Tobacco.org

Plan would limit smoking at Palomar 

Walking across the Palomar College main campus can seem like a stroll backward in time, to an era of prevalent and loosely restricted smoking.

But students who have pushed for two years to keep the clouds of secondhand smoke limited to a few outdoor areas have cleared a major hurdle, despite objections from faculty and staff labor groups.

If approved by the community college district board of trustees, the proposal would make five designated smoking areas the only places on campus where it is permissible to light up.

The proposed policy was approved on a 13-5 vote of the college's Strategic Planning Council this week.

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Carlsbad Council To Draft Beach Smoking Ban Ordinance 

Another county beach is on its way to being added to the list of places where smoking is banned.

The Carlsbad City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to draft an ordinance banning smoking on Carlsbad beaches.

The Council will vote on the ordinance in early June.

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Carlsbad Set To Ban Smoking On Beaches, Parks 

The Carlsbad City Council is preparing to ban smoking on the city's beaches and parks, it was reported Wednesday.

Members of the council voted unanimously Tuesday night to direct city staff to draft the ordinance that would spell out the ban, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

The decision comes three years after a group of Carlsbad High School students approached the council and asked for such a ban.

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And the (stop smoking) winner is...  

the California department of health's anti-smoking TV ad competition. Jeff Rubin of Los Angeles, who gave up smoking four years ago, won first place with an entry called "Other Ways to Use a Cigarette" that "highlights the toxic chemicals found in cigarettes," according to the California department of health. Rubin's other uses include paving roads (with tar) . . .

Rubin's ad will debut during this Tuesday's "Idol" show in L.A. and Sacramento. You can view it, and other finalists, here. I took a look: Rubin's ad was snappy and smart. The funniest of the top five (it came in fourth) was "Lonely Cowboy," in which a cowboy out in the fields stubs out a cigarette, informs you that men who smoke are 60% more likely to experience erectile dysfunction, and asks, "Why do you think I spend so much time out here alone?"

The people's choice -- and I found this one the most powerful, too -- was "Left Behind,"

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City gets tough on smoking outdoors 

The City Council took the first step Monday in enacting some of the toughest anti-smoking regulations in the San Gabriel Valley.

If ultimately approved, the new rules would prohibit smoking in outdoor shopping and dining areas, in ATM and movie ticket lines, within 20 feet of building entrances and at outdoor events including the Rose Parade.

The council's vote Monday instructed the City Attorney's Office to draft the new ordinance, a process that typically takes about a month, said Pasadena Health Director Takashi Wada. The council would then vote to approve the new statute, which would take effect about 30 days later.

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City Council to hear report on proposed smoking ban  

CARLSBAD - After three years of lobbying by a pair of teenagers to get the City Council to ban smoking in public places, that push will bear fruit Tuesday.

Not in a proposed ordinance, but in a three-page report.

Angela Caraglio was a junior at Carlsbad High School and a member of the campus environmental club in May 2005, when she first went to the City Council to advocate a ban on smoking at city parks and beaches.

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• Tobacco dollars still in politics, but few go to Clinton, McCain or Obama 

Among candidates still standing or running...

... Sen. Hillary Clinton has taken the most -- $46,300 from executives and employees of tobacco companies.

Sen. John McCain, himself a cancer survivor, has taken $27,400.

Sen. Barack Obama, who famously has tried to quit smoking with off-and-on success, has taken $22,000, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

These remaining candidates have not been particularly kind to the tobacco industry, according to Stanton Glantz, an anti-tobacco advocate, researcher and medical school professor at University of California, San Francisco.

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CARLSBAD: City to consider smoking ban 

City staff members will ask Carlsbad's leaders Tuesday whether they want to ban smoking at beaches and in city parks.

If the council goes for it, this would be the first step toward creating an ordinance. It also would mean Carlsbad is no longer the last North County coastal holdout against such a ban.

Every other North County coastal city ---- Del Mar, Encinitas, Oceanside and Solana Beach ---- already prohibits smoking at the beach, as does the city of San Diego.

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Alhambra weighs park smoking ban  

Smoking in public parks would be banned if Alhambra council members approve a plan now being drawn up by the city's legal counsel.

Such a ban has been the focus of a months-long campaign by the Asian Youth Center, a nonprofit group that provides services for teenagers. The group has called on the City Council to pursue the idea, backed by a survey center officials say proves it has strong public support.

On Monday, council members voted 3-1 to direct their city attorney to draft an ordinance that would ban smoking in parks.

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CARAGLIO: Carlsbad needs smoke-free areas  

This is to all the citizens of Carlsbad who are wondering why Carlsbad has not passed a smoke-free ordinance like many other cities in San Diego County. I am really wondering, too.

I am the one who made a presentation more than a year ago to the Carlsbad parks and recreation commissioners to do so. They unanimously passed my proposal and promised me that they would work on an agenda bill, pass it to all the pertinent departments within the city, and then present it to the Carlsbad City Council for approval.

My sister and I have been working on encouraging the city to pass such an ordinance for almost three years. . . .

Call or write the Carlsbad mayor and the city council members to let them know that you want the city to step up and be really concerned about our health and environment by providing smoke-free parks and recreational areas.

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City Council to hear report on proposed smoking ban 

CARLSBAD – After three years of lobbying by a pair of teenagers to get the City Council to ban smoking in public places, that push will bear fruit Tuesday.

Not in a proposed ordinance, but in a three-page report.

Angela Caraglio was a junior at Carlsbad High School and a member of the campus environmental club in May 2005, when she first went to the City Council to advocate a ban on smoking at city parks and beaches.

The council advised the school club to start with the city Parks and Recreation Commission, which advises the council on park issues.

Caraglio has since graduated and moved on to Sonoma State University, where she's a sophomore.

She passed the baton to her younger brother, Michael . . .

Michael wants to see a ban on smoking in public places – most of Carlsbad's beach is under state control . . .

After Michael wrote his letter, he got a response from Sally Lyons, chairwoman of the commission.

“I didn't realize till last month he was having problems getting it on the agenda,” Lyons said. “We as commissioners felt it had taken a long time and that's why we called staff and council, to push and help put it on the agenda.”

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• Mayor aims to kick drug stores’ habit  

San Francisco would become the first city in the nation to ban the sale of tobacco in pharmacies if legislation that was quietly introduced by Mayor Gavin Newsom is approved.

If the Board of Supervisors adopts the legislation, hundreds of pharmacies in The City would have to stop selling tobacco products — including cigarettes, cigars, pipes and chewing tobacco — as soon as October.

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Newsom Wants Butts Out Of Pharmacies  

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom wants to make it harder for smokers to buy cigarettes. In his effort to make San Francisco a healthy city, Newsom is proposing legislation to ban pharmacies from selling cigarettes and other tobacco products, including pipes.

The owner of Reliable Pharmacy in the Sunset District has been selling cigarettes for 35 years. Owner Sam Ching said he plans to stop sales whether the legislation passes or not.

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SAN FRANCISCO / Ban on tobacco at drug stores sought 

The sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products at drug stores would be illegal in San Francisco if an ordinance introduced this week by Mayor Gavin Newsom wins approval.

The proposed law is designed to curb tobacco sales at stores where pharmacists work, but would not apply to big box businesses such as Costco or to grocery stores. The ordinance is just one of a series of measures supported by the mayor intended to promote healthy living among San Francisco residents, said Newsom spokeswoman Giselle Barry.

"The spirit of this is that pharmacies are places people go to get better," she said. "They shouldn't be selling products that cause cancer."

The legislation, introduced Tuesday, would take effect on Oct. 1 if the Board of Supervisors approves it.

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APACHE WILDLAND FIRE: Lit Cigarette Blamed on Fire 

Fire officials said Thursday that a lit cigarette was the cause of the 784-acre Apache Wildland Fire burning in the San Jacinto Mountains.

During a news conference Thursday evening, U.S. Forest Service officials said a cigarette butt disgarded on a hiking trail sparked the fire. So far, crews have the blaze burning near Apache Peak at 25 percent containment.

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