Stop Smoking Way

Kansas – The governor will sign a statewide smoking ban into law on Friday. It’s a law that bans smoking inside and even some places outside.

The ban has some businesses trying to figure out how they’ll accommodate their smoking patrons. It’s especially difficult for some bars as the law prohibits smoking near a business entrance.

“I think it’s a bit confusing,” said Ben George, owner of the Anchor in downtown Wichita.

George joins other business owners across the state in wondering just how the statewide ban will work. Of course, everyone knows there will no longer be smoking allowed inside. But the ban goes beyond that.

A Life Cut Short by Tobacco

According to the American Cancer Society, lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in American men and women today. It’s also the most preventable form of cancer, with 87 percent of all lung cancer cases attributable to tobacco use.

While tobacco is usually a slow killer, with the toxins and carcinogens in tobacco smoke taking years to poison us, that’s not always the way of it. Sometimes tobacco strikes a person down young.

In the heart-wrenching account I’m sharing with you today, About.com Smoking Cessation support forum member Karen (9Sept) shares this real life story about Cat, a young man who used tobacco much less than the average person and for decades less than most smokers. His story will sadden and scare you … and it should.

Long Beach is about to consider a rare step to ease anti-smoking rules.

At a time when cities nationwide are banning smoking in public places from bars to beaches, the Long Beach City Council today will consider a proposed amendment to its no-smoking ordinance that would exempt cigar lounges and hookah bars.

The city banned smoking in enclosed public places in 1994, but the law was rarely enforced until about a year ago, when anti-smoking advocates began demanding that city health officials take action. In an effort to keep their businesses open — and avoid fines of up to $500 for each offense — the owners of the city’s 13 cigar lounges banded together to seek an exemption.

At noon today, Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights Executive Director Cynthia Hallett plans to award the organization Smoke-Free Texas with the group’s annual “Smokefree Indoor Challenge Award” for Texas’ passage in 2007 of the most local ordinances restricting smoking among U.S. states.

An interest group awarding another interest group an award. Just fascinating.

But what is interesting about this award is where the ceremony is taking place: in Dallas, a city where smoking in a bar or pool hall remains as legal as walking down the street.

Can you have a cup of coffee without the cigarette?

That’s the question a new State Health Department ad campaign asks, as they seek to convince another million New Yorkers to quit smoking.

The $2.7 million aid campaign focuses on triggers that smokers associate with the activity. The ads launch November 9th.

Several bowling alleys throughout the state are offering free information this month about the American Legacy Foundation’s “Become An EX” program, including the Polish Falcon Lanes in Auburn, and Mancuso’s Bowling Center in Batavia.

Harrisburg, PA (AHN) – More U.S. campuses have joined the bandwagon to promote health and wellness by banning smoking in universities and colleges.

According to the Americans for Nonsmokers’ rights, over 140 schools are totally smoke-free, over thrice the number which prohibited lighting up by March 2007. The boost in numbers was partly due to the total smoking ban last month by the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education on all state-owned universities. The 14 institutions of higher learning in the state have over 110,000 students.

The PASSHE’s move followed a ban on cigarettes in many offices and public places in June.

Australia’s smoking rate has halved during the past two decades but the massive public health push has failed people with a mental illness.

Mental illness sufferers are four times more likely to smoke than the general population – a smoking rate that has stayed relatively stagnant for the past 20 years. This costs taxpayers more than $30 billion a year, according to the latest estimate from Access Economics.

University of Melbourne researcher Kristen Moeller-Saxone surveyed 280 clients of a psychiatric support service in Melbourne’s northern suburbs. Of the patients surveyed, most of whom had schizophrenia, more than six in 10 smoked, compared with fewer than two in 10 members of the general public.

The Government says a survey shows a $1.65 million youth anti-smoking campaign is working.

The Health Sponsorship Council’s “Smoking Not Our Future” campaign, which features 30 youth culture celebrities talking negatively about smoking, was launched in November 2006.

Associate Health Minister Damien O’Connor today said a survey done as part of an evaluation of the campaign showed 74 percent of 939 respondents agreed the ads – prominent on TV and at bus stops — made smoking seem “less cool”.

The survey showed 82 percent of those aged 12 to 14 and 63 percent of those aged 15 to 17 said the ads had put them off smoking.

The issue: A campuswide smoking ban at state system universities has smokers irate.
Our opinion: Smoking is a deadly addiction, but the ban is high-handed, unreasonable and perhaps unworkable.

Smokers on State System of Higher Education campuses have had one of their guilty pleasures snuffed out: An edict from the chancellor’s offices has left them no place to light up on campus, not even in a remote corner, hundreds of feet away from the nearest building or other human beings. It seems a bit much.

OLYMPIA — After helping young people and pregnant women to quit smoking, the state is now targeting its toughest group yet — low-income residents.

Smoking rates in North Central Washington now vary widely, partly because the state’s anti-smoking campaign has worked in areas with higher incomes and education levels, state officials say.

Adult smoking rates released by the state on Wednesday show the disparity.

In Chelan County, only about one in seven adults — or 14.4 percent — smoke. In Okanogan County, nearly one in four adults — or 24.4 percent — smoke. It’s the third highest rate in the state, behind only Asotin and Stevens counties.