Tobacco.org

• Some firms benefit as cigarette smoking drops  

"There's smoking restrictions and pressure from those around you who don't want you to smoke," said Mark Rozelle, a spokesman for Stamford-based UST. "I think what's happening is as more people switch to smokeless tobacco, it becomes a socially acceptable alternative to smoking."

In a recent letter published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Gregory Connolly, director of Harvard University's Tobacco Control Research program, cited a reduction in cigarette sales, but an increase in the use of alternative tobacco products such as snuff, small cigars and roll-your-own cigarettes.

Americans bought 17.4 billion packs of cigarettes in 2007, down from 21.1 billion in 2000, according to the letter. During the same period, sales of snuff, small cigars, and roll-your-own cigarettes increased by an equivalent of 1.1 billion packs. . . .

UST officials and representatives from the cigar lobby, dismiss the idea that smokers are turning to other tobacco products just because the price of cigarettes are rising.

"Price has the least to do with it," Rozelle said.

UST and other smokeless tobacco have used millions of dollars to promote their products to the smoking community, letting them know that there are other alternatives out there to cigarettes, Rozelle said.

UST has invested $100 million annually to these advertising efforts since 2001, Rozelle added. . . .

Owners of small cigar and tobacco shops in lower Fairfield County are unsure if Connolly's numbers are translating to higher sales for them.

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Norwich police arrest 10 for selling tobacco  

Norwich police issued infractions to 10 people, including one minor, for sale of tobacco to a minor during a three-hour period Wednesday afternoon.

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Peachtree fire ruled accidental  

Officials say discarded smoking materials sparked the April 26 blaze that destroyed much of the 120-unit Peachtree Apartment complex and displaced more than 150 residents.

On Wednesday, the six-alarm fire at 2 Westledge Drive officially was ruled accidental.

No criminal charges are expected, Norwich Fire Marshal Kenneth Scandariato said. . . .

A first-floor tenant admitted smoking in the area where the fire started, which Scandariato said was at the base of the deck of a rear apartment of building No. 14.

Conditions were ripe for a fire. . . .

"Unbelievable," was the first reaction of former Peachtree tenant Mark White, 51, when he heard what caused the fire. . . . "If it was just someone who finished a cigarette and flicked it off the deck -- I'm pretty damn angry about that. That area always collects not only pine needles but leaves."

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Teachers and students: Smoking on its way down 

Fairfield teens and school faculty agree that teen smoking is on a decline. . . .

"From an observational standpoint, over last 10 years, I have noticed a decrease in the number of kids who are smoking," Fairfield Warde High School Principal James Coyne said. "There are very few incidents of smoking in the school building."

Coyne said smoking is addressed in the health curriculum in Fairfield public schools.

"It is addressed in curricular ways," he said. "The health curriculum addresses it. Also, several students, through the Young American Cancer Society, take on the topic in our schools." . . .

"Teen Smoke Stoppers," a smoking prevention and cessation program, sponsored by St. Vincent's Medical Center and "Swim Across the Sound," is offered free of charge in Fairfield public schools.

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• State urges end to tobacco Web sales  

In his latest crusade against teenage smoking, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is butting heads with Stamford-based UST Inc.

Blumenthal wants Congress to add tobacco to the list of items banned from mail delivery, a step he claims would effectively block Internet sales of cigarettes to minors and those seeking to evade paying state taxes.

UST, the world's leading producer of moist smokeless tobacco products, is lobbying against such a ban. The holding company and its public affairs arm reported spending $650,000 in the first quarter of 2008 on lobbying Congress, according to a quarterly report recently filed with the U.S. Senate.

Although $650,000 may seem large, it represents only a small fraction of special interest lobbying. . . .

Beyond the sale of cigarettes to minors, Blumenthal said the Internet is costing states tax revenues, particularly those that have enacted high taxes like Connecticut. The state's $2-a-pack tax is one of the highest in the nation.

Prudential Financial Research estimated that states lost $254.7 million in excise taxes in 2002 as a result of Internet cigarette sales.

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• House Snuffs Out Proposal To Ban Smoking At Casinos 

Hartford - The House of Representatives will not take up a proposal that could have extended the state smoking ban to the Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos, the chamber's leader said Tuesday.

One day before the adjournment deadline of the 2008 regular session, the decision by the House Democrats effectively killed the bill, which had been aggressively sought by some labor groups but opposed by other unions and by the owners of the two casinos, the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes.

In a closed-door meeting of the House Democratic caucus, opinion had run nearly two-to-one against the bill, said House Speaker James A. Amann, D-Milford, who had previously expressed skepticism about the proposal but agreed to consider a vote on it amid fierce lobbying from the United Auto Workers union.

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HARROP: States and casinos become codependent addicts 

Loath to tax the citizenry based on income, many states have increasingly turned to cigarette smokers and gamblers for revenues. Gamblers are often smokers, and both groups tend to be of modest or low income. . . .

And when states ban smoking in all entertainment venues but the casino, they end up securing an especially dependable revenue stream. As public policy goes, this means of taxation is highly unattractive. After all, they are funneling their smoker population into another highly taxed and unhealthy activity. As an added anti-social bonus, they discriminate against other businesses in search of the same entertainment dollar.

But the casino industry knows that its profits have become oh-so-important to the gambling-addicted states and localities. We're partners now.

That mentality explains how Donald Trump could stand up a few days ago and with a straight face call on 11 casinos to unite in a lawsuit against Atlantic City. . . .

A similar conversation is going on in Connecticut. . . .

Perhaps someone would like to tote up how many jobs would be created -- at the pubs, fish restaurants and pool halls in New London and elsewhere in the region -- if the smokers who had left them for the casinos suddenly started returning. Or a general accounting of how many jobs elsewhere in the economy have vanished because of casino competition.

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Casino smoking ban could face fiscal roadblock 

About two hours before the state Senate approved a bill that would lead to a ban on smoking at the two Indian casinos in southeastern Connecticut, a decision Friday night by majority Democrats in the House of Representatives had appeared to kill the measure.

The Senate passed the bill 24-11.

House Speaker James A. Amann, D-Milford, moments after announcing that Democrats had ended efforts to negotiate a revised 2009 state budget with Gov. M. Jodi Rell, said it wouldn't be wise to consider the casino measure in the House since it could cost a deficit-plagued state budget more revenue.

When asked whether it would make sense to vote on the casino measure in the House, Amann responded "I would say the answer is 'no.'"

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Senate passes casino smoking ban bill  

Despite opposition from the state's two federally recognized tribes, the legislature is moving ahead with a bill that bans smoking in their casinos.

After a lengthy debate that included a two-hour Republican filibuster, the Senate voted 24-11 to create a committee to work with the Mashantucket Pequots and Mohegans to negotiate a smoking ban next year.

The bill moves to the House of Representatives. But House Speaker Jim Amann said he likely won't bring it up for a vote.

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Casino smoking ban passes, could cost state $50 million 

About two hours before the state Senate approved a bill that would lead to a ban on smoking at the two Indian casinos in southeastern Connecticut, a decision late Friday by majority Democrats in the House of Representatives had appeared to kill the measure.

The Senate passed the bill 24-11.

House Speaker James A. Amann, D-Milford, moments after announcing that Democrats had ended efforts to negotiate a revised 2009 state budget with Gov. M. Jodi Rell, said it wouldn't be wise to consider the casino measure in the House since it could cost a deficit-plagued state budget more revenue.

When asked whether it would make sense to vote on the casino measure in the House, Amann said "I would say the answer is 'no.'"

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Senate vote on casino smoking ban could come today 

cratic leaders in the Senate moved a controversial bill to ban smoking in the state's Indian casinos off the foot of the calendar Wednesday night but took no further action late that evening.

A vote on the bill could come as soon as today, said Sen. Mary Ann Handley, D-Manchester, who supports extending the ban.

The bill would appoint a committee to negotiate an extension of Connecticut's 2003 ban on smoking in bars, restaurants and other workplaces to Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods Resort Casino, the two tribal-owned casinos, which are currently exempt.

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Tribes lobbying against proposed smoking ban 

The state Senate had taken no action by Thursday evening on a bill extending the ban on indoor smoking to Connecticut's two tribal casinos.

The bill, which had once seemed stalled, was revived from the foot of the Senate calendar Wednesday, to the displeasure of the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes, which own Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun, as well as many area legislators.

Both tribes have insisted that they will negotiate on the possible extension of the existing ban to the casinos only if legislative efforts are abandoned.

Also opposed to the legislation are most of the lawmakers from the southeastern Connecticut towns surrounding Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, who have urged leadership and Gov. M. Jodi Rell to negotiate a settlement on smoking, rather than pass a law they fear would poison relations with the tribal governments.

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Possible Senate Vote Today on Smoking Ban 

Hartford - The Senate may take up the proposed ban on cigarette smoking in casinos this afternoon, over the objections of local lawmakers and the tribal owners of Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods.

Sources familiar with the Democratic majority’s plans said Friday morning they believed Senate leaders would run the smoking ban bill, which would appoint a committee to negotiate on extending the state’s smoking ban to the casinos, but would automatically extend the ban next February if no agreement has been reached.

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Amann, Rell Oppose Casino Smoking Ban 

The Senate debated into the night Friday whether to approve a proposal to ban smoking at the state's two tribal casinos. But all the talk about workers' health, potential legal challenges and tribal sovereignty is expected to have little effect on cigarettes and gambling.

Neither Gov. M. Jodi Rell nor House Speaker James Amann, D-Milford, appear to support the ban. When asked late Friday if the House would consider the casino smoking ban bill, Amann responded: "I would think the answer would be no."

The state is projecting a deficit next year of as much as $80 million and could stand to lose more revenue if smokers start avoiding the casinos. The state receives 25 percent of the casinos' take from their thousands of slot machines. That equaled $430 million in the last fiscal year, senators said.

According to Amann, Rell would veto any smoking ban bill because of the potential impact on the state budget. Rell has already called for the legislation to be rejected in favor of direct negotiations with the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes toward a smoking ban.

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Senate passes casino smoking ban bill  

Despite opposition from the state's two federally recognized tribes, the legislature is moving ahead with a bill that bans smoking in their casinos.

After a lengthy debate that included a two-hour Republican filibuster, the Senate voted 24-11 to create a committee to work with the Mashantucket Pequots and Mohegans to negotiate a smoking ban next year.

The bill moves to the House of Representatives. But House Speaker Jim Amann said he likely won't bring it up for a vote.

Proponents say the state has the responsibility to protect workers at the casino from exposure to second-hand smoke, even though the tribes are sovereign nations.

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