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• No butts about it, Lebanon's a smoker's paradise 

Want to indulge in a guilt-free tobacco experience? Then head to Lebanon, a smoker's paradise where you can work, dine and have your hair styled in a cloud of smoke.

The anti-smoking lobby is barely a blip on the radar and the government cares little about the issue.

So the price of Cuban Havanas is among the world's cheapest, cigarettes are free of punitive pricing and the health warnings are barely visible on the side of packs -- a far cry from the bold warnings and images the World Health Organisation (WHO) is promoting this Sunday on "World No Tobacco Day".

Even teenagers can afford the average one dollar per pack, compared to an average seven dollars (five euros) in France or nearly nine dollars in Britain.

"The minute you land in this country you start huffing and puffing," said Ghazi Zaatari, a physician and chairman of the department of pathology at the American University of Beirut as well as head of a WHO study group on tobacco regulation.

"As far as tobacco is concerned, Lebanon is a health disaster."

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As far as tobacco is concerned, Lebanon is a health disaster.
Ghazi Zaatari, a physician and chairman of the department of pathology at the American University of Beirut as well as head of a WHO study group on tobacco regulation.

• FEDYASHIN: World No Tobacco Day, futile attempt to curb smoking 

We advise our readers to go out on May 31 and to see how many smokers are there. Anyone who comes to Russia or any other former Soviet republic will be in for a big surprise. Those going to China or India will be horrified and will realize that World No Tobacco Day is something far-fetched. . . .

It appears that tobacco health warnings are a sign of despair. Although this will now be the twenty-first World No Tobacco Day, the ranks of smokers continue to swell. The WHO estimates that global tobacco consumption has soared by 20% since 2003, primarily in Africa and Asia, which have been targeted by transnational tobacco companies over the last nine years.

China leads the global smoking spree. . . .

Contrary to a widespread opinion, the U.S. government has not declared a federal ban on smoking in public places. Only 25 states have banned smoking on the local level. In 12 more states, adults are allowed to smoke in bars, restaurants and casinos. Although some municipal councils have banned smoking in 13 remaining states, no federal smoking ban is envisaged there.

The WHO estimates that at least five million will die from tobacco-related causes throughout 2009 worldwide, and that this figure will reach 8-10 million by 2020, unless smokers' ranks are reduced. Smoking may claim a billion lives in the 21st century.

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• Youth smoking rate has flatlined 

Youth smoking seems like a problem Canada has addressed. Minors can't legally buy cigarettes in stores and displays are banned.

Yet, after a decade-long decline in youth smoking, the rate has flatlined.

One in five Canadian adolescents report having tried smoking in a national survey run by a University of Waterloo researcher.

"We can't forget that the tobacco industry is a formidable enemy," said Steve Manske, a scientist with UW's Centre for Behavioural Research and Program Evaluation.

"They have very effective ways of continuing to make their product seem desirable."

Manske's latest data, from a Health Canada-sponsored survey of Grade 6 to 12 students, shows 21 per cent had tried smoking in 2006-07. Among students in Grade 10 to 12, that number is even higher -- 48 per cent.

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• Cigarette Butts - Tiny Trash That Piles Up 

For her and countless other American smokers, cigarette butts are an exception to the no-littering rule. "Aren't cigarettes biodegradable?" volunteered Libby Moustakas, a co-worker who was enjoying a smoking break with Ms. Scott.

But dozens of municipalities across the nation have had enough. Weary of the butts' unsightliness and the costs of sweeping them up, cities have passed bans on smoking on beaches and playgrounds. In San Francisco, Mayor Gavin Newsom said last week that he would go a step further, seeking a 33-cents-a-pack tax to cover the $11 million that the city spends annually to remove cigarette litter.

Nationally, cigarette butts account for one-quarter or more of the items tossed onto streets and other roadways, San Francisco and other cities report.

Nathan Ballard, a spokesman for Mr. Newsom, described this as a predictable outcome of poor product design. "There is no good practical way of dealing with cigarettes," he said. "You have a fiery object in your hand and so you have to throw it down and crush it under your heel. And then we have to clean it up."

In her defense, Ms. Scott, the Chicago executive, pointed out that her city does not provide enough receptacles . . .

For many environmentalists, the problem is not just the litter, but the toxicity.

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• Caterers Will Sue Croatia Over Smoking Ban  

ZAGREB, CROATIA – Since May 6, when the smoking ban was applied in all catering objects, a drastic drop of business has been recorded, the Guild of Caterers and Tourism Employees, as well as the Croatian Chamber of Commerce`s Trade Guild told a press conference, without announcing any specific figures on the drop.

- The law was planning to protect non-smokers, but the legislative body did not have caterers in mind. I do not support violating the law, but I understand the colleague from Slovenia, who paced a sign reading “Smoking allowed” on his cafe – Mato Topic said.

The Croatian Chamber of Commerce is preparing a Constitutional lawsuit against Croatia, because the same conditions for all caterers have not been introduced. Those objects which do not have terraces, where smoking is allowed, cannot host smokers.

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• Tough anti-smoking measures split Croatia 

Croatia now has one of the strictest anti-tobacco laws in the Balkans region and not everyone is happy about it.

"I am aware that cigarettes are not good for health and can bother others, but this is my luxury, a moment of relaxation," said Zeljko, a 40-year-old male nurse, sitting outside a Zagreb cafe.

"In the Balkans, it is also a question of mentality," he boasted, brandishing a coffee in one hand and a cigarette in the other.

The World Health Organization backs this up. Thirty to 40 percent of all adults in the Balkans are inveterate smokers, its figures show, hooked on a habit the WHO -- which marks "World No Tobacco Day" on Sunday -- considers a major cause of premature death.

But owners of Croatian drinking holes fear the new ban on public smoking has come at the worst possible time for their businesses, with the country already grappling with the global financial crisis.

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• Fast-food restaurants to become smoke-free zones as of June 1 

The Kingdom’s fast-food restaurants will officially become smoke-free zones as of June 1, the Ministry of Health said on Thursday.

In a statement sent to The Jordan Times, the Health Ministry said the decision was taken in collaboration with the Jordan Restaurants Association (JRA), as part of a plan to declare all restaurants smoke-free by the end of this year.

JRA President Zeid Goussous said the association is still conducting a study on the impact of the law before implementing it in tourist restaurants, noting that they “still need more time to study its effect on business”.

“It is easier to implement the law in fast-food restaurants,” Goussous told The Jordan Times yesterday, adding that the decision and the implementation mechanism will depend on the results of the study.

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• WHO tells governments to put images of 'sickness and suffering' on cigarette packs 

Cigarette packages should include images of sickness and suffering caused by tobacco, along with written warnings, the World Health Organization said Friday.

The U.N. agency urged governments to make people more aware of the health consequences of smoking. It said most countries still do not warn consumers of the risks on packages of cigarettes, cigars and other tobacco.

"Health warnings on tobacco packages are a simple, cheap and effective strategy that can vastly reduce tobacco use and save lives," said Dr. Ala Alwan, a senior WHO official. "Warnings that include images of the harm that tobacco causes are particularly effective at communicating risk and motivating behavioral changes, such as quitting or reducing tobacco consumption."

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• Pakistanis spend Rs1.2bn on tobacco every year 

Although tobacco is injurious to health, people in the country consume tobacco and its by-products worth Rs1.2 billion annually while the government has failed to take concrete steps to protect the masses from the health hazard involved in it.

This was pointed out by health professionals belonging to various medical organisations at a press briefing held on Friday at the Karachi Press Club in connection with World No Tobacco Day, being observed on May 31.

The briefing was organised under the aegis of the National Alliance for Tobacco Control.

The speakers called for effective tobacco control to save around 100,000 lives lost every year in the country to the diseases caused by tobacco use.

Dr Nadeem Rizvi, head of the JPMC chest diseases department, said that more than 50 per cent of deaths because of lung diseases could be prevented by eradicating smoking.

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• Group wants R rating for any film with smoking  

Smoking in youth-rated movies has not declined despite a pledge two years ago by Hollywood studios to encourage producers to show less "gratuitous smoking," according to an anti-smoking group.

The American Medical Association Alliance has been trying to get movie studios to make smoking-free films. . . .

Fielding cited another study that he said "found that adolescents whose favorite movie stars smoked on screen are significantly more likely to be smokers themselves and to have a more accepting attitude toward smoking." . . .

American Medical Association Alliance President Sandi Frost used as her chief example of a movie with "gratuitous smoking" this month's blockbuster "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," which was rated PG-13 "for intense sequences of action and violence, and some partial nudity."

"Millions of children have been exposed to the main star of the film, Hugh Jackman, with a cigar in his mouth in various scenes," Frost said. "I'm willing to bet that not one child would have enjoyed that movie or Mr. Jackman's performance any less if he hadn't been smoking."

A spokesman for Twentieth Century Fox, the studio responsible for the Wolverine movie series, said Jackman's cigar was never lit and it was limited to just two scenes.

In one scene, the cigar is shot out of his mouth, prompting Jackman's Wolverine character to suggest its loss would lead to clean living -- an anti-smoking statement -- the studio spokesman said.

He said that while the Wolverine character has a cigar in his mouth in almost every panel of the comic book series, producers made "a conscious decision" to limit the cigar in the movie.

The Motion Picture Association of America, the industry group that issues ratings and parental guidance for U.S. films, added smoking scenes as a factor in ratings two years ago, but Fielding said it has not made a difference.

"In all, 56 percent of the top box office movies with smoking released between May 2007 and May 2009 were youth-rated films -- G, PG or PG-13," he said.

Joan Graves, who chairs the Motion Picture Association's movie rating committee, offered her own statistics, based on all of the 900 films rated each year, not just the top movies included in Fielding's numbers.

The association has given no G ratings in the past two years to a movie with smoking, Graves said.

Overall, 55 percent of the movies rated in the past two years showed some smoking, but 75 percent of those with smoking scenes were given R ratings, Graves said. Twenty-one percent were rated PG-13 and the remaining 5 percent were PG, she said.

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• ADKINS: Tobacco Taxes and Schizophrenia  

With any change in state policy there is always unintended consequences. It is estimated by researchers that 44% of all cigarettes sold in the United States are sold to people with mental illness. Studies show that persons with mental illness spend 27% of their income seeking tobacco products. It is well known there is a strong connection between schizophrenia and how nicotine works in the brain. The nicotine provides brief alleviation of psychotic symptoms or “voices” this is one reason many law enforcement officers know something as simple as a cigarette can help reduce tension.

In Florida there are 5379 individuals with a mental illness who are reported to live in a state licensed limited mental health assisted living facility. Many of these residents have a primary diagnosis of schizophrenia and 90% are addicted to smoking or nicotine products.

For most of these people the terrible consequences of nicotine addiction include cardiac problems, COPD, bladder cancer and a host of other complications. It seems to make sense, just raise the price and they will quit. This is a case of easier said than done.

Even though residents will seek to quit smoking and we get them started on the nicotine patch, because of the diminished insight that accompanies schizophrenia many will keep on smoking cigarettes in addition to using the nicotine patch, a very dangerous combination. . . .

At our facility we have a tobacco resale license which allows us to purchase cigarettes from a wholesaler. We will purchase the cigarettes each month on behalf of the residents, for what we consider to be a month’s supply would generally be $38/month at wholesale prices. This provides enough tobacco for 4 cigs per time four times per day.

The new federal cigarette tax will pay for children’s health insurance will exact a significant toll on persons with mental illness. . . .

There are no smoking cessation programs in place that address the needs of persons with schizophrenia. Despite the tobacco lawsuits of the 1990’s, Florida’s adults with schizophrenia have paid a higher cost in terms of increased costs associated with tobacco and the debilitating effects these products have on their general health.

For many people with schizophrenia they would prefer to get their nicotine needs met and will elect to live at a homeless shelter, take up housing in an unlicensed assisted living facility where there is no supervision or will seek housing in settings that could be best described as unstable. This all creates a tsunami for state budget planners and new challenges for patients and families.

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• E-Cigarettes May Soon Hit The Battlefield 

Known as "No. 9 Stealth", this e-cigarette is more subdued and not bright white. It comes without the characteristic LED on the end that simulates the light given off by a cigarette. With no carcinogens, flame or light being emitted from the No. 9 Stealth, it could be what some soldiers have been wanting for years.

"The idea came from a military vet who served with the 11th ACR, "Blackhorse Regiment" in Vietnam and Iraq," says Kyle of Ecigaretteschoice.com. "No matter how well you cup a cigarette with your hands, the red glow shows through and it makes you a perfect target for snipers, especially at night. He thought e-cigarettes were a great idea, but if the LED is removed and the battery is colored right, it's a comfort item for soldiers who want a smoke out in the field.

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No. 9 Stealth
New e-cigarette is meant to obviate the battlefield's "3 on a match" dangers.

• Smoking triggers more stress: Survey 

With a survey showing a quarter of smokers worried about the recession are smoking more, and another 13 per cent are delaying quitting for the same reason, experts say the new report reflects an urgent need to debunk the "mythic relaxation response" of cigarettes. . . .

Drawing on data from 2,250 adults, Pew Research — a non-partisan American think-tank — found half (50 per cent) of all smokers claim to experience frequent stress in their lives, compared with just 35 per cent of ex-smokers and 31 per cent of non-smokers. Even controlling for basic demographic traits such as sex, age, education, income and parental status, the researchers say current smokers are still significantly more likely than non-smokers and quitters to have self-reported stress.

"Many smokers perceive smoking as a way to calm stress, when, in fact, what they're doing is satisfying nicotine cravings and withdrawal," says Rob Cunningham, senior policy analyst for the Canadian Cancer Society. "In many respects, smoking — or the delay in having a cigarette — is the cause of stress."

Cunningham believes Pew's report supports the need for more educational messages about the link between stress and tobacco use. At the same time, he's not convinced the deepening economic turmoil will necessarily increase smoking rates in Canada, which have remained flat (roughly one in five people) since 2005.

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• Shoveling Up II: The Impact of Substance Abuse on Federal, State and Local Budgets 

NEW CASA REPORT FINDS FEDERAL, STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS SPEND ALMOST HALF A TRILLION DOLLARS A YEAR ON SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND ADDICTION OF EVERY FEDERAL AND STATE DOLLAR SPENT, 96 CENTS GOES TO SHOVEL UP WRECKAGE OF ILLNESS, CRIME, SOCIAL ILLS; ONLY 2 CENTS GOES TO PREVENTION AND TREATMENT . . .

Substance abuse and addiction cost federal, state and local governments at least $467.7 billion in 2005, according to Shoveling Up II: The Impact of Substance Abuse on Federal, State and Local Budgets, a new 287-page report released today by The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University.

The CASA report found that of $373.9 billion in federal and state spending, 95.6 percent ($357.4 billion) went to shovel up the consequences and human wreckage of substance abuse and addiction; only 1.9 percent went to prevention and treatment, 0.4 percent to research, 1.4 percent to taxation and regulation, and 0.7 percent to interdiction.

The report, based on three years of research and analysis, is the first ever to assess the costs of tobacco, alcohol and illegal and prescription drug abuse to all levels of government. Using the most conservative assumptions, the study concluded that the federal government spent $238.2 billion; states, $135.8 billion; and local governments, $93.8 billion, in 2005

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• Drug Abuse-Related Government Spending Hit $468 Billion, Report Says 

Government spending related to smoking and the abuse of alcohol and illegal drugs reached $468 billion in 2005, accounting for more than one-tenth of combined federal, state and local expenditures for all purposes, according to a new study.

Most abuse-related spending went toward direct health care costs for lung disease, cirrhosis and overdoses, for example, or for law enforcement expenses including incarceration, according to the report released Thursday by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse . . .

The study is the first to calculate abuse-related spending by all three levels of government.

"This is such a stunning misallocation of resources," said Joseph A. Califano Jr., chairman of the center, referring to the lack of preventive measures. "It's a commentary on the stigma attached to addictions and the failure of governments to make investments in the short run that would pay enormous dividends to taxpayers over time."

Beyond resulting in poor health and crime, addictions and substance abuse -- especially alcohol -- are major underlying factors in other costly social problems like homelessness, domestic violence and child abuse. . . .

The new report cites the antismoking campaigns of the last several decades as a promising model: education, higher taxes and restrictions on smoking zones have cut the incidence of smoking by close to half, saving billions in costs. It called for similar efforts to curb under-age drinking and excess alcohol consumption by adults, using higher taxes on beer, for example.

Even with tobacco, far more could be done, according to the report, which noted that only a small fraction of the more than $200 billion the states have received since 1998 under the Multi-State Tobacco Settlement had gone to prevention of smoking.

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