarette tax will remain at 87 cents, the 19th cheapest in the country. The tax would have bumped it up to $1.87, making it the 36th cheapest. The revenue would have brought in around $800 million a year to cancer research and smoking prevention programs. Opponents of the measure argued that none of the money is going toward closing the state's budget deficit, that none of the money is going toward cancer treatment, and that the money can be spent outside California.

 In March, a Public Policy Institute of California poll showed that more than two-thirds of voters supported the proposal. Over the next two months, as each side mounted its ad campaign, the votes swung the other way. By May, support for Prop. 29 had dropped to just over 50 percent. The "Yes on 29" campaign raised $11 million, including contributions from Lance Armstrong and NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg. "No on 29" raised $47 million , including more than $20 million from Philip Morris and more than $10 million from R.J. Reynolds.

Health officials promote smoking-cessation classes as new tobacco rules begin Read more: The Herald-Sun - Health officials promote smoking cessation classes as new tobacco rules begin

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Durham County Health Department officials hope more smokers will sign up for classes to help them stop smoking, as a new ordinance that puts more outdoor areas off limits to tobacco use goes into effect this summer. Starting Aug. 1, outdoor smoking will be prohibited on city and county grounds, including city and county parks and trails, bus stops, the Durham train station, city and county sidewalks and any public schools and hospitals.

 The new restrictions make this a particularly good time to kick the cigarette habit, according to Joanie Ross, a health education specialist with the Durham County Health Department. Ross, who teaches classes on how to quit, struggled with smoking for years before she finally gave it up for good. “I felt like I was in prison with it,” Ross, 60, said. “I taught aerobics for 24 years, and I couldn’t wait to light up a cigarette after class.

It was such a contradiction, and it just became too much. And I knew I had to quit, and so I did.” She didn’t succeed the first time, but eventually won the victory over tobacco about 15 years ago. “There are still times when I would like to have a cigarette, and I just kind of laugh to myself and say it’s ridiculous to even think that,” she said. The next four-week session of classes, called Fresh Start, begins July 12. They’re held one hour a week, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursdays through Aug. 2. Read more: The Herald-Sun - Health officials promote smoking cessation classes as new tobacco rules begin

Potter OKs policy on smoking areas

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Smokers will soon have to find a designated area if they want to light up a cigarette on Potter County property. County commissioners voted 3-2 Monday to restrict smoking at county buildings to designated areas, excluding leased property such as the Tri-State Fairgrounds and Amarillo National Bank Sox Stadium. People will be allowed to smoke in a private vehicle on county property. “When it starts to affect the other person, then you have to look at doing something different, and I think that’s where we are,” Commissioner Joe Kirkwood said.

“People certainly have the right to smoke, but if it is affecting other people and they are breathing it or it’s getting on their clothes, then I think we have to do it.” The policy will take effect Aug. 1. County officials must identify smoking areas and install signage, as well as decide the penalties for smoking in a nondesignated area. Commissioners discussed a variety of options Monday, including a countywide smoking ban and restrictions on other tobacco products. Commissioner H.R. Kelly voted against the measure. He said he would prefer a full smoking ban on all county property. “When you ban it on county property there are no other issues,” Kelly said. Commissioner Mercy Murguia said she likes the policy because it gives authorities a realistic chance to enforce the law. “I think it’s a nice hybrid to be able to restrict it, but still have a designated location for those smokers,” Murguia said. “That gives us more leverage to actually enforce the policy.”

 The commissioners had voted 3-2 June 11 to ban tobacco use on county property after a measure to designate outdoor smoking areas failed. However, the measure was not posted on the agenda so it was withdrawn for later consideration. In other business Monday, the commission kept in place a ban on certain aerial fireworks. The ban prohibits the sale or use of fireworks classified as “skyrockets with sticks” and “missiles with fins” under state law, while small fireworks and Class B explosives are allowed in unincorporated areas of the county. A group of fireworks dealers issued a news release June 13 stating its position that the partial fireworks ban is illegal because the Texas Forest Service had not declared Potter County to be in extreme drought conditions.

 Murguia said the county chose to keep the ban because the Texas Forest Service continues to classify the county as an area with high fire danger. “I feel very comfortable with our decision to move forward with the ban,” she said. The ban only affects the parts of Potter County outside Amarillo because the city has ordinances that ban the use of fireworks. Nobody from the fireworks dealers association spoke at Monday’s commission meeting. There is no fireworks ban in effect in Randall County. Potter County Fire Chief Richard Lake said the county usually has more fire problems than elsewhere because it traditionally doesn’t receive as much rainfall as other Texas Panhandle counties. “Pretty much everything that happens firewise is going to happen with us and spread from there,” Lake said.

“Historically, we usually begin an active fire season and are usually the last ones to recover from it.” The U.S. Drought Monitor map shows the county in severe drought based on data collected Tuesday. The National Weather Service reported Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport has received 7.08 inches of precipitation since Jan. 1. That’s 1.98 inches below normal. During last year’s record drought, the airport had recorded just 0.68 of an inch of precipitation by this time a year ago.

Brownsville Looking to Tighten Up on Smoking Ban

They’re hoping to tighten up on the smoking ban ordinance here in Brownsville. “We had a lot of feedback from the public saying the current ordinance is not working, and this was a direct action because of the people’s feedback that the current ordinance was not effective,” says Brownsville’s City Health Director, Art Rodriguez. Under the current ordinance, several exemptions allow businesses to allow patrons and employees to smoke; exemptions that have been too tough for city code enforcement officers and the law to actually enforce.

So now they’re hoping to make some changes. “No smoking, period,” says Rodriguez. City officials say it’s all tied into the betterment of the city, specifically the health of the people who live here. “Well the latest US General Surgeons report in 2006 again reiterated the importance of second hand smoke elimination, especially in the workplace and public spaces that are enclosed,“ says Rodriguez. We caught up with a few people out on the streets who seem to be in support of the stricter law.

 “It’s not good. Smoking in a restraint and public places is bad,” says a Brownsville resident. “it’s not good, it damages your lungs and the environment,” says a Matamoros resident the frequents Brownsville. “it’s good for your health, for a clean city, no more smoke,” says a man in favor of the stricter smoking ban. Now those who want to light up a cigarette still have the right to do so, but will need to stay in designated areas. If a person chooses to smoke they have to be at least twenty feet away from the businesses doors.

 If the “no smoking” amendment passes it will take effect 60 days from approval. City officials hope to influence the rest of the county and other valley cities to follows suit in hopes of reducing second hand smoke related illnesses. City council votes on the issue at the July 3rd city council meeting. Two readings and passages are required before this ordinance can be amended.

Shellharbour Council vote for beach smoking ban

Smokers wanting to light up on Shellharbour beaches could soon face a blanket ban. Shellharbour City Council last night unanimoulsy endorsed a new smoking ban on all beaches and in the city’s alfresco dining areas, adding to its existing ban at council sports grounds and near children’s playgrounds. The new policy will be placed on public exhibition for submissions before it is adopted. It would make Shellharbour the first Illawarra council to ban smoking on its beaches.

The expanded policy was designed to protect residents against second hand smoke, the council heard. A report to the council said in addition to the health impacts of smoking, cigarette butts also presented a ‘‘huge threat’’ to waterways, wildlife and the cleanliness of the city’s beaches. While the council could not amend current agreements regarding alfresco dining, it could add the no smoking requirement to any new agreements or when existing agreements were renewed, the report said. "I think the community have to be responsible in their behaviour and that smokers have got a right to smoke but that shouldn't be forced on to non-smokers through passive smoking," deputy mayor Marianne Saliba said.

City outcomes director Carey McIntyre said the experience of other areas with similar policies was that they were "largely self-policing". However, the council would bear the cost if council rangers were required to police the ban. Wollongong and Kiama councils also have some anti-smoking measures in place. At its meeting last night, Kiama council counsidered a proposed ban in all public areas in the town’s main streets. The matter was passed on to a health committee. More than half of NSW councils have some sort of outdoors anti-smoking policy, the majority of which cover playgrounds and sports fields, a 2011 Heart Foundation survey found.

The survey showed alfresco dining areas were smoke-free in 30 councils, but only 15 had bans at beaches. Heart Foundation regional health coordinator Andy Mark yesterday welcomed Shellharbour’s proposed stand. ‘‘Alfresco is probably one of the more important areas from a point of exposure to other people’s second hand smoke because we have a number of people in that location, often a fairly crowded spot,’’ he said. The state government has introduced legislation to ban smoking in playgrounds, public sports grounds, swimming pools, public transport stops and the entrances to public buildings.

County prepares for no-smoking law

Complying with the state's new smoking ban, which takes effect July 1, could prove both cumbersome and costly for local municipalities and businesses. The law, which bans smoking in public, requires signs be posted at all entrances to businesses and public buildings. Smoking is prohibited within eight feet of those structures and the signage must carry specific wording, county attorney Tom Scifres told the board of commissioners at their meeting Tuesday.

 The county will be required to post those no smoking signs at the courthouse, county government building, highway department, detention center, the Anson Street building and the fairgrounds. The latter alone will require numerous signs since there are so many buildings at the fairgrounds, most with several entrances. The state legislature passed the no-smoking law during its last session, but provided some big exceptions. One being the casino industry and another being bars and taverns (except bars inside a business such as a bowling alley, where smoking will be banned). Hoosiers may also continue to smoke in private clubs, such as American Legion or VFW halls.

However, smoking must be confined to designated rooms with separate ventilation systems. The law also requires the removal of all ash trays from places were smoking is banned and states that employers are required to ask a person smoking in a public place to refrain from doing so and to remove any person who fails to stop smoking. A person who smokes in a non-smoking area commits a Class B infraction and a Class A infraction if they have at least three prior violations. An employer that fails to comply with its obligations also commits a Class B infraction, unless the employer has committed at least three prior violations, in which case it is a Class A infraction.

The penalty for a Class B infraction is a fine of up to $1,000 and up to $10,000 for a Class A infraction. There are no "smoking police" per se, nor any funding for enforcement. The Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission is responsible for enforcing the law, which has been widely criticized due to the many exemptions, confusing regulations and for being unfair. Indiana became the 40th state to ban smoking in most or all public places when Gov. Mitch Daniels signed the bill into law March 19.

Company Working To Recycle Cigarette Butts Into Plastic

A Dublin man developed a patented process of recycling cigarette butts into plastic, 10TV’s Josh Poland reported on Friday. Blake Burich’s Dublin garage is filled with cigarette butts collected from a number of partnerships, including Kick Butt Columbus. A cigarette butt flicked onto his car windshield in 2003 prompted Burich to found his company, InnovaGreen Systems. “I was driving down the highway and somebody flicked a cigarette butt out their window, and it bounced off my windshield and (I) just got to thinking, there’s something we can do about that,” Burich said.

 The process to change the butts into plastic surprises many, Poland reported. “A lot of times, you give people a piece of plastic and they’re like, ‘No way. That’s not cigarettes,’” Burich said. According to Burich, the plastic that he creates can have a number of uses. “Insulation products, sound deadening, paint additives, water proofing, rust proofing,” Burich said. Burich also created cigarette butt receptacles -- made from cigarette butts. “Our intention is to get them before they hit the ground,” Burich said.

 The Parsons Avenue Merchants Association used grant money last year to purchase 10 InnovaGreen cigarette butt receptacles. Business owners said that the receptacles are helping to cut back on cigarette litter, Poland reported. “Before we put these receptacles out, after a rainstorm, I could have 10 to 20 cigarette butts washed up on my sidewalk and now I get very few,” said Jeff Knoll, owner of The Graphic Touch.

 Burich said that he hoped to grow his business by shrinking cigarette litter. “Let’s stop trashing our environment,” Burich said. According to Burich, a number of partnerships have allowed him to recycle more than 1 million cigarette butts since 2003. He plans to open a cigarette butt recycling facility in Groveport in July.

Customs Nets Over Half a Million Contraband Cigarettes in May

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May was a busy month for the Tax and Customs Board - 846 of its 1,398 inspections at the borders netted contraband, while on roads, 19 violations were found in 677 stops. A total of 607,011 cigarettes and 145 litters of fuel was confiscated. The figure for ethanol, measured in pure alcohol, was 1,134 liters.

 The authority said it found 82 units of "goods in violation of intellectual property," and 17.15 kilograms of narcotics. The biggest hauls typically involved 10,000 to 30,000 cigarettes with Russian or Belarusian tax stamps hidden in spare tires or behind bulkheads in trucks. The biggest haul came on May 8, when customs officials found 42,800 cigarettes with Belarusian tax stamps during a routine stop of a passenger vehicle.

Quinn signs Medicaid cuts, cigarette tax

A $1.6 billion Medicaid spending cut that Gov. Pat Quinn signed into law Thursday takes a bite out of a relatively generous program and will leave the state with a level of services already familiar elsewhere in the nation. The new cuts to the health care safety-net program eliminate extras like chiropractic and dental care for adults. Many other states dumped or limited these extras in the wake of the recession — or never offered them at all. More than 25,000 Illinois working parents will be thrown off the program, but even that change can't be viewed as extraordinary, policy experts said, because Illinois historically has been more generous than most other states, covering parents at higher income levels.

 In other words, Illinois' actions are "very consistent with what you've seen in other states. In Illinois, it's being all done all at once, in a way that may scare people," said Matt Salo of the National Association of Medicaid Directors. For Illinois' Democratic governor, Medicaid emerged this year as a top legislative priority. The five bills that Quinn signed Thursday totaled $2.7 billion in cuts and taxes and were designed to repair a long-term deficit in the state's Medicaid program. Most changes start July 1, the beginning of the state's fiscal year. The multilayered legislation includes a tax increase on cigarettes of $1 per pack. "One of our most important missions in Springfield this year was to save Medicaid from the brink of collapse," Gov. Quinn said in a statement. "I applaud the members of our working group and of the General Assembly, who worked together in a bipartisan manner to tackle a grave crisis." 

Across the country, enrollment in Medicaid, the federal-state health program for the poor and disabled, swelled during the recession, driving up costs as states' revenue growth slowed. This year, continuing high unemployment spurred further increases in overall U.S. states' Medicaid spending compared to last year. All during this time, many states cut benefits, added restrictions and reduced payments to providers. Illinois is playing catch-up. "Concerning Medicaid, we took epic action," House Speaker Michael Madigan told lawmakers on the final night of the legislative session. Powerful health care interests had to compromise to get the Medicaid bill passed, while Republicans supported a tax increase and Democrats supported cutting benefits to the poor. What got lost in the debate was the relative bounty of the Illinois program.

For 2.7 million poor and disabled Illinois residents, the cuts will create real hardships, magnified because they're happening all at once. But the changes bring Illinois in line with other financially struggling states as well as other states never known for lavish safety-net programs. For instance, Illinois will start requiring patients to pay $2 out of their own pockets for generic drugs and $3.60 for brand-name drugs. Most state Medicaid programs already require similar copayments for medications, according to reports published by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

 More examples:
 —Illinois will stop covering chiropractic services, joining 25 other states that don't provide the benefit.
 —The state will limit eyeglasses for adults to one pair every two years. Twenty-two other states already have similar or more restrictive limits on eyeglasses. Eight states don't cover eyeglasses at all.
 —Adult dental care will cease, except for emergencies such as tooth extractions. Illinois joins 16 other states that either don't cover regular adult dental care or have put strict limits on it.
 —Podiatry will be covered only for patients with diabetes. Eight states don't cover podiatry at all and another 33 states strictly limit coverage. "You'd be hard-pressed to find any state that hasn't already looked at adult dental, podiatry and chiropractic," Salo said. "These are the first things to go in any state."
 —Illinois will cut payments to some hospitals and nursing homes. Last year, it was one of only six states that didn't cut provider payments.
 —At its peak, the Illinois Family Care program, a favorite of imprisoned former governor Rod Blagojevich, covered parents with incomes up to 400 percent of the federal poverty guidelines, or $60,500 for a two-person household. Few other states were as generous. After July 1, Illinois will cover the neediest parents with household incomes up to 133 percent of federal poverty guidelines, or about $20,100 for a two-person family.

Study shows smoking costs Indiana billions

As Indiana prepares for a statewide smoking ban(more: http://www.freetobacco.info/world-tobacco-news/indianapolis-smoking-ban-vote-is-tonight/) on July 1, a new study from Ball State University finds that 21.2 percent of Hoosiers admit to regularly lighting up a cigarette, a habit costing the state nearly $2.6 billion in productivity losses and $2.2 billion in health care costs each year. “Burden of Smoking among Adults in Indiana,” a report by Ball State's Global Health Institute based on 2010 data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), ranks the state 42nd worst in terms of percentage of population among the 50 states and District of Columbia. 

Only eight states have higher smoking rates than Indiana. “We have known for decades that smoking is counterproductive for our health and plays a major role for the spiraling health care costs facing both employees and their employers," Kerry Anne McGeary, GHI director and Phyllis A. Miller professor of health economics, said in a press release from Ball State. “When combined with our reports on obesity and asthma, this report demonstrates that on average Hoosiers have health issues and engage in behaviors that put them at risk for chronic conditions."

She pointed out that on average, about 9,700 deaths per year in Indiana are attributable to smoking while the habit is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, accounting for one in five deaths or about 443,000 each year. "Smoking causes cancer, heart disease, stroke and lung disease, ailments that are preventable simply by not lighting up in the first place,” McGeary. “Smoking kills half of its users. About one person dies every six seconds due to tobacco. This data sends a clear message to smokers that they are involved in a very dangerous habit.”

Altria Raises Cigarette Prices

Altria Group Inc. MO +0.27% is pushing through a six-cent per-pack price increase across all the tobacco producer's brands, a move that has yet to be matched by rivals Reynolds American Inc. RAI +0.45% and Lorillard Inc. LO +1.69% The maker of Marlboro and L&M cigarettes will enact the price increase effective June 18. The move, a sign tobacco continues to command strong pricing power, is the first round of pricing action a producer has taken this year. All three players enacted two rounds of price increases last year, in July and December. The increases have come at a time when state excise taxes have been fairly muted and as some analysts note domestic cigarette retail(for more acces: http://www.tobacco-news.net/higher-exports-of-cigarettes-seen/) prices are far below global "income-adjusted" average levels. Analysts in recent weeks had been clamoring for the industry's players to increase prices, a move needed to help lift profitability as industry cigarette volumes continue to decline. Many expect Reynolds American and Lorillard will follow Altria's lead over the next few days as the trio often move on pricing within a small window. Representatives from Lorillard and Reynolds American told Dow Jones Newswires they haven't matched Altria's move, and wouldn't comment on future pricing plans. Wells Fargo WFC +1.31% analyst Bonnie Herzog had already incorporated Altria's expected price increase into the bank's earnings estimates. Ms. Herzog anticipates the industry's second-quarter cigarette volume will be strong as wholesalers have been building up their inventories the last few weeks in anticipation of price increases and due to the fact that inventory levels were low at the beginning of the quarter. If the price hike were to be matched evenly by Reynolds American and Lorillard, Citi analyst Vivien Azer said Reynolds would benefit more. Ms. Azer said a six-cent increase would represent a 1.6% lift for Reynolds American's Camel brand and 1.8% for Pall Mall, compared with 1.4% for Lorillard's Newport. For Altria's Marlboro, which represents 87% of the company's total volume, the increase works out to be a 1.5% hike, Ms. Azer said. That falls below a 2.4% increase last July but modestly ahead of December's increase.

Smokers shifting to ‘e-cigarette'

“Electronic cigarette,” a battery-powered device that uses heat to vaporise liquid nicotine stored in its internal reservoir, seems to have found a niche market among a section of smokers in Kerala. The plastic gadget resembles a cigarette and has a red light-emitting diode at one end to simulate the flickering and glowing tip of a real one while smoking. The device produces a bluish vapour that resembles cigarette smoke. It promises to give the feeling of smoking a cigarette sans the tar.

 In Thiruvananthapuram, the device, paradoxically dubbed “smoke-free health cigarette,” is sold for not less than Rs. 2,000 apiece in a locality known for its thriving contraband goods and pirated film market. Hollywood actor Johnny Depp has popularised the use of “e-cigarettes” among a section of urban youth through his 2010 movie Tourist. Traders say most of their customers buy the device for the stated purpose of “quitting smoking.”

 A businessman who prefers e-cigarette to regular ones, says it is “convenient.” “You don't need matchsticks and can light up anywhere. You can take a drag and drop it into your pocket without the fear of burning a hole in it. You can smoke it on trains and buses and in cinemas and escape from being pulled up. And it works out cheaper in the long run,” he says. Drug enforcers and Customs officials say e-cigarettes available in black market are made in China and sourced chiefly from the Gulf. The products carry no statutory anti-tobacco health warning scrolls on them. In fact, they are sold in covers, the writing on which claims that “e-cigarette is good for health.”

 Law enforcers say the product, sold as a packaged commodity in electronic goods and lifestyle shops, does not carry the maximum retail price or the name and address of the producer or packer. Drug enforcers say the health effects of e-cigarettes are yet to be quantified. The Supreme Court ban on orally ingested tobacco products and the “exorbitant” price of prohibitively taxed Indian cigarettes seems to have pushed the sale of e-cigarettes. A schoolteacher says e-cigarettes are steadily becoming a fad among well-heeled higher secondary and college students. “It is first a curiosity and soon a habit.

Use of e-cigarette can lead impressionable teenagers to more serious addictions,” he notes. A drug enforcer says e-cigarettes can easily be tweaked to smoke marijuana, heroin or hashish. Officials say “Door-to-door,” an unauthorised courier system widely relied on by Gulf-based migrant workers to send packages home at less than air freight rates, is being used to smuggle such devices and regular contraband cigarettes into the State in trade quantities. Customs officials say the little-known foreign cigarette brands of dubious quality are retailed on the street at far lower prices than those of Indian-made cigarettes. The racket costs the government crores of rupees annually in terms of Customs and excise duty.

Senate passes $1 cigarette tax hike

Smokers are on the verge of having to dig deeper to support their habit after the Illinois Senate voted Tuesday to increase the state cigarette tax by $1 a pack. The measure, which passed the Senate 31-27, now moves to Gov. Pat Quinn, who intends to sign the legislation as part of a health-care package designed to reduce state spending on Medicaid. “I want to thank the members of the General Assembly who rose to the occasion to save our Medicaid system from the brink of collapse,” Quinn said in a prepared statement released after the vote.

 “Last week, members of both parties passed legislation to create the necessary savings to save Medicaid. Today the Senate joined the House to prevent children from smoking and allow the state to access vital federal funding to save our Medicaid system,” the governor said. Echoing Quinn, Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago) said during floor debate that the tax hike, separate of its necessity to stabilize the Medicaid program, will be a life saver. “I’d vote for it if it didn’t bring in a penny because of the idea that we’ll have 77,600 kids who won’t start smoking just because you push a green button or 59,000 adults who’ll quit,” Cullerton said, referring to the colored voting switch lawmakers use to vote “yes.” Quinn’s imminent signature on the measure means that total taxes on a pack of cigarettes sold in Chicago will total $5.67 and $4.99 in suburban Cook County. The cigarette tax component is part of the equation Quinn is using to come up with $2.7 billion for Medicaid through a mix of service cuts and the tax hike.

 Tuesday’s Senate vote, which followed House passage of the legislation on Friday, came on the strength of an entirely Democratic roll call. Republicans condemned the tax hike bill, sponsored by Sen. Jeff Schoenberg (D-Evanston), because of worries it will drive Illinois smokers across the border to buy lower-tax cigarettes on most sides of the state. The price difference would be most pronounced along the Missouri border, where cigarettes would be $1.81 less per pack than Illinois. Indiana cigarettes would be taxed at a rate that is 98.5 cents per pack lower than Illinois. But even with an Illinois tax hike, Wisconsin taxes cigarettes at a higher rate: $2.52 per pack. GOP critics also said the emergence of the tax-hike legislation underscores how the Quinn administration and ruling Democrats at the Statehouse fell short to truly cut Medicaid, as the governor proposed, by $2.7 billion.

 “The promise was to come up with $2.7 billion in reductions in the cost of Medicaid. Perhaps this bill would’ve been put forward even if we’d have met that challenge. But the reality is we didn’t meet the challenge,” said Sen. Kyle McCarter (R-Lebanon), who voted against the plan. “We stopped short at $1.36 billion. We then went to a provider cut for $240 million,” McCarter continued, referring to rate reductions imposed against hospitals, nursing homes and other Medicaid providers. “We’re $1.1 billion short, and we choose to fill it with another tax increase.”

Prop. 29 and the cynical pitch for higher cigarette taxes

The late Sen. Russell B. Long (D-La.) memorably described his colleagues' approach to tax policy as "Don't tax you, don't tax me, tax that man behind the tree." Long didn't mean that as a compliment. But proponents of Proposition 29, an initiative that would raise taxes on cigarettes by $1 a pack, seem to think it's the way to help sell their ballot measure to Californians. A recent mailer by the Yes on 29 campaign proclaims, "Prop. 29 won't cost most Californians a penny. It's simple: If you don't smoke, you don't pay the tax." Right on!

Vote for this thing because it will deliver something you want but somebody else pays for! Don't tax you, don't tax me.... That's a pretty cynical approach, and it reflects a fundamental problem with the proposition. If the measure imposed a tax on smokers just for the sake of deterring kids from picking up the habit, that would be hard to argue with. It would also make sense to use the money raised to help cover the cost of treating Medi-Cal patients with smoking-related health problems. But only a fraction of the money raised by Proposition 29 would go to programs designed to reduce the incidence of smoking, and none of it would go to treating Californians with lung or heart problems. Instead, the bulk of the money would be used to fund a new research program into smoking-related ailments.

 As The Times' editorial board has argued, the effort to find more effective treatments for those diseases is a global one, and the federal government is heavily invested in it. But if more research is needed -- and it always is, and not just for those ailments -- it's not clear why California smokers should contribute more to that effort than those in any other state, or more than taxpayers generally. When there's a broad public interest in a federal program, the source of the funding should be broad as well. Smoking is a public health problem, and it's long past time for California to raise its cigarette tax as a deterrent to new smokers. That's why it's so unfortunate that Proposition 29's spending dictates are such bad policy.

Tobacco Addiction On the Up in the Country

The Minister of Health and Social Services, Dr Richard Kamwi, says his ministry is prepared to fight against entities that want to derail the implementation of the legislation on tobacco control in the country. Speaking in Rundu last week during the commemoration of World No Tobacco Day, Kamwi said many Namibians continue to become dependent on the harmful substance. A survey conducted by the health ministry in 2009, shockingly revealed that 17 percent of school-going children between the ages of 10 and 12 had experienced smoking.

 This year's theme for World No Tobacco day was "Tobacco industry interference' - with a slogan, 'Tobacco industry tactics to undermine tobacco control must be exposed and resisted.' Kamwi said it is disappointing to note that after parliament passed the Tobacco Products Control Act, which was signed by the President two years ago, the British American Tobacco Industry wants the Act re-looked. "Although there have been attempts by government to establish regulations to control tobacco in the country, many Namibians continue to become dependent on this harmful substance," Kamwi said. According to the World Health Organization, every six seconds a person dies as a result of tobacco use which accounts for an estimated 5.4 million deaths across the world yearly.

 "One of the contributing factors is the tobacco producing industries that continue with their campaigns, attempting to affect the cause of regulatory machinery and engaging in social initiatives in order to promote the industry and its products," the minister said. Speaking at the same occasion, WHO Country Representative, Dr Andemichael Ghirmay, called for continued support to all concerned parties and individuals to raise awareness about the addictive and harmful nature of tobacco products and tobacco industries' interference with tobacco control policies and legislation. He also pledged the organization's support to its member states in the fight against tobacco industry interference. The health minister further called on Namibians to avoid companies promoting tobacco, emphasizing that no money can buy good health.

Ohio higher ed leaders urge campus bans on tobacco

A measure urging a ban on tobacco on Ohio’s public college campuses will be presented to the state’s higher education board, the board chairman said. Ohio Board of Regents Chairman James Tuschman plans to introduce the resolution at a regents meeting this month, The Plain Dealer newspaper in Cleveland reported Monday. “It’s the right thing to do,” Tuschman said. Trustees at each of the state’s 14 universities and 23 community colleges would have to make the decision on whether to impose a stricter ban on their campus.

 Many colleges in Ohio banned smoking in buildings even before a state law that went into effect in 2007 restricted smoking inside most public places and workplaces. People can smoke on college greens and other open areas on most of the state’s campuses. The resolution, supported by Chancellor Jim Petro, was influenced by a plea to regents last month from Dr. Toby Cosgrove, chief executive of the Cleveland Clinic. “Universities take a great deal of thought, time and expense to educate the brain,” Cosgrove told the regents. “You have to think about educating the bodies.” Cosgrove, who says 20 percent of people in the United States continue to smoke, told regents that 37 percent of college students who smoke begin after they enroll because of factors including stress, drinking and social pressure and weight control.

 Petro said he began smoking a pack a day at Denison University and smoked five or six cigarettes daily for 40 years before quitting four years ago. At least one doctor told him the laryngeal cancer he was diagnosed with in 2009 could have been caused by smoking, said Petro, who is now cancer-free. The number of smoke-free college campuses across the nation has grown from a handful to around 700 since Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights in Berkeley, Calif., began tracking information a decade ago, that organization’s associate director, Bronson Frick, said. Arkansas, Iowa and Oklahoma have banned smoking on all state college campuses.

 Ohio regent Vinny Gupta said several college presidents told him they feared losing enrollment to other Ohio colleges if they ban tobacco on their campuses. But Frick said enrollment and employment have not been affected at smoke-free campuses and many schools save money on health costs. Miami University in southwest Ohio is the only public university in Ohio that bans smoking on campus, the newspaper reported. A spokeswoman for Miami University in Oxford said the smoke-free policy instituted campus-wide in 2008 has not been detrimental there and people “are happy not to have to walk through smoke.”

Cut to duty-free tobacco allowance set to cause delays

From September 1, the number of tax-free cigarettes passengers can take through customs will be slashed from a carton, about 200, to just 50. It is feared the move could lead to disembarking passengers bypassing airport duty free outlets and flooding Customs staff instead. Customs officers are bracing for outbursts from angry overseas visitors laden with cigarettes not aware of the new rules. 

The duty free cuts are expected to net the Federal Government $600 million over four years. The Australian Airports Association warned travellers could take longer to get through quarantine, amid lengthy bag searches for tobacco and the need to surrender cigarettes or pay duty on tobacco products, click here for more information.

Election 2012: Proposition 29 Would Raise Cigarettes Tax

California voters will have a chance Tuesday, June 5, to raise the state’s cigarette taxes for the first time in more than a decade with Proposition 29, the race’s marquee issue which would attach a $1 per pack tax on cigarettes and a 73 percent tax increase on cigars. Campaigns for and against the initiative have been largely defined against monetary lines. The “No on 29” campaign has been bankrolled by the cigarette industry(read here), which spent upwards of $40 million in opposition to Proposition 29, and has received help from some newspapers which question not the tax, but if the revenue would help the state’s budget crisis.

 The underfunded “Yes on 29” campaign, which has support from cancer-survivor and Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, points out that California trails 32 states in taxing tobacco and that the revenue will boost cancer research in the state. If approved, the measure would go into effect October 2012 and raise the total state excise tax on cigarettes to $1.87, according to the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO). Prop 29 is expected to raise $735 million annually for cancer research and anti-smoking campaigns, a figure the LAO says will be affected by consumer response and likely decline slightly each year after. California has not raised its cigarette excise tax since 1998 when voter-approved Proposition 10 bumped the tax up by 50 cents, the revenue from which supported early childhood development programs, according to the state Attorney General.

 The tax could push California from well-below to above the national average when it comes to tobacco taxes. In 2011, the average state tax on cigarettes was $1.46 nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Surveys suggest that those voters who cast their ballots by mail weeks ago are more likely to support Prop 29 than those who waited and were exposed to more No on 29 commercials. “The money that’s being spent, the ads that are being run are all having an impact,” said Sherrby Bebitch Jeffe, NBC4 political analyst. The measure was polling well until recently, when a field poll found support for Prop 29 had dropped to 53 percent.

 David Veneziano, with the American Cancer Society in California, said the initiative would save more than 104,000 lives and prevent 228,000 kids from smoking. SoCal businessmen, like 54-year-old Anto Kamarian, contend that the tax is oppressive regulation. “Regulation after regulation, putting us in the corner and keep on squeezing us,” said Kamarian, a Lebanese immigrant who has been in the cigar business for 16 years. Kamarian said a 73 percent tax hike on cigars would mean a $10 cigar would now go to $14. That same cigar could go for half that much online, Kamarian said, adding that he’s fearful cheaper alternatives will drive business down at his Pasadena shop, Cigars by Chivas. Revenues from the tax would go into a trust fund that compensates existing tobacco tax programs for any losses due to the new tax and distributes the remaining monies among five funds.