Russia Anti-Smoking Draft Law Said to Be Submitted to Parliament

Russia submitted an anti-tobacco law to Parliament today as it seeks to curb smoking amid opposition from cigarette makers, a government official said, declining to be identified because the information hasn’t been made public. The government in the world’s second-largest market for cigarette producers after China proposed measures that will outlaw all tobacco advertising and sponsorship as well as kiosk sales immediately, with bans on trade in small retail outlets and smoking in public places taking effect Jan. 1, 2015.

Russia, which has also raised alcohol taxes as part of efforts to improve its citizens’ health, wants the law passed this year as it fights lobbying efforts by tobacco companies, Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets said Oct. 18. Philip Morris International Inc. (PM), British American Tobacco (BATS), Japan Tobacco and Imperial Tobacco (IMT), which control 93 percent of the Russian market, hooked women and children on smoking, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said in a video blog Oct. 16., vowing to crack down on the habit.

Which Tobacco Stocks To Buy And Which To Avoid?

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Investors have enjoyed a tremendous ride with unbelievably consistent returns in big tobacco stocks. Thirty years back, if you had invested $100 in Altria Group (MO), previously named Philip Morris Companies, you would have fetched substantial dividends over these years and the stocks would have been worth more than $5,000 today. Altria and other big tobacco companies like Reynolds American (RAI), Lorillard (LO) and Philip Morris International (PM) continue to lure investors due to their far higher dividend yield as compared to other stable blue chip stocks.

Domestic tobacco companies including Altria Group, Lorillard and Reynolds American all provide above 5% dividend yield, while Philip Morris International's dividend yield stands at 3.90% which is highly impressive in a world of low interest rates. However, these tobacco stocks seem to have lost their momentum over the last few months. The following graph summarizes the stock price movement of these companies over the last 2 months.

Given the declining tobacco consumption trends in U.S. and tightening of regulations in countries like Australia, tobacco stocks have taken a beating. Although I remain optimistic about Philip Morris due to a huge runway for growth in Asian markets, I'm a little skeptical about domestic tobacco companies as their earnings are dependent upon cost cuttings and price hikes and may not be sustainable.

Domestic tobacco companies have traditionally enjoyed good pricing power, but they do not seem to have the same pricing power now as promotions by the market leader Altria Group are driving Reynolds American and Lorillard to get defensive. Big tobacco stocks have followed more or less a similar pattern over the last few years, but I don't think they will continue to follow a similar path. Thus, I think it becomes extremely important to carefully choose your pick going forward. Let's analyze some key metrics of these companies.

Flavored Cigars, Pellets, Sticks And Strips Now Common To Lure Kids

With cigarette smoking rates on the decline in the U.S., the tobacco industry insures its livelihood by creating products that attract a new generation of lifelong nicotine addicts, says anti-smoking group Tobacco Free Florida. Tobacco products in flavors like kiwi-strawberry, chocolate and sour apple are increasingly available in communities throughout the U.S. and increasingly popular among youth.

Types of flavored tobacco products include: · Cigars, cigarillos and little cigars, which are being used at an increasing rate nationwide · Smokeless tobacco like chew, dip and snus that have serious health risks and can contain more nicotine that cigarettes · New smokeless tobacco products like orbs (dissolvable tobacco pellets), toothpick-like sticks, and dissolvable strips that resemble candy and mints in more than just flavor Nearly nine out of 10 smokers start by age 18.

Prevention is key in combating the tobacco epidemic say experts. They say parents should know about the dangers of these products so that they can educate their kids adding teens whose parents strongly disapprove of tobacco are less likely to take up tobacco.

Future of Tobacco Industry Depends on Innovation

When people consider innovation, the tobacco industry isn't likely the first thing that comes to mind. However, the market is undergoing big changes, driven largely by health concerns, higher tax rates and the availability of new options for smokers to get their nicotine fix.

While premium e-cigarettes have been around for years, more advanced smoking devices are making their way to market that address issues faced by tobacco companies and consumers alike. According to a study released by Euromonitor, the total number of tobacco users worldwide will remain at one billion by 2050, but in terms of overall equivalent tobacco volume, the worldwide tobacco products market is predicted to contract by approx. 7 percent from 2015 to 2050 due to a 9 percent decline in cigarette sales volume.

Offsetting the decline will be record volume increases in premium categories including specialty niche nicotine delivery products according to the study, in part because of the perception that they are less dangerous than cigarettes. Taxes on cigarettes will play a large role in this movement. New York, for example, has the highest cigarette tax in the U.S. at $4.35 per pack, which can bring the total cost per pack to $12. Low income smokers in New York are particularly affected, often spending 25 percent of their household income on cigarettes.

Furthermore, high taxes on cigarettes and tobacco labeled as "roll your own" are prompting a switch to loose tobacco (labeled for pipe use) products. Loose (pipe) tobacco is taxed at significantly lower rates than the other forms of tobacco due largely to a 2009 increase in the federal tobacco excise tax. Many innovative solutions are becoming available to address these changes in the tobacco market. The Pax Vaporizer (pictured above) is one such offering, being distributed with the help of Japan Tobacco International, owner of Benson & Hedges.

The device, offered by Vape World, takes a modern approach to smoking, resembling an iPod with an anodized aluminum exterior. By using actual loose-leaf tobacco heated and turned into a vapor, the harmful ingredients in smoke are removed, while the nicotine and flavor of cigarettes and other tobacco products remain. The device is part of the larger movement away from the iconography and language of cigarettes normally targeted at smokers and addresses the demand for healthier options.

MU needs your support on cigarette tax increase

Don’t let the shiny student center and awesome swag floating around campus fool you: MU suffers from a chronic lack of funding. Only four other states in the union offer less state support to their flagship institutions. Campus Facilities has a backlog of critical repairs to classrooms and dorms that would cost $177.1 million to complete. MU’s faculty is paid, on average, $17,000 less than their Association of American Universities peers.

Tuition has increased each of the last five years as Bright Flight and Access Missouri scholarships have withered. MU needs to find new revenue sources if it’s to continue to provide a quality college education. Proposition B is that solution. And a solution is needed, because the sad truth is education cuts affect more than our professors’ salaries or our decrepit classrooms.

Just in the last year, the Missouri Students Association found it necessary to open a food pantry for its student body. Although the outpouring of support it has received genuinely warms the heart, its existence should send a cold shiver down your spine. More and more students are impoverishing themselves to get an education. At a time when attention should be directed toward their studies, our peers are filing food stamp forms and applying for Medicaid eligibility. They are worrying, day-to-day, about putting food on their tables.

We should celebrate our student food pantry and bemoan its necessity. It is the inevitable result of drastic and irresponsible cuts to higher education. Students fought for, and got, a respite from harsh state cuts in last year’s budget. But the trend lines are as depressing as they are clear: If MU is to continue to grow and improve, it needs more revenue. And we’re not going to get it from existing channels. The average state cigarette tax is $1.49 a pack. In Missouri, it’s $0.17 — the lowest in the nation by a comically wide margin. A low cigarette tax doesn’t just rob Missouri of needed tax revenue — it increases the amount that we smoke.

Missouri ranks fifth in smoking prevalence, a fact that is undoubtedly related to how cheap our cigarettes are. The Centers for Disease Control estimates smoking-related health costs total $10.47 per pack. These costs, which in our state run into the hundreds of millions of dollars a year, fall disproportionately on Medicaid enrollees and those enlisted on government welfare. In short, all tax-paying Missourians pay the price for the choices that smokers make. Raising cigarette taxes makes that choice harder.

Enter Proposition B, which raises the cigarette tax by $0.73 to $0.90 a pack. Notice: The amount is still substantially below the national average. We would be ranked not 50th, but 32nd of all 50 states. What makes Proposition B interesting — and worthy of your support — is what it plans to accomplish with its revenue. Missouri budget experts expect the tax to generate $283 million to $423 million every year. This revenue would be put aside exclusively for public education in the state of Missouri. Every cent would be funneled into strengthening Missouri’s long-term competitiveness.

This campus alone could expect to receive an additional $40 million a year. This money represents MU’s only opportunity to replenish the funds pilfered from higher education by both Democrats and Republicans throughout the years. No one likes a tax increase. And it’s true that excise taxes, or “sin taxes” like this one, disproportionately harm the poor.

But our budget is about priorities. It’s about what matters most to you. Sending any tax increase to a referendum is always a risky move. Ultimately, it signifies a vote of confidence in the voters of Missouri, confidence in knowing our education and our health are worth the modest price smokers are being asked to pay. On Nov. 6, let us reward that confidence. For a healthier Missouri and a stronger Mizzou, vote yes on Proposition B.

Deputy suspected of giving inmates cigarettes and other items

Authorities report a sheriff's deputy suspected of bringing items into a jail and giving them to inmates was arrested Friday afternoon. The St. Mary Parish Sheriff's Office said Shay Cline, 20, of Centerville faces charges of entering contraband into a penal institution and malfeasance in office.

Investigators said some of the items Cline allegedly gave to inmates included tobacco and lighters. He was booked into the St. Mary Parish Law Enforcement Center, but was later transferred to another jail. His bond was set at $20,000 The investigation is ongoing.

Should we really legalize marijuana?

In just over a week’s time, thousands of people across Massachusetts will be taking time out of their day to find a nearby polling station, to cast their vote in the 2012 presidential election. There will be a few things on their minds, namely, who should be the next president of the United States. But there is another pressing issue concerning many residents of Massachusetts. Question 3 on the state ballot will determine whether marijuana ought to be legalized for medical purposes. If passed, it would be a significant step towards total legalization of marijuana for recreational use. However, before we can even talk about the legalization of marijuana, the question must be asked; is it a good idea to legalize it?

The short answer is no. The legalization of marijuana would not bring about the changes we desire. Currently, there is a war going on south of the U.S. border. It is between the Mexican government, and the powerful drug cartels that dominate almost all of Mexico. This war has been going on for several decades, but the United States has only been actively involved since the 1980s. Recently, the violence has escalated. President Felipe Calderón was elected in the year 2006. He promised a hard line against the drug cartels, who, through corruption, extortion, terrorism and murder, effectively operate within the Mexican border.

The war between the Mexican government and the cartels has led to approximately 48,000 deaths, including more than 5,000 disappearances, and thousands and thousands of children orphaned and displaced. The cartels have spawned mass graves, terrorist acts and continue to buy illegal assault weapons and ship their drugs to the United States. More than 100 schools have been closed in Mexico as a result of the violence, as well as entire police forces deserting, under threat of death by the cartels. The Chihuahua province, just south of the U.S.-Mexican border, is currently more dangerous than all of Afghanistan. The violence has spilled over the border. Cartels recruit young aged children in Mexico and in the U.S. for drug-related activity, such as the case of “El Ponchis” (The Cloak) where a 14-year-old American, from San Diego, was convicted for the beheading and torturing of four people for a cartel.

The cartels receive their money to perpetuate this war, as you probably guessed, from the sale and export of drugs to the U.S. The cartels make approximately $39 billion annually from drug sales into the U.S. Currently, 90 percent of the illicit drugs in the United States have made their way in through Mexico. In 2007, the Congressional Research Service released a report to Congress stating that more than 10,000 metric tons of marijuana were being produced in Mexico per year, with about 2,900 metric tons of it being intercepted. This means that the cartels manage to smuggle in over 7,000 metric tons of marijuana a year.

Not only this, but the cartels also manage to produce upwards of 275 metric tons of cocaine, and 19 metric tons of heroin for export into the U.S. per year. Seizures of methamphetamine has also increased five-fold from the year 2000 to 2006, prompting evidence that production has also increased drastically. So, how does this all relate? Well, here in the United States, millions of people smoke, or have smoked, marijuana. More than 42 percent of high school seniors have reported smoking marijuana. The American people provide a steady flow of income for the cartels who are terrorists and mass murderers. For example, one kilogram of cocaine costs at little as $2,000 to produce south of the U.S-Mexican border.

However, it sells for up to $120,000, depending on the location. Some may argue that, should marijuana be legalized, it would reduce the market share of the cartels, which would result in them making less money. But would this really happen? If Congress moved to legalize marijuana, then certainly they would demand that marijuana be grown in facilities either run by, or regulated by the government. Not only this, but the production distribution, packaging, and retail of marijuana would all be heavily regulated and taxed. The farmers growing the marijuana would most likely be unionized and at a minimum be paid well and have health benefits.

All of these factors would drive up the cost of legal marijuana, far past the cost of nearly free labor to grow the plant in Mexico, and whatever prices the dealers charge locally. Though the cartels would not have any standing in the legal market, they would continue to completely dominate the black market. If people already purchase marijuana illegally, why would they purchase more expensive marijuana that is legal? These cartels are pushing millions of people out of Mexico, causing them to flee the violence into the United States. These groups of murderers and terrorists need to be brought to justice first. If we can successfully crush the drug cartels, who are creating havoc in Mexico, and killing and endangering America citizens and officers near the border, then, we can talk about legalizing marijuana.