Police Crack Down on Tobacco Sellers

Are teenagers studying at schools in the city increasingly succumbing to smocking these days? The police action against illegal sale of tobacco near many schools indicates towards this worrying trend. On the World No Smoking Day on Monday, the police found business of tobacco products like Kent, Bond etc sale near schools flourishing for many people.

In a crackdown on the illegal sale of tobacco products near public places especially schools and hospitals in Jaipur district, 66 people were arrested by the police when the World No Smoking Day was being celebrated on Monday.

The police seized tobacco items from these people.

According to police, special teams were constituted to put a check on the sale of tobacco products. "It was seen that tobacco was being sold at pushcarts and places after encroaching on public land near schools and hospitals," said IGP (Jaipur Range -1) B L Soni.

He said the police had identified these sellers and cracked down on them on Monday. "Over 50 people were arrested for selling tobacco products near schools and hospitals," said the officer.

In Vidhyadhar Nagar, Shyam Nagar, Jhotwara, Banipark, Karni Vihar, Kardhani, Vaishali Nagar, Malviya Nagar and Adarsh Nagar police station areas, people were found to be selling tobacco products near over 15 schools on Monday. The schools near which the police took action against these sellers include Bright School in Shyam Nagar, School Happy Point and Gyan Gyoti Sr Secondary School in Vidhyadhar Nagar, Bhawani Niketan in Jhotwara, SSVM School in Karni Vihar, Kaushik School in Kardhani, DAV School in Vaishali Nagar and Spring Dales School, Seedling College and St Anselm School in Malviya Nagar. Sellers were arrested from SMS Hospital, JK Lon Hospital, Pardia Hospital and many others.

"It was very alarming that people who were rounded up on Monday for selling tobacco products were making good profits out of selling tobacco to schoolchildren," said the officer. He added that such action taken against sellers from time to time, but special crack down had been planned for No Smoking Day on Monday.

He said administration of schools in the city should be informing the nearby police station if they come across with people selling tobacco products near their premises so that police can take action against them. The 66 people were booked under Rajasthan Prohibition of Smoking and Non Smokers' Health Protection Act. As the crime is bailable, these people were released soon after the arrest. Even after this action against tobacco sellers, one can see people selling tobacco products near almost every school in the city.

Smoking as a distraction from moving on in life

I recently came across an ad for a tobacco cessation aid that made me think about smoking in relationship to distraction.

The ad depicted a man sitting on a dock, thinking about having a cigarette. In the meantime, a shark jumped out of the water and began biting his arm. This distraction was not strong enough to take the man's thoughts away from lighting up, until he put the nicotine replacement into his mouth and was then able to refocus on what was happening in the present moment.

Many of you can relate to this idea of being so consumed with wanting a cigarette that you lose sight of everything else. Part of this is related to the chemical addiction and withdrawal, but I'm wondering about another purpose this fixation might serve. In what ways do you allow the cigarette itself to distract you from the things in life that you don't want to look at? When you are fixated on your addiction, what else is being neglected?

We all have things we want to avoid in life, and we build fantastic stories to circumvent confrontation. Yet if we were to face these things, how might we grow to be better individuals? Distraction can be a form of self-sabotage. We keep ourselves running around and distracted, so we don't have to look at the things that nag us to grow and change. Between smoking itself and thinking about smoking (or quitting) you can keep yourself occupied for hours, days, weeks, months and years. But in that time, what gets lost?

I think that in reality we want to experience life on a deeper level, but are somehow frightened of what will happen if we stop long enough to really feel what's there. We might discover a pain that wants to be healed. Or, on the other hand, we may have to face just how magnificent we really are and see the potential we could expand into. But those things are intimidating and would require actual change. Smoking and using discount cigarettes like Pall Mall as a way to keep distracted is a sure way to maintain your personal status quo.

For you, what is the shark that is hanging on your arm, begging you to face it in order to move forward in life ... while you're distracted with finding your next puff?

State Must Renovate the Anti-Smoking Efforts

In the last few years, we have seen a downside to the good quality of life that makes the Volunteer State so attractive.

One aspect of that downside is the high rate of adult and childhood obesity, and the other is the paucity of funds allocated to restrict smoking. Efforts to reduce childhood obesity have shown some slight improvement, the (Nashville) Tennessean reported earlier this year, but the efforts to curb smoking appear headed in the wrong direction.

A new study by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and reported by the Tennessean this month ranks the state dead last among other states and the District of Columbia in funding anti-smoking programs. The report was tilted "Tobacco Control State Highlight 2010."

Other statistics in the report are equally sobering. Tennessee is 39th for low tobacco taxes, even though the Legislature raised the tax by 42 cents per pack of cigarettes - from 20 cents to 62 cents - three years ago. The tax remains below the national average of $1.34 per pack.

The state ranks 43rd for the likely chance that workers in Tennessee will be exposed to smoke in their jobs; 45th for the number of smokers who use the state quit-smoking help hot line; 46th for the high number of adult smokers and 47th for youth smokers, ages 12-17.

Elected officials can blame the poor funding of anti-smoking programs on the current state of the economy, but that argument goes only so far. Tennessee brings in about $400 million in tobacco taxes and payments from a settlement agreement involving dozens of states and tobacco companies.

Tennessee's share this year is about $145 million. And, while the bulk of the money arguably could go for health care costs, a portion of the money was promised for anti-smoking programs.

Tennessee's contribution to those programs this year was a paltry $200,000, creating an uphill struggle for state health officials. The spending was down from $10 million in 2007 and $5 million in 2008. The CDC says the state should be spending at least $7.1 million each year.

Tennessee made progress with the 2007 outlay, and the number of smokers dropped from 27 percent of the population to 23 percent in 2008. That clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of the wise use of the tobacco-settlement money.

However, other states made gains as well; some even used the tobacco-settlement funds as they promised and didn't allow progress to stop after one year.

As the CDC report noted, tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of death in the U.S. Moreover, diseases attributed to smoking result in $96 billion in health care costs annually.

The report challenged state officials to work creatively by using high-impact, cost effective measures to curb smoking, even in challenging economic times.

We urge those officials to keep up the fight. Tennessee's quality of life doesn't begin and end with the scenic mountains, hills and lakes. It also includes what we put in our mouths and breathe into our lungs.

Tobacco giant backs retail protest

A lobby group of small retailers protesting the Government's tobacco price hike is receiving public relations support from Imperial Tobacco, the tobacco giant told a select committee last week.

The Association of Community Retailers (ACR), set up late last month, had earlier rejected suggestions it was backed by tobacco cash and said it was entirely funded from its members.

The ACR shared a postal address with Omeka Public Relations, whose managing director, Glenn Inwood, also represented Imperial Tobacco and Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research through another PR company, blogger Keith Ng revealed.

Mr. Inwood said earlier this month the ACR received no funding from tobacco companies or himself but purely from members' subscriptions.

"It's running off the smell of an oily rag."

One of the ACR's coordinators, Denielle Boulieris, told another blogger, Rory McKinnon, earlier this month that the association does not have a relationship with tobacco companies.

But Imperial Tobacco's New Zealand sales and marketing director, Tony Meirs, last week told a Maori Affairs select committee the company was providing the ACR with public relations resources through Omeka Public Relations.

Mr. Meirs told the select committee the company wanted to support retailers in speaking out about regulations that would damage their business viability, according to a transcript provided to Mr. McKinnon.

"This is our way of helping those retailers protect their business against unnecessary regulations that will be ineffective. We're helping them to develop a voice," Mr. Meirs said.

He told the select committee he did not know the value of the public relations support Imperial Tobacco was providing, and was unable to say whether Imperial Tobacco would be better off if the ACR achieved its aims.

"I don't know, because whether Imperial Tobacco would be financially better off or not depends on how we compete in the marketplace, how we compete for adult smokers. So it's just, the two just aren't linked," he said.

"I support the position of those retailers wanting to develop a voice, wanting to put their argument forward to protect their businesses from unnecessary regulation."

ACR founding member Richard Green, who ran a tobacconist business in Palmerston North, told NZPA earlier this month the ACR grew out of the former Stay Displays coalition of retailers, a coalition that formed to fight a proposed ban on displaying tobacco products for sale.

ACR would speak for retailers on a wider range of subjects affecting retailers, such as security, sale of alcohol and confectionary, and was set up with the help of Mr. Inwood, who had also worked on the Stay Displays campaign.

Mr. Green said the sole funding for the ACR so far came from its members. It had employed two part time coordinators but it had yet to figure out how they would be funded, as it was still early days.

Hospital Ddmissions Found to Decline Since AZ Public-Smoking Ban

Arizona hospital admissions for stroke, asthma, heart attacks and angina fell more than 10 percent in the year after a statewide smoking ban took effect, a new study says. While there have been studies on the economic impact of the ban on smoking in public places, including bars and restaurants, the researchers believe the study on hospital admissions is the first to look at the health ramifications of Arizona’s smoking law.

For their report, University of Arizona psychology department researchers Patricia M. Herman and Michele E. Walsh analyzed admission data from Arizona’s 87 hospitals between January 2004 and May 2008 for Arizona residents only.

Their findings are published in a peer-reviewed article in this month’s issue of the American Journal of Public Health. The new study shows evidence of a direct relationship between exposure to secondhand smoke and asthma and cardiovascular disease.

Herman and Walsh found that in the 13 months after the law took effect in May 2007, admissions for asthma dropped by 22 percent; heart-attack admissions by 13 percent; admissions for unstable angina by 33 percent and admissions for acute stroke by 14 percent.

For strokes, angina and heart attack, the researchers used data from adult admissions only, but they included babies and children in their analysis of the asthma data, Herman said. The study looked at hospital admissions, not emergency room visits, she stressed.

The cost savings of those reduced hospital admissions was nearly $17 million, the researchers estimate.

“Within the context of the growing body of consistent evidence from studies in other states and regions, the results of this study support the case for substantial health benefits from Arizona’s comprehensive statewide smoking ban in areas with no previous bans,” the study says. “If one considers the fact that only about 40 percent of the U.S. population is presently covered by a comprehensive smoke-free law, and the need for effective and cost-saving options in health care, comprehensive smoking bans should be considered by any governmental agency, employer or other organization seeking to advocate or implement policies that improve health and reduce health-care costs.”

Herman said the Arizona study, which was funded by the Arizona Department of Health Services’ Bureau of Tobacco and Chronic Disease, had results similar to health studies conducted in other jurisdictions with smoking bans.

“There’s a lot of evidence out there,” said Herman, who is also a licensed naturopathic physician. “One of the things I found fascinating, that piqued my interest, was that I think people recognize the long-term effects of smoking, but not the short-term effects. The cardiovascular effects are profound.”

As a check on their results, the researchers looked at admission data for four diagnoses that aren’t related to secondhand smoke – appendicitis, kidney stones, acute cholecystitis and ulcers. The researchers said they found no statistically significant changes in admissions for those conditions before and after the ban took effect.