Tobacco News

Cigar and pipe smokers and those who like to chew their tobacco would have to pay Chicago’s cigarette tax, under a crackdown proposed Wednesday to stave off budget cuts impacting libraries, mental health centers and 911 dispatch.

Aldermen Leslie Hairston (5th) and Matt O’Shea (19th) want to follow the Cook County Board’s lead and close a legal loophole that has allowed all tobacco products other than cigarettes to escape the city’s sin tax.
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Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is calling for more taxes on alcohol and tobacco products. Under her proposal, smokeless tobacco and cigars will be taxed the same as cigarettes. As for alcohol, taxes would go up by 50 percent in Cook County. That would add a few cents on beer and wine and not much more on hard liquor.

At a news conference Wednesday morning, Preckwinkle was flanked by medical specialists and experts as she touted the public health benefits of such taxes. Ream more »

In a survey conducted by an NGO in city schools found that 82% of schools have tobacco and tobacco product selling shops in the radius of 100 yards. The sale of tobacco products in the radius of 100 yards is prohibited and punishable. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) hasplanned adrive to stop this menace.
Minister of state of FDA Satej Patil held a review meeting on Wednesday to take stock of the implementation of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Regulation Act (COTPA) under which action is taken against the shopkeepers selling tobacco products in the vicinity of the schools. Ream more »

The long-running legal battle between the world’s two largest tobacco companies entered a new phase on Monday when Santiago’s Court of Appeals ruled that British American Tobacco Chile pay US$2.2 million in compensation to Philip Morris (PM) for lost market share due to anti-competitive practices.
The decision – which revoked an earlier ruling by the Civil Court of Santiago rejecting the compensation request by PM – is the latest in a series of cases dating back to 2002.
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Internships aren’t usually illegal, but one Farmington man is facing felony charges after passing along his knowledge to a minor.

Craig Martin Gisch has been charged with three drug-related charges after officers found 28 marijuana plants of varying sizes, multiple pieces of marijuana paraphernalia and more than two pounds of marijuana in his home last May. According to the complaint filed Wednesday in the Dakota County attorney’s office, Gisch was also training a minor under the age of 18 to grow, cultivate and sell the drug. Ream more »

In a marathon legislative session Monday night, the University of Massachusetts Student Government Association (SGA) Senate voted to create an alternative to a tobacco ban passed by the school’s Faculty Senate earlier this year – which is slated to go into effect in 2013 – with a plan that calls for designated smoking areas on campus.
The “Designated Smoking Area Policy,” which calls for the campus to allow smoking only in specific areas on school property instead of the complete prohibition of all tobacco products on campus – which was outlined in the plan passed by the Faculty Senate – was passed at the end of a three-and-a-half hour meeting. Ream more »

The government has already jacked up taxes on cigarettes and forced smokers into the cold, but yesterday it lost a battle in its ongoing effort to scare and annoy smokers into quitting rather than just banning cigarettes. The FDA’s plan to cover half of every cigarette label with disgusting images of rotten teeth and cadavers was derailed when a judge found that forcing tobacco companies to use the labels violates their first amendment rights. Ream more »

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon gave cigarette manufacturers contesting the Food and Drug Administration’s new graphic warning labels a win Monday morning, finding that they were likely to succeed and granting their request for a preliminary injunction to delay enforcement.

Leon hasn’t ruled on a pending motion for summary judgment, but said in a Nov. 7 opinion that the companies had “demonstrated a substantial likelihood that they will prevail on the merits of their position.”
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Following Missouri’s statewide war on synthetic pot, which saw a law passed to ban the products, the state is now potentially on its way to having the nation’s most lax genuine-pot laws. The secretary of state’s office announced on Monday that Show-Me Cannabis Regulation, a marijuana legalization advocacy group, has been granted permission to collect signatures for a pair of ballot initiatives that would make pot legal. Ream more »

The American Cancer Society will honor SUNY Cortland for its decision to become a tobacco-free campus during a Wednesday, Nov. 16, campus event aimed at persuading students to participate in the annual Great American Smokeout.

Students will be encouraged to sign tobacco-free pledges and will be given “quit kits” from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Corey Union during the event, scheduled for the day before the 36th annual Great American Smokeout on Thursday, Nov. 17. Ream more »