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The Michigan Supreme Court has ruled that counties can put more stringent anti-smoking rules in place than state lawmakers.
Courts have said only the Legislature can ban smoking in restaurants and bars.
But local governments are prohibiting smoking inside other businesses because of secondhand smoke risks.
All seven justices on the high court said Tuesday that local officials can adopt stricter smoking regulations than the state to safeguard public health.
But the court split 4-3 on another issue, voting to uphold a northern Michigan health department's rules letting workers sue if they're fired for asserting the right to a smoke-free environment.
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The Michigan House voted today to ban smoking in workplaces including bars and restaurants, but allow it on gambling floors at Detroit's three casinos, cigar bars and specialty smoke shops.
The 73-31 vote set up another faceoff with the Senate, which last year voted for a total smoking ban, no exceptions.
The smoking ban remains a hot issue, led by anti-smoking advocates encouraged by smoking bans approved in recent weeks in Wisconsin and North Carolina, a tobacco industry state where a smoking ban was once unimaginable.
But like last year, a stalemate looms again between Michigan's House and Senate over whether to allow smoking in Detroit's casinos. A state imposed smoking ban would not affect Indian-run casinos.
Called a "Vaporette," the device is a cigarette replica containing a packet of liquid nicotine, without the flame, ash, tobacco, tar or carbon monoxide contained in traditional cigarettes. . . .
Distributed locally by Bay City resident Penny Warner, the invention is sold exclusively at Duso's, 604 E. Midland St., in Bay City. Closed for 12 years, Duso's reopened as a smoke-free bar on March 20 and sells kits of Vaporettes as a smoking alternative.
"I believe everyone has a choice in this nation," said Beth Dore, Duso's new owner. "Being a nonsmoker, I didn't feel I had a choice to go into a bar without smoke. Now there is a choice."
"My son saw them on CNN and 60 Minutes," added Warner. "They're a big thing in California right now because everything is smoke-free. We ordered some and just started selling them in Bay City and they seem to be going pretty well." . . .
While Warner is currently only distributing the Vaporettes to Duso's, she hopes to branch out in the near future, offering them at colleges, restaurants, hospital gift shops and airports. Interested parties can also buy them directly from her, by contacting her at 714-6452 or vaporette@live.com.
While Keillor's humorous take from 25 years ago on the possibilities of a total ban on smoking in America seemed unrealistic then, one must wonder today if such a concept will become a reality. Especially in light of smoking bans in public places mandated by law and now in effect throughout the country. Even the anti-smoking movement believes that it is unrealistic to believe that smoking will ever become illegal and their efforts are better spent eliminating smoking from public buildings and workplaces. . . .
No one is debating the fact that smoking is harmful to your health. But like a lot of things that are harmful it remains legal. The debate in Michigan is centered on two viewpoints and one "wild card." The position of those who are opposed to the any type of ban is about "choices" versus "public health" the position taken by the anti-smoking organizations and other public health groups. The "wild card," and probably the reason legislation has not been enacted in Michigan, is because of the casinos -- particularly the casinos owned by Native American tribes -- who are sovereign nations and would not be mandated by a smoking ban law. This would essentially give them a competitive advantage over other casinos and entertainment venues in Michigan. . . .
Currently, there are five "smoking ban" proposals in the House of Representatives and two in the State Senate. They range from a 100 percenter ban with no exemptions to "compromise" bills that would allow for exemptions for cigar bars and tobacco specialty stores and casinos. Nolan also sees a special permit for charities to obtain a possible exemption. These permits would be for "fundraising" through "cigar dinners," for example. He co-chairs the annual Father Fred Foundation Cigar Dinner (May 14) that now accounts for 25 percent of the foundation's annual operation budget.
All three University campuses will be smoke free when a new policy announced by University administrators yesterday takes effect on July 1, 2011.
The initiative is meant to reduce the health risks associated with secondhand smoke and reduce health costs associated with smoking.
“A healthier, smoke-free physical environment will only enhance the intellectual vigor of our campuses,” University President Mary Sue Coleman wrote in an campus-wide e-mail yesterday. “Our decision to become smoke-free aligns perfectly with the goals of MHealthy to improve the health of our community.”
University Chief Health Officer Robert Winfield and School of Public Health Dean Kenneth Warner will co-chair the Smoke Free University Steering Committee, which is charged with creating a dialogue on campus about the policy in order to get input from students, faculty and staff.
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Winfield said the policy is aimed at reducing secondhand smoke around campus in order to improve the overall health of the University community.
Lansing -- Advocates of a workplace smoking ban in Michigan will have to wait at least a few more months for the issue to return in the Legislature.
House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford Township, said he has decided the House should zero in this spring on balancing the cash-strapped budget and creating jobs in the wounded economy.
"The smoking ban is an important issue, but jobs and the budget are more important right now," Dillon said. "I see us getting back to the smoking issue by summer."
Senate Republicans agree.
"Until we get our unemployment rate down, issues like the smoking ban are not a good use of the Legislature's time," said Matt Marsden, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester.
Much to the dismay of struggling addicts in the Wolverine State, the Michigan Tobacco Quit Line has been shut down until October 1 because it just couldn't financially keep up with the requests for nicotine replacement therapy products.
As an organization that helps people fight another addiction (meat addiction, that is) we feel the quit line's pain.
That's why, after hearing about the help line's financial woes, we wrote a letter to the director of the Department of Community Health in Michigan offering to team up and help cover the hotline's costs. Our proposal includes renaming the quit line The Cancer Prevention Hotline (because that's the point, isn't it?) and including copies of PETA's free "Vegetarian Starter Kit" along with the other distributed materials.
Are you a smoker who needs another reason to quit? Did you know that most cigarettes are tested on animals? Gross.
More fallout from the down economy: The state shut down its tobacco-quit phone line Monday due to an unprecedented flood of callers wanting to claim free nicotine replacement products because they can't afford them or want to quit before a federal tax hike goes into effect.
About 400 staff members fielded more than 65,000 calls during the five-day period after the phone line was launched last week, including 21,000 during the first 24 hours and 6,000 calls Monday from smokers interested in free nicotine patches, gum and lozenges. In past years, the quit line drew 100 to 200 calls on a heavy day.
The program was intended to run through April 30, but all the medications were snapped up in five days, state Community Health officials said. The quit line will be closed until September, said James McCurtis, spokesman for the Department of Community Health, when spots open up in smoking cessation programs that smokers have to take to get the free medications.
Federal authorities have accused a former New York City police officer of shipping untaxed cigarettes from New York to Michigan, leading Michigan to lose out on more than $600,000 in cigarette excise tax.
The allegations are made in a 13-count indictment unsealed by the U.S. Attorney's office in Buffalo on Monday. The indictment charges 56-year-old Carlo Nappi of Hampton Bays with conspiracy, trafficking in contraband cigarettes, wire fraud and money laundering.
The hot line began last week to offer callers free nicotine patches, gum or lozenges to help them quit smoking or chewing tobacco. By Monday, the heavy volume of calls had overwhelmed the hot line.
State officials say the hot line will shut down until October because the department has run out of the free products. The new budget year starts Oct. 1.
She has called for doubling the state tax on loose tobacco, cigars and snuff to help balance next year's state budget. That's on top of whopping increases in federal tobacco taxes -- including those for manufactured cigarettes -- that take effect April 1 to pay for expanding health insurance for low-income children, known as SCHIP.
The biggest federal tax increase hits roll-your-own tobacco, rising from $1.10 per pound to $24.78 per pound. Store-bought cigarette taxes are headed from 39 cents per pack to $1.01 per pack.
Granholm's budget wouldn't touch Michigan's $2-per-pack cigarette tax. But it would slam other tobacco smokers, chewers and puffers who've been a favorite tax target for states to balance budgets and, in the name of good health, discourage tobacco use.
If approved by the Legislature, state taxes on non-cigarette tobacco items would jump from 32% of wholesale price to 64% next year. Combined with the new federal tax, the average price of a one-pound bag of popular Gambler tobacco would skyrocket from $19 to $70 in Michigan.
Smokers are more likely to quit smoking for the sake of their pets' health than they are for their own, suggests research published ahead of print in Tobacco Control.
The published evidence shows that second hand tobacco smoke can be as dangerous for pets as it is for the non-smoking partners of smokers. Exposure to it has been associated with lymph gland, nasal, and lung cancers; allergies; eye and skin diseases; as well as respiratory problems in cats and dogs.
But few smokers realise what impact their habit is having on the health of their pets, say the US researchers.
They set up an online survey for pet owners resident in south eastern Michigan, quizzing them about their and their partners' smoking behaviours, and what they knew about the effects of second hand smoke on their pets.
Northern Michigan logger Roger Griffin got so upset about the anti-smoking restrictions Charlevoix County imposed on local businesses that he filed a lawsuit. . . .
The hopes of Griffin and four other plaintiffs are riding on the Michigan Supreme Court, which is weighing a legal question that affects workplaces across the state: Can communities put more stringent smoking rules in place than lawmakers?
Courts already have ruled that only the Legislature can ban smoking in restaurants and bars. But local governments have been prohibiting smoking inside other businesses, prodded by health advocates worried about the risks of secondhand smoke.
The movement started in Marquette a dozen years ago but has gained momentum more recently, spreading to 21 counties and three cities that represent nearly half of Michigan's population.
Hiller's Markets has made a resolution of its own - to cease selling cigarettes at all of its seven stores.
"I've agonized over this decision," says Jim Hiller, CEO of the local, family-owned company. "My personal beliefs are intertwined in my business ethos and to continue to sell cigarettes runs contrary to my personal commitment to this community and its future."
"I recognize that if you don't start somewhere, you can't impact the greater good at all! Yes, there are all kinds of vices and unhealthy products for sale - but cigarettes aren't only dangerous to those who smoke them. The effects spread far beyond those who choose to smoke - the effects of cigarette smoke can kill people who live and work with smokers," says Hiller. "Despite the right of those who choose to smoke, I will not make Hiller's a fellow traveler." . . .
"The American Lung Association of Michigan applauds Jim Hiller in his decision to no longer offer tobacco products in all Hiller's store locations," says the Association's Laura Bertalan. . . .
"The American Cancer Society congratulates Hiller Markets for the company's decision to support a smoke-free environment," said Jennifer Nagy, Director for the American Cancer Society Great Lakes Division.
Nearly five years after filing charges against 19 people, federal prosecutors got another conviction Monday in a multimillion-dollar scheme to sell illegal cigarettes, counterfeit Viagra and other goods.
The enterprise had international intrigue. The government claims all had allegiance to Hezbollah, and some money was given to the militant Lebanese group.
Fadi Hammoud, 36, of Dearborn pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit racketeering. His conviction is the eighth in the case. Nine of the 19 people have fled to Canada, Lebanon or Kuwait.
"You understand this is a serious crime," U.S. Chief District Judge Gerald Rosen said.
Hammoud, working with two brothers and an uncle, distributed the cigarettes in Michigan and had his own smoke shop. He's described as a minor participant and likely faces 15 months to 21 months in prison. The government says the cigarette trafficking lasted from 1996 to 2002. Cigarettes worth up to $500,000 were acquired each week in states with low or no tobacco taxes and then distributed in Michigan and New York. One source was the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation near Irving, N.Y. . . .
Some defense lawyers have objected to the reference to Hezbollah in the indictment