Cigarette and alcohol use among teens is at the lowest level in decades, but marijuana use is on the rise, according to a survey released on Wednesday.
Just under 19 percent of high school seniors said they smoked cigarettes in the past month compared to a peak rate of 36.5 percent in the mid-1990s, results from the National Institutes of Health Monitoring the Future survey showed.
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In the past two years, only four sales were made to minors during 83 tobacco law compliance checks.
That gives Clallam County retailers a success rate of 95 percent during 2010 and 2011 combined, said Jill Dole, prevention specialist with Clallam County Health & Human Services.
“Thanks to Clallam County tobacco retailers for helping to break the chain of tobacco addiction by asking for proper ID and refusing to sell to minors,” Dole said in a statement.
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For the first time since he took office seven years ago, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels is pushing for a statewide public smoking ban.
The Indiana House of Representatives has passed a ban several times in recent years, but the measure has always failed in the Senate. Daniels has never opposed a ban in the past, but he hasn’t advocated for oneeither. The Republican governor said mounting evidence showing the damaging effects of secondhand smoke and growing public sentiment in favor of a ban led him to make it a priority for the legislature’s 2012 session, which will be his last as governor.
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For lovers of fine cigars, Belicoso Cigar Lounge in Orland Park has been a smoky oasis in an otherwise smoke-free village.
But the village and the shop’s owner are locked in a legal dispute in federal court, with Orland Park yanking Belicoso’s business license and the owner claiming ethnic discrimination.
Attorneys for both sides were in court Tuesday, with the shop seeking a temporary restraining order to stave off the license revocation. The judge indicated that she will issue a ruling at a later date, said Nabih Ayad, Belicoso’s lawyer. Ream more »
Orland is a few steps closer to passing a ban on smoking in certain outdoor public areas, but the issue will continue into January.
Following lengthy discussions Monday night, the City Council opted to put an alternate anti-smoking ordinance up for review next month that will allow for designated smoking areas in or near city parks.
This came as a concession to smokers outraged at earlier meetings about the prospect of not being able to smoke while visiting public parks.
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The Legislative Assembly (AL) unanimously passed the new tobacco tax yesterday but several lawmakers urged the government to introduce stricter rules for duty-free cigarettes, similar to those enforced in Hong Kong.
Others said the MOP 6 tax increase is not enough and that Macau still lags behind other regions, while some lawmakers expressed concerns about the risk of tobacco smuggling.
The tobacco tax will increase by MOP 0.5 for each cigarette, in order to be in line with the ban on smoking in public places that comes into effect from January 1. Tobacco packs will increase by at least MOP 6. Ream more »
A cigarette is smoked on tobacco that releases nicotine when burnt and along with that nicotine it emits around 200 unwanted gases that can be really harmful to a smoker’s body. Around 60 gases among them are considered to be major cancer causing agents. The other gases cause different diseases like tuberculosis and other major lung and heart diseases. Smoking can be this dangerous and even a smoker knows as to how harmful can it be moreover, it has also been proved by studies that smoking not just kills a smoker but it also affects a non smoker through passive smoking. Passive smoking is estimated to be 70 times even harmful and many have already lose their lives.
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Annual government funding for tobacco control is just several hundred thousand yuan for each province on the Chinese mainland, far below what’s needed and much less than the amounts provided in other countries, anti-smoking experts said.
In the United States, hundreds of millions of dollars are allocated annually for tobacco control research and projects, said Jonathan Samet, chairman of the Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Ream more »
International tobacco company Philip Morris has filed another legal challenge against the Federal Government’s plain packaging laws for tobacco products.
It already is challenging the laws under Australia’s bilateral trade treaty with Hong Kong and is seeking damages. Philip Morris is the third tobacco company to lodge a case in the High Court against the new laws.
British American Tobacco and Imperial Tobacco already have launched their own challenges to the legislation.
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Warren County Fiscal Court took the first step Friday toward banning synthetic marijuana within the county.
In a unanimous vote, Fiscal Court passed the first reading of an ordinance that would ban several types of synthetic cannabinoids or synthetic marijuana. It also has been referred to as 7H.
As was the case with the Bowling Green Board of Commissioners last week, the magistrates heard from Amy Stillwell, whose daughter Ashley Stillwell was hospitalized for several hours after smoking 7H in August.
Ashley Stillwell shared some of her experiences with the court, and encouraged the magistrates to pass the ordinance. She said she was told by friends that the high would last only an hour. Ream more »