WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has invalidated parts of Maine’s law barring Internet tobacco sales to minors.

In a unanimous decision, the court said Wednesday that Maine cannot impose a regulatory scheme on transportation companies delivering tobacco products directly to consumers. The justices said federal transportation law blocks the states from doing so.

The ruling could provide the impetus for the transportation industry to get out from under state laws regulating cigarette deliveries in the Internet age.

“Despite the importance of the public health objective, we cannot agree” with Maine’s approach, Justice Stephen Breyer wrote.
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LYNN - Gary Insuik can afford the cigarettes he smokes, but he thinks a proposed dollar-a-pack tax is going to be hit people less fortunate than him hard.

“If I’m being robbed I’d rather they stick a gun in my face,” he said Friday.

State Reps. Kathi-Anne Reinstein and Joyce Spiliotis this week said initial state spending discussions among their colleagues include a proposal for a hefty tax on smokers.

It remains to be seen if the idea will officially surface in the Massachusetts House version of the spending plan for Fiscal Year 2009, slated to start July 1.
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BRUNSWICK COUNTY — South Carolina’s cigarette tax could soon be going up. And it could have an impact on Brunswick County smokers who now drive across the border to buy their cigarettes.

Smoking has and continues to be a costly habit. And it could get worse for those living in South Carolina. The current sales tax on cigarettes in South Carolina is seven cents a pack.

The cheaper cost for cigarettes there has been an enticing deal for North Carolinians here.

Many North Carolina smokers paying a 35 cent tax have been crossing the border to save money.

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In a supreme show of political cowardice, six Virginia delegates acted unilaterally Thursday to prevent a floor vote on smoking ban legislation.

They thwarted the people’s will.

Seventy-five percent of Virginians want a restaurant smoking ban. So do Gov. Tim Kaine and 28 state senators, including Sen. Phillip Puckett, D-Lebanon, and Sen. William Wampler, R-Bristol.

In fact, the Senate passed four bills that imposed various restrictions on public smoking earlier this month. All passed by healthy margins and had bipartisan support.
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Budwey’s Supermarket is getting out of the cigarette business.

The popular Tonawanda area grocer will no longer offer cigarettes for sale once its current stock runs out.

Frank Budwey, owner of Budwey’s supermarkets, said he’s been considering abandoning tobacco sales at his two stores for about six months.

The factor that pushed him to finally do it was Wegmans making a similar announcement last month.

It’s worth losing shoppers who stop for cigarettes but purchase additional items if grocery stores can promote better health in the community, he said.
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LONDON: Smokers in Britain may soon need a permit worth 10 pounds to buy cigarettes.

Health England, British government’s health advisory body, has suggested introducing the permit without which no one would be allowed to buy cigarettes.

“The scheme would make a big difference to the number of people giving up smoking,” Chairman of the advisory body Julian Le Grand told BBC Radio 5 Live .

“The cash raised by the proposed scheme would go to the National Health Scheme,” Le Grand, an ex-adviser to former Prime Minister Tony Blair, said.
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Indiana vendors would be required to sell only “fire safe” cigarettes, under a bill that passed a House committee and sponsored by State Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary.

Brown earlier tried to get a bill passed that would have nearly banned smoking in most public places statewide, similar to the new law in Illinois. But that measure died in committee.

Brown said he is now pushing for passage of S.B. 28, which cleared the House Veterans Affairs and Public Safety Committee by a 10-0 vote Thursday.

The bill would require fire-safe cigarettes, which are equipped with three bands of paper. If a smoker leaves the cigarette unattended, the cigarette will self extinguish once it reaches one of those bands, known as “speed bumps.”
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A bill to prohibit the sale of flavored cigarettes in New Jersey was approved 8-1 yesterday by the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee.

The bill (S613), sponsored by Sens. Joseph Vitale (D-Middlesex) and Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex), would prohibit the sale or distribution of cigarettes with a flavor that is attractive to young people. The bill prohibits any cigarettes flavored to produce distinctive fruit, chocolate, vanilla, honey, alcoholic beverage, herb or spice flavors, among others. The bill exempts menthol or clove cigarettes from the prohibition, and does not apply to cigars, cigarillos, pipe tobacco or smokeless tobacco.

“Smoking is a life-threatening habit, and anything we can do to discourage kids from picking up the habit is a step in the right direction,” Vitale said. “The problem is that the entire time we’re discouraging young people from smoking, tobacco companies are coming up with new and inventive ways to draw in new customers.”
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Landmark News Service

Although many see House Bill 443 as a way to decrease the number of smokers in Kentucky, others see it as an attempt to make a few fix a problem faced by all.
“They just keep taxing and taxing the smokers and it’s just not right,” said Charlie Casper, president of Hardec’s, a tobacco and candy wholesaler in Elizabethtown.

Smokers should not be expected to pay more taxes to reverse the state’s budget shortfall, which affects the entire state and thus should be addressed by everyone, Casper said.

HB 443, introduced by Rep. David Watkins, D-Henderson, calls for a 70-cent increase in the tax on a pack of cigarettes. The increase would bring the tax to $1 per pack. The bill also proposes a 10 percent tax on tobacco products. It moved Feb. 4 to the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee.
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Faced with severe budget cuts set to impact education, health and social services and all state offices, Kentucky Democrats have introduced legislation that would increase the state’s cigarette tax - despite Governor Steve Beshear’s promise in the State of the Commonwealth address to not raise taxes.     With the support of several colleagues, Representative David Watkins, D-Henderson, on Feb. 1 introduced a bill in the House of Representatives to raise the cigarette tax from 30 cents to 70 cents per pack. The tax on all other tobacco products would be raised from 7.5 percent to 10 percent to be paid by the wholesaler.
Watkins said the tax increase could help pay for healthcare related costs and improve the budget in general.
“It’s estimated that about $600 million annually is expended on the Medicaid budget related to the substance abuse of nicotine - tobacco use,” Watkins said. “This is a significant problem that’s costing our Commonwealth a lot of money at a time we are basically almost bankrupt.” (more…)