Tobacco.org

EDITORIAL: Smoking crushed in Hilltop parks  

Smoking is not allowed in public buildings and in Somersworth it is no longer allowed in public parks.

The City Council said Tuesday night there are no "butts" about it. There is no more lighting up in the city's 12 parks and outdoor recreation areas.

The ordinance was well-advised and neighboring communities without a similar restriction would do well to consider following suit.

It is not "nanny" legislation. It is a matter of good health and eliminating a source of trash and setting an example for the city's children. . . .

It doesn't matter how many "butt cans" are placed in an area, there are always people who will treat the space they are in as a public ashtray — choosing to crush underfoot, or more likely toss away, the remains of their smoking materials.

Yes, smokers have rights, too. But their rights do not include — or at least should not include —causing others needless discomfort or endangering the health of others.

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Tobacco shop will dispute claim that it's manufacturing 

Tobacco Haven isn't a cigarette manufacturer despite claims by the state, says the attorney for the small tobacco shop in Brookline facing an unusual legal action against its use of roll-your-own cigarette machines.

Acting Attorney General Orville "Bud" Fitch filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the tobacco shop in Merrimack County Superior Court, alleging that the operation sidesteps the federal settlement between tobacco manufacturers and the state.

The company has a pair of 4-foot tall "roll your own" machines in its store. Customers buy one of three types of loose tobacco and paper tubes with filters, then use the machines to turn them into cigarettes at about half the cost of name-brand cigarettes.

Jeffrey Burd, of Cincinnati, one of several lawyers who will represent Tobacco Haven in court, said this business doesn't make Tobacco Haven a manufacturer."Tobacco Haven rents its machine to customers. They can buy or rent," said Burd. He contrasted the shop's operation with a hypothetical cigarette manufacturer in North Carolina that can produce several hundred cigarettes in seconds, while it takes minutes to roll the same number at a tobacco shop.

Burd will make his case in Merrimack County Superior Court at 11 a.m. Oct. 13, when the state brings its case against the tobacco shop.

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• State sues tobacco shop over cigarette-making machines 

The state of New Hampshire is suing a Brookline businessman who is charging customers $20 for a carton of cigarettes they roll themselves.

According to Assistant Attorney General David Rienzo, Joseph Correia Jr. of Tobacco Haven in Brookline has two machines customers use to make their own cigarettes. Customers buy tobacco and other cigarette components and then are directed to the machines and taught how to operate them, according to Rienzo.

Each machine can churn out about 200 cigarettes -- a carton -- in about 10 minutes. Customers pay $26 a carton, about $30 less than the going price of a pre-packaged carton.

Atty. Jeffrey Burd of Cincinnati, Ohio, who represents Correia, said Tobacco Haven disputes it is a manufacturer.

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BEAM: Where there’s e-smoke...  

In my lifelong quest to become America's Most Reviled Columnist, I have taken up smoking, again.

Not my beloved Larks (gack!) or non-filter Kools (double gack!) of yore. Now I am smoking a plastic doohickey known as "No. 9,'' an electronic cigarette. . . .

How is it? Well, it's cool to be smoking again, just like those smooth fellows on "Mad Men.'' People think I'm French or James Dean, which is a step up for me. I've smoked my e-coffin nail in cafes, libraries, and restaurants, so far without incident. I should add that I have done a lot of this smoking in New Hampshire, where there are no laws at all. . . .

So why does the Food and Drug Administration want to ban them? That's an interesting question, one the FDA can't answer right now because its lawyers are in court as we speak, trying to enforce its authority over the devices. Heaven knows there are plenty of nicotine products out there - patches, gums, and so on - so how the FDA lawyers concluded that "distribution of E-Cigarettes in commerce in the U.S. is prohibited'' is beyond me.

FDA, schmeffDA, the e-butts are on sale everywhere . . .

What's the bottom line? If you would like to quit, then e-cigarettes' milder dose of nicotine - less than one fifth of a tobacco cigarette - might help. (Got that, President Obama?) If you are hooked on nicotine, the cooler vapor is a lot better for you than tobacco smoke. The e-cigs are cheaper, too, averaging out to about $2.50 or $3 for a putative pack, versus $6 and up for the real thing.

And if you want to look like James Dean in "East of Eden'' or Jean-Paul Belmondo in "Breathless'' - oh, never mind.

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VIDEO: US smoker chokes on cost of habit 

A man in the United States popped out to his local petrol station to buy a pack of cigarettes - only to find his card charged $23,148,855,308,184,500.

That is $23 quadrillion (£14 quadrillion) - many times the US national debt.

"I thought somebody had bought Europe with my credit card," said Josh Muszynski, from New Hampshire.

He says his appeals to his bank first met with little understanding, though it eventually corrected the error.

It also waived the usual $15 overdraft fee.

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Influence of Movie Smoking Exposure and Team Sports Participation on Established Smoking 

Setting

School- and telephone-based surveys in New Hampshire and Vermont between September 1999 through November 1999 and February 2006 through February 2007. . . . Conclusions

Team sports participation clearly plays a protective role against established smoking, even in the face of exposure to movie smoking. However, movie smoking exposure increases the risk of established smoking among both team sports participants and nonparticipants. Parents, teachers, coaches, and clinicians should be aware that encouraging team sports participation in tandem with minimizing early exposure to movie smoking may offer the greatest likelihood of preventing youth smoking.

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Young Athletes Resist Lure of Smoking in Movies  

Adolescents who participate in team sports are better able to resist the temptation to smoke than nonparticipants, even when they watch movies that portray characters lighting up, a study found.

Young people who did not participate in team sports were twice as likely to become smokers than those who did join teams (95% CI, 1.47 to 2.74), according to the study published in the July 6 Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

While team sports helped counter the influence of watching smoking in movies, the likelihood of youths becoming smokers was proportional to the number of times they saw smoking depicted in movies.

Action Points

* Explain to interested parents that watching movies that depict smoking makes adolescents more likely to become smokers.

* Explain to interested parents that team sports participation seems to protect adolescents from becoming smokers. . . .

Primary source: Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine Source reference: Adachi-Mejia A, et al "Influence of movie smoking exposure and team sports participation on established smoking" Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 2009; 163: 638-43.

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• Study examines movie smoking exposure and team sport participation in youth established smoking 

Participating in team sports is associated with a reduced likelihood of youths becoming established smokers, according to a report in the July issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. However, exposure to movie smoking appears to be associated with an increased risk of established smoking in both team sport participants and nonparticipants.

Past studies suggest that there is a direct association between movie smoking exposure and youth smoking initiation, with 30 percent to 50 percent of adolescents' smoking initiation attributed to movie smoking exposure, according to background information in the article. "Movie smoking exposure appears to increase the risk of smoking initiation by enhancing adolescents' perceived benefits of smoking and making them more susceptible to peer influences," the authors write.

Anna M. Adachi-Mejia, Ph.D., of Hood Center for Children and Families, Dartmouth Medical School, Lebanon, N.H., and colleagues analyzed data from school- and telephone-based surveys

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MERHEB: Hike in cigarette tax will hurt small businesses  

Since 2005, there have already been four cigarette tax hikes; three at the state level and one from the federal government. Just how much do these elected officials in Concord and Washington think they can continue to raise money from hard-working Americans before they break the camel's back? . . .

I witness the results first hand. As the owner of a store that sells a substantial volume of cigarettes, I don't just see these tax increases as we are changing the prices, but I see them directly in our bottom line. When the cost we have to pay to the government goes up, our margins, which are already razor thin, go down. Even though my costs are going up, I cannot raise the cost of cigarettes to compete against the government. . . .

I realize that it is fashionable to demonize smokers, but if these politicians spent just a short time in my store, they would know that these cigarette tax increases are hurting average, hard-working families.

Most of our cigarette customers are not doctors or lawyers. They are blue collar people who are struggling to make ends meet, like most Americans. . . .

The New Hampshire legislature needs to know that an 88 percent increase in the cost of cigarettes from tax hikes is already too much. We can't continue to hit hard-working families and small businesses with another crushing burden. Let's protect jobs and help our citizens by saying no to a cigarette tax hike. Lina Merheb

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EDITORIAL: Tapped out: Smokers, diners can't pay more  

When John Lynch was first elected governor in 2004, New Hampshire had a cigarette tax of 52 cents per pack. In 2005, Lynch got legislators to raise it by 28 cents to 80 cents per pack. The budget passed on Wednesday raises it for the fourth time since Lynch became governor. It will be $1.78 per pack in five days.

At $1.78, New Hampshire's cigarette tax, once roughly 33 percent to 50 percent of what neighboring states charged, is now only 22 cents less than Maine's and 21 cents less than Vermont's. It's 73 cents less than what Massachusetts charges.

The governor and legislators have relied on this tax to fund their spending increases for four years. What are they going to do in 2011? Smokers in Vermont and Maine already have little incentive to drive over the border for their smokes. Our tax advantage on this product has been nearly erased. Will legislators, addicted to the revenue it produces, turn it into a disadvantage in two years?

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New Hampshire Budget Falls Short in Protecting Kids from Tobacco; State Should Increase Cigarette Tax By $1 and Provide Funding For Tobacco Prevention Programs 

It is disappointing and a missed opportunity for New Hampshire's health that a budget conference committee today approved a budget that includes only a 45-cent increase in the state cigarette tax and provides zero funding for programs to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit.� This budget eliminates the miniscule amounts New Hampshire had previously been spending on these programs. New Hampshire can achieve much greater health and financial benefits by increasing the cigarette tax by $1 per pack and allocating some of the new revenue for tobacco prevention and cessation programs.

With the added revenue from the 45-cent cigarette tax increase, New Hampshire would receive more than $450 million in tobacco-generated revenue over the next two years from tobacco taxes and the 1998 state tobacco settlement, but will spend nothing to help smokers quit or prevent kids from starting to smoke. As a result, New Hampshire would rank last in the nation in spending on tobacco prevention programs despite the fact that tobacco-related illness costs the state $564 million a year in health care bills.

It is penny-wise and pound-foolish to shortchange tobacco prevention programs. These programs are proven to reduce smoking among both youth and adults, save lives and save money

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Rolling your own  

On Wednesday, June 24, New Hampshire legislators said they closed a $650 million revenue gap by passing an $11.5 billion budget that includes raising the cigarette tax by 45 cents, to a total of $1.78 per pack.

Even with the hike, New Hampshire has the lowest cigarette tax in the region, according to Michael Dumond, bureau chief of Bureau of Prevention Services, state Division of Public Health Services.

Maine's tax is $2 per pack; Vermont's $1.99; Rhode Island's tax is $2.46; and Massachusetts has a $2.51 tax per pack, Dumond said.

Smoke shops in Seabrook at the Massachusetts border particularly benefit from smokers traveling into the state to buy cigarettes at cheaper prices.

Increasingly, smoke shop owners said, customers are opting to save even more money by buying roll-your-own products.

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LETTER: He loves New Hampshire, but ...  

As I sit here smoking my cigarette, I figured I'd share a thought or two about my first five years of residency in the state of New Hampshire. . . . My average wage was $6.25 per hour., and the jobs, well not so good. However, I was able to afford basic items to live (food, shelter, car, and cigarettes).

In the past five years, things have become increasingly harder to get by. Constant tax hikes on cigarettes and other items constantly being raised . . .

I propose that Governor Lynch stops raising the cigarette tax every time Massachusetts does and learns to keep things a little more in check than Massachusetts does, so that New Hampshire's residents can say they love their state. I still say it, but lately while shaking my head and forking over in some area's 100-150 percent more than I did five years ago for the same basic living items. . . .

In closing, may the great people of New Hampshire "Live Free or Die."

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LETTER: The scourge of cigarettes  

My heart goes out to Michael Milliken, and the other individuals and families like him who try to get by on low wages. The working poor in this country are struggling and there is little relief right now.

If Mr. Milliken had done his homework before moving to New Hampshire he would have discovered that we have one of the most regressive tax structures in the United States. Lower income people are hit the hardest here. However, I do not have sympathy for his complaining about the cigarette taxes in the state of New Hampshire.

New Hampshire has the lowest cigarette taxes in New England at $1.33 per pack. . . .

Few would argue that smoking cheaper cigarettes is more important than having low and moderate income children covered by health insurance. . . .

Cigarette butts are also the most littered item in the world, . . .

Carelessly tossed cigarettes can start forest fires, and fires related to smoking account for the greatest number of fire-related deaths . . .

It is too bad that many do not see that it is the addiction to cigarettes that brought disease and death into their lives in the first place.

To requote Mr. Milliken, "Live Free or Die."

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NH considers 45-cent cigarette tax increase  

Smokers have a clear message they want to send to lawmakers about upping the cigarette tax: Don't do it.

The Legislature is considering raising New Hampshire's cigarette tax by 45 cents a pack to help patch a $650 million revenue gap. If the bill passes, New Hampshire's tax would be $1.78 per pack.

New Hampshire would remain the cheapest state in New England to buy cigarettes even if lawmakers pass the 45-cent increase, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

But the gap would certainly be narrowed, especially for people who travel to the Granite State to buy their smokes.

A special House-Senate committee agreed to the 45-cent increase Wednesday.

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