Stop Smoking Way

For the estimated 20% of Americans who smoke cigarettes, the impact of a federal excise tax increase that takes effect Wednesday is already being felt.

Earlier this month the manufacturer of Marlboro, Parliament and Virginia Slims, Philip Morris USA, increased prices by 71 cents a pack, 9 cents more than the federal tax increase. The maker of Camel, Kool and Salem cigarettes, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco, bumped wholesale prices up by 44 cents a pack and reduced discounting.

The revenue from the tax increase, which will be used to expand coverage under the State Children’s Health Insurance Program to an additional 4 million low-income children, was signed into law in February.

We’ll spare you the lecture. (Seriously, though. Stamp out that butt and flush the pack, already.) Tobacco use, namely cigarette smoking, is the chief cause of preventable death in the United States. Left unbridled, smoking could kill more than a billion people this century, according to the World Health Organization. That equals the number who would die if a Titanic sank every 24 minutes for the next 100 years, as former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop so starkly put it at a March press conference.

One of my jobs is to be a booster for research on state and local government. In that capacity, I’m always a little sad that most people are captivated by the drama of presidential elections and bored by the nuts and bolts of local politics. Much of what is most important in our lives — the quality of our schools, the safety of our streets and the speed of our commutes — is determined at the local level.

“Dunhill introduces its new Limited Edition Range. For more information see the MMS that follows.”

This is the novel way tobacco giant British American Tobacco (BAT) is trying to flout South Africa’s tough anti-smoking laws, which have been designed to discourage people from picking up the habit.

In a move that anti-smoking lobbyists say is in direct violation of the law, Dunhill – a product of BAT South Africa – has sent out mass SMSs to people promoting its new “limited-edition range”.

Companies that contravene the law face a fine of up to R1-million.

Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway Wednesday announced that he has joined with 46 other attorneys general in an agreement with Shell Oil Products U.S. and its joint venture Motiva Enterprises LLC to reduce sales of cigarettes to minors.

Shell and Motiva supply gasoline through approximately 14,000 gas stations in the United States. Many of these gas stations include independently-operated convenience stores that sell a multitude of items, including tobacco products. Shell and Motiva have agreed to adopt procedures through their franchise agreements that are designed to reduce sales of cigarettes to minors.

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.

Tobacco firms spend $1M a day sponsoring campus events, giveaways, lung association says.

Fewer U.S. college students (1 in 5) are smoking than ever before, but college and university leaders need to take a stand against aggressive tobacco industry marketing tactics to ensure student smoking rates don’t increase, a new American Lung Association report finds.

“Colleges and universities have a responsibility to provide safe spaces in which their students can learn and live. This should include an environment free from secondhand smoke and advertising that encourages young adults to use deadly tobacco products,” Bernadette A. Toomey, president and CEO of the American Lung Association, said in a news release about the report released Sept. 8.

The Mississippi State University health education and wellness department is teaming up with the ACT Center for Tobacco Treatment, Education and Research in Jackson to offer a tobacco cessation program for students, staff and faculty. The program and medications are provided free of charge and funded through the University Medical Center.

The ACT Tobacco Free Program combines free counseling and medication to treat nicotine addiction. Those who enroll must attend counseling sessions once a week for six weeks or be charged for the medications used during that time.

The facts about smoking are hard to deny. Learn the facts about smoking, and learn how to quit!

To say that the facts about smoking are questionable is like saying guns aren’t dangerous. As a result of Inhaling tobacco smoke we greatly increase the potential of heart disease, cancer, breathing issues, potential deadly effects during pregnancy, stomach problems plus gum and teeth problems, these are the real facts about smoking!

The Kenosha County Tobacco Free Coalition and Racine on the Lake Tobacco Free Coalition are offering the free program, “Helping People Quit: Why Treating Tobacco Dependence Should Be Part of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Programs,” from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Thursday in the Madrigrano Conference Center at Gateway Technical College, 3520 30th Ave., Kenosha.

Discussion will focus on what new studies have shown about the impact of tobacco use within the mental health community. The guest speaker is Dr. Eric Heiligenstein, clinical director of psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Health Services. He specializes in the overlap between tobacco use and psychiatric disorders.