Resist Tobacco Firms' Suits

An official of the World Health Organization (WHO) has called on governments to be firm against efforts of big tobacco companies opposing new laws that may affect their sales. “Tobacco is the only industry that produces products to make huge profits and at the same time damage the health and kill their consumers,” said WHO director-general Margaret Chan during a public health meeting in Geneva earlier this week. “How can we as an international community allow big tobacco to harass countries?” Chan said. In her speech during a unity call in Geneva, Switzerland, Chan noted that big tobacco companies have been harassing countries like Australia, the United States, Uruguay and Norway for coming up with measures aimed at reducing smoking and fighting smoking-related diseases.

New York Cigarettes Business

New York City sued the city's first "roll-your-own" cigarette business on Monday in its latest attempt to reduce smoking rates and retain revenue from the highest combined city and state tobacco tax in the nation. City attorneys said that Island Smokes, which has storefronts in Manhattan and Staten Island with plans to expand to all five boroughs, was manufacturing cigarettes without paying city taxes. Patrons of the business make their own smokes one by one, paying a fraction of the price of store-bought city cigarettes. The loose tobacco used at the shops is taxed at significantly lower rates than manufactured tobacco. Customers of Island Smokes sit on bar stools and use individual machines that squirt the tobacco into a hollow paper-and-filter ensemble.

Quit Smoking is a Complicated Process

Smoking cessation is a difficult process and many people do not want to give the habit up, one expert has stated. Ursula James, said a lot of people enjoy smoking and they are reluctant to stop, despite what friends and family want them to do. She stated that throughout her experience as a smoking cessation specialist, she has never met an individual who wanted to quit cigarettes or tobacco. "It is usually something else outside that encourages them to stop smoking, for example, wanting to get pregnant," she added. Ms James believes that it does not matter if further taxes are added to tobacco or how expensive the habit becomes because people will continue to smoke. The amount of people who smoke cheap Gauloises cigarettes in the UK has fallen since rates peaked at 82 per cent in 1948, states Ash. The latest figures from the charity show 21 per cent of UK adults still have the habit.

Kids Smoking Synthetic Drugs

Police say teenagers have found a new way to get high and it is legal for now. After spice, a marijuana-like drug was outlawed earlier this year in Arizona due to a number of people going to the emergency room for seizures, racing heartbeat and elevated blood pressure, manufacturers have come out with a new product potentially just as dangerous, police say. Payson police are urging parents to watch out for potpourri, synthetic marijuana that can also cause health problems. The substance is being sold in several stores throughout town and is legal for anyone to buy. Just a month ago, thieves broke into the Quick Stop Convenience Store at Bonita Street and Highway 87, and the only thing they took was potpourri, said Payson Police Det. Matt Van Camp. The break-in happened overnight when the store was closed and the thieves were wearing disguises.

Nightlife Changed by Smoking Ban

While at the Oasis bar in downtown Rapid City on Friday night, Jeff Hoffman did something he wouldn't have had to do just over a year ago: Go outside to smoke. In the year since South Dakota voters overwhelmingly approved expanding a ban on smoking cheap tobacco in public places to bars, restaurants and casinos, the nightlife experience for smokers and nonsmokers alike has been transformed. Whether it has been changed for the better or worse depends on whom you ask. "I'm a grown man. I should be able to make my own decisions," said Hoffman, who isn't a fan of the ban. "If they're still selling cigarettes, we should be able to smoke them in establishments that designate smoking."