Yuma Sector Border Patrol agents seized more than 300 pounds of abandoned marijuana, which had an estimated value in excess $155,000, on Saturday afternoon.
According to Agent Spencer Tippets, of the Yuma Sector Public Affairs Office, Wellton Station agents assigned to Camp Desert Grip, Yuma Sector’s forward operating base, discovered the 14 bundles of abandoned marijuana near the Sierra Pinta Mountains. Ream more »
A bill that would have banned public use of e-cigarettes and hookah pipes hit a snag Monday, as House members balked at a bill that would have shut down a Utah hookah bar without compelling data.
“I really hate to make a state policy based upon — even the sponsor of the bill’s own statement — that we really don’t have good data,” said Rep. Richard Greenwood, R-Roy.
Under current law, individuals can use a hookah pipe or electronic cigarettes anywhere because the Utah Indoor Clean Air Act bans combustion of tobacco, and hookahs and e-cigarettes don’t burn the material.
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The emergency legislation proposed by D.C. Council member Vincent B. Orange (D-at large) to limit the number of marijuana cultivation sites and dispensaries, as well as adult entertainment venues, in each ward is a fine example of lazy politicking trumping good policy. Mr. Orange seems to be playing on perceived Ward 5 fears that such establishments will turn Northeast into a sort of red-light quadrant riven with criminal activity. Ream more »
When Virginia and a number of other states reached a legal settlement with the cigarette industry more than a decade ago, part of the deal was at least to put some of that money into tobacco-prevention programs. Those programs included efforts to expose young people — and adults — to the health hazards of smoking and using other tobacco products.
Virginia, in fact, has a statewide youth tobacco-prevention program managed by a foundation that received a portion of the state’s share of the 1998 national tobacco settlement.
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A proposed city-wide smoking ban took center stage at the Evansville City Council meeting Monday evening.
Supporters say it will save in health insurance costs, but Casino Aztar representatives say a ban could mean millions is lost revenue and nearly 300 jobs lost.
It was a sea of red at Monday’s city council meeting. Riverboat workers like Gordon Jones asked council members to exempt Casino Aztar from a proposed city-wide smoking ban. Ream more »
A quarter-century after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first prescription drugs based on the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, additional medicines derived from or inspired by the cannabis plant itself could soon be making their way to pharmacy shelves.
A British company, GW Pharma, is in advanced clinical trials for the world’s first pharmaceutical developed from raw marijuana instead of synthetic equivalents.
It is producing a mouth spray it hopes to market in the U.S. as a treatment for cancer pain and is seeking FDA approval by the end of 2013. Ream more »
Smokers hit by hefty price rises are flooding Quitline with calls for help. Twenty South Canterbury smokers contacted the quit group over the first three days of the year. Staff expect that figure to reach 200 by the end of this month, compared with 140 for the same period in 2011 and 62 in January 2010. Nationally, 1200 people have signed up to quit in the first three days of January.
The last of the three tiered increases in the tobacco tax came into effect on January 1, pushing the price of a pack of 20s to $14.
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THE 2012 tobacco selling season opens on February 15 amid expectations from stakeholders of high output and quality crop. The tobacco would be auctioned at four floors — Tobacco Sales Floor, Boka Tobacco Floors, Millennium Tobacco and Premier Tobacco. Players in the industry told Standardbusiness they hope for a “bit more in terms of national yield and better quality tobacco”.
Zimbabwe Progressive Tobacco Farmers Union president, Nicholas Kapungu, told Standardbusiness that the organisation is optimistic ahead of the selling season, as all members will sell the crop to one buyer, Star International Tobacco, whom they have agreed with on prices. Ream more »
My pregnant granddaughter smokes. She has switched to electronic cigarettes, telling her husband that these are completely safe and will not affect the baby in any way. She also claims there is no danger of secondhand smoke.
I say if you are sucking into your lungs any vapor with nicotine, it will affect the unborn child. And when you exhale, there has to be some nicotine when it comes out. My husband and I don’t smoke at all. So please tell me: Should my granddaughter smoke her electronic cigarettes inside the house or out? — Kansas
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An ordinance that would tighten Evansville’s smoking ban will be introduced to City Council tonight and will include short presentations by representatives from Casino Aztar and the local Smoke Free initiative.
This will be the second time City Council has taken on the smoking ban after it came to a stalemate on the issue in March 2010. Shortly before the November election, 2nd Ward Councilwoman Missy Mosby was the lone opponent to a smoking ban. Mosby had said business owners in her ward said the ban would badly hurt business. Ream more »