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Utah Senate passes tobacco tax increase  

The tax on a pack of cigarettes would increase by about $1 under a bill approved by the Utah Senate.

The proposal from Sen. Allen Christensen, R-Ogden, that passed Thursday would hike the tobacco tax from 69.5 cents a pack to roughly $1.70.

The average state tobacco tax is $1.34 per pack, according to the National Tobacco Cessation Collaborative.

Christensen's proposal passed by a vote of 20-9, sending it to the H

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Utah House OKs bill to increase tobacco tax by $1  

The tax on a pack of cigarettes would increase by about $1 under a bill passed by the Utah House.

The proposal by Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, would up the tobacco tax from 69.5 cents a pack to roughly $1.70. The average state tobacco tax is $1.34 per pack, according to the National Tobacco Cessation Collaborative.

Lawmakers on Tuesday voted 39-35 to send House Bill 196 to the Senate. A similar bill that nearly triples the tax was voted down in a Senate committee recently but could come back.

Gov. Gary Herbert has said he opposes any tax increases, but hasn't promised to veto any.

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• Kenyan girls puff away 

As the world marks five years since the first framework on tobacco control came into place, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has raised concerns over an increased number of young girls smoking cigarettes in Kenya.

In an exclusive interview with Capital News, WHO Programme Officer in charge of Tobacco control Dr Joyce Nato said the latest statistics indicated that the ratio of young boys and girls smoking cigarettes is one-to-one, an increase from a 2001 report which indicated that in every 10 school going boys who smoked, only one girl smoked.

"This is a big worry because it means that our girls are picking up smoking very fast and tobacco use in girls is even more dangerous," Dr Nato said. . . .

Capital News spoke to a young lady who said she had been a smoker since she was in second year at the university.

"I find it cool to smoke. I grew up in a single parent family. My mum used to smoke and I admired it," Cassandra said.

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Tobacco-free bill lights up Senate debate 

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Consideration of a bill to enforce tobacco-free polices on college campuses led to a debate Thursday on the Senate floor about personal freedoms, health care and abortion.

Sen. Jim Halligan, R-Stillwater, urged the Senate to pass Senate Bill 1674, which would allow colleges and universities to levy fines of up to $100 for those found in violation of tobacco-free policies.

The measure ultimately was approved by a 29-11 vote and sent on to the House after discussions turned to curtailing personal liberties and casting consistent votes when it came to issues such as abortion regulations.

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Fatal fire in Pitman caused by careless smoking  

A fire that last month killed a Pitman woman and injured her mother was the result of careless smoking, the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office said today.

Barbara Powell, 61, died of smoke inhalation from the blaze, which started Feb. 3 around 4 a.m. Her mother, Jane Esbjornson, 85, has been released from Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, a spokesman said.

The accidental fire started in the living room near a chair, Det. Ronald Koller concluded through witness interviews and evidence including cigarette butts and fire pattern analysis, officials said.

It was undetermined who was smoking in the home the women shared on the 500 block of Wildwood Avenue, but Esbjornson went to bed first, officials said.

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What Is Nicotine Dependence? What Are The Dangers Of Smoking? 

Over one billion people globally smoke tobacco regularly.

USA statistics - according to the American Heart Association, 23.1% of men (24.8 million) and 18.3% of women (21.1 million) are smokers. According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) an estimated total of 443,000 deaths occur every year in the USA from cigarette smoking - almost 1 in every 5 deaths. That is more deaths than the combined total from HIV, illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides and murders

UK statistics - according to the National Health Service (NHS), UK, about one quarter of the adult population of the UK smokes (20 million people). . . .

Put simply - nicotine dependence means the individual cannot stop using the substance.

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SEEBALUCK: Smoking kills? 

The paradox is not the only thing which is common between the sea and the cigarettes. "Smoking kills," proclaim the cigarette containers, loud and clear. But so can the sea . . .

Government, in its infinite wisdom, together with a number of NGOs, has been leading several campaigns, and publishing numerous statistics to discourage the use of tobacco. It has even proscribed smoking in offices, hotels, restaurants, buses and several other public places. To what avail? Most smokers do abandon the office chair from time to time and go outside in the open to assuage their craving.

On the other hand, it would be interesting to know what effect the inscriptions on the cigarette containers have had on smokers. How many usual, or even casual, smokers have quit the habit after seeing the squalid pictures on these containers? How many people do really care to read and consider the warning signs?

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EDITORIAL: Tobacco tax 

Preventing the disease, premature death and health care expenses that smoking cause is a worthwhile thing to do.

The down side of this tax increase is that it is so selective. Only about 9 percent of Utahns smoke, so passing an added tax burden to them is hardly equitable. Smokers also tend to be less well off financially, so piling on new tobacco tax also is regressive. Both of these are additional reasons to moderate the tax hike the House has passed.

If it causes smokers to kick the habit, though, the tax hike would be worth it.

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EDITORIAL: Progress Up in Smoke?  

For the first time in more than a decade, Maine’s youth smoking rate has gone up, according to a statewide survey. Anti-smoking advocates make a persuasive case that raising the cigarette tax would stop this trend. Lawmakers must be persuaded that a one-year increase is a trend and they must be committed to using the extra tax revenue — $26 million — for smoking cessation, not to help fill the state’s budget gap before they consider raising the tobacco tax.

In 1996, Maine has one of the highest teen smoking rates in the country when 39 percent of high school students said they were smokers. Through a variety of steps, the rate was cut by more than half to 14 percent.

But, between 2007 and 2008, the rate crept back up to 18 percent . . .

A $1 per pack state tax increase would generate more than $26 million in revenue. Raising the tobacco tax to help plug the state’s large budget hole is the wrong reason to consider such a hike.

Financial pressure is only one of the tools the state has successfully used to reduce its youth and adult smoking rates. Maine has set aside much of the money it received from a national tobacco settlement for smoking prevention. Most states used the money for other purposes, mostly balancing their books during tough economic times.

The state has also expanded smoking bans to cover restaurants and bars and state-owned beaches.

A tax increase could again be part of this successful multifaceted approach.

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• MALMO: Tobacco Prohibition at Fraser Regional Correctional Center  

This article was written in Fraser but I chose to wait to publish it until after I was released - those who run the jail may not have taken my constructive criticism with a completely open mind. . . .

The object of tobacco prohibition, one must assume, is to protect non-smokers from second-hand smoke and to force smokers to stop smoking. One might also surmise there is a desire on the part of those running the institution to deny inmates a product that has traditionally served as a form of currency ... and to drive home the point that human autonomy - at least in prison - is non-existent.

The policy must be seen as a complete failure on every level. Fraser Regional is awash in tobacco. Every inmate returning from work is frisked, every incoming package is searched and frisk teams do random and target searches all the time - but you can smell the tobacco burning in the washrooms of minimum security - and individual rooms in maximum security - every day.

I don't know exactly how it keeps coming in ...

Almost every week or so another guy gets sent from minimum to maximum because he got caught smoking. But even though there are video cameras almost everywhere and next to no privacy, and even though the punishment for getting caught is being sent to maximum security to be locked in your cell for most of the day - a punishment that is enough to scare violent people into acting non-violently, these things hardly put a dent into the numbers of smokers or the amount of smoking. . . .

maybe, just maybe, the real reason for the policy of drug prohibition is not to prohibit drugs but rather to give some people who have the power to smuggle drugs into a place of prohibition without being searched a certain amount of money and power while providing guards or police with an excuse to go to greater and greater lengths to deny all individuals privacy and autonomy. If that was the real reason ... then tobacco prohibition and drug prohibition are both smashing successes - and could account for the continuation of a policy which, on the surface, appears as a dismal failure.

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Durant school district bans tobacco use 

Durant School Board members approved a policy, backed by Students Working Against Tobacco, banning the use of tobacco 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

According to a document, “the Board of Education recognizes that tobacco use has been shown to be linked to illnesses and disability and that federal law prohibits smoking in any indoor facility or the grounds thereof, which is used to provide educational services to children.”

All smoking, chewing or any other use of tobacco by staff, students and members of the public is prohibited on all school property by all persons at all times, including athletic events.

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New Mexico Cigarette Tax Increase Delivers Victory for Kids and Taxpayers, But Increase Needs to Be Permanent 

The New Mexico Legislature has taken important action to protect the state's kids and taxpayers from the devastating toll of tobacco use by increasing the state cigarette tax by 75 cents to $1.66 per pack. Increased tobacco taxes are a win-win-win solution for New Mexico – a health win that will reduce tobacco use and save lives, a financial win that will help to balance the state budget and fund essential programs, and a political win that polls show is popular with the voters. We look forward to Governor Bill Richardson signing this legislation into law. Also, to fully achieve the health and revenue benefits, New Mexico should make the increase permanent rather than allowing it to expire in four years, as would happen under the legislation. . . .

However, by failing to raise taxes on other tobacco products to match its new cigarette tax, New Mexico's legislators have missed an opportunity to raise additional revenue and to discourage the use of all tobacco products. It is also unfortunate that none of the new cigarette tax revenue is being allocated to fund programs to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit.

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73% of Georgia Voters Favor $1 Tobacco Tax Increase to Help Cut State's Budget Deficit 

As the Legislature prepares to reconvene next week, a new poll released today shows that 73 percent of Georgia voters support raising the tobacco tax by $1 per pack to cut the state’s budget deficit and help preserve Medicaid funding in the state.

This support comes from a broad-based coalition of voters, including 72 percent of Republicans, 79 percent of Democrats, and 65 percent of Independents. Even half of smokers (50 percent) support the tobacco tax increase to preserve health care funding.

"Now is the time for legislators to listen to the 73 percent of Georgia voters who want to raise the tobacco tax instead of cutting critical programs. These results show that, regardless of party, voters across Georgia understand raising the tobacco tax is a smart way to cut the deficit and protect our kids from tobacco," said Danny McGoldrick, Vice President for Research at the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

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Michelle Obama on Desiree Rogers, Rahm and Obama's smoking  

First Lady Michelle Obama discusses Desiree Rogers, Rahm Emanuel and President Obama's struggle to quit smoking in an interview with Politico's Nia-Malika Henderson.

MICHELLE OBAMA ON OBAMA'S STRUGGLE TO QUIT SMOKING

"What the president struggles with is what every smoker struggles with, it's a difficult habit to break. It's understandable that he struggles with it. Do I want him to stop completely? Absolutely. And I will push him to do so, but it's a process," Mrs. Obama tells Politico.

"I've never been a smoker so I can't relate, but people who've smoked say like anything, you have dips and valleys, and to try to quit smoking in one of the most stressful times of the nation's history is sort of like, you know, OK, he's going to struggle a little bit. This may be the year he'll struggle," she said.

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Last-minute battle brews over cigarette tax 

About $11 million that the state could collect from a proposed a 75-cent increase to the state’s cigarette tax would be partly used to fund early childhood development under a proposal a powerful state Senate committee approved Thursday morning. But that’s not what the state House of Representatives had in mind—the version they passed would put the $11 million to K-12 education.

That disagreement between the two chambers was the latest drama of this week’s special session.

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