Advertising of all tobacco-related products should be banned to help cut cannabis use, say mental health charity rethink.

The ban on tobacco advertising in 2003 is thought to have played a large role in the cut in smoking rates in Great Britain.

Rethink believe that a ban on all tobacco products would have a similar impact on cannabis smoking rates, and lower the number of people who develop mental health problems as a result.

Jane Harris, Rethink’s head of campaigns, said: “More restrictive advertising guidelines would help to protect young people who are most at risk of developing mental health illness as a result of cannabis use.
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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - A tobacco company’s attorney told the Missouri Supreme Court on Wednesday that the firm shouldn’t have to pay $20 million in damages to the husband of a Kansas City-area woman who smoked for decades.

Many claims in Lincoln Smith’s lawsuit against Brown & Williamson Tobacco Co. were the same as ones a judge previously rejected in an unsuccessful lawsuit filed by his wife, Barbara, before she died, attorney Andrew McGaan said.

Both suits accused Brown & Williamson of causing the woman’s respiratory and heart diseases and failing to warn about smoking dangers.

Barbara Smith, who smoked Kool cigarettes for about 50 years, died from a heart attack in 2000.
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PHOENIX — With everyone now in agreement, state lawmakers began paving the way Wednesday for “safer’’ cigarettes — if not for the smoker then for everyone else.

Legislation given unanimous approval by the House Commerce Committee would mandate that all cigarettes sold in Arizona b designed so that they snuff themselves out if not actually being smoked. HB 2483 now goes to the full House.

The problem, according to John Flynn of the Arizona Urban Fir District Association is that tobacco — and the paper in which it is wrapped — has a tendency to keep burning.
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First there was the attack on big tobacco companies. Next came the ban on smoking in bars and restaurants. Some cities are even considering a ban on public smoking, but the question is what will these cities, towns and states do to replace the taxes they made off of tobacco?

You know they will have to replace the lost revenue some way or the other.

Could it mean an even higher fuel tax, or will it mean higher taxes on the beer and liquor people consume?
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DENVER - Minors can’t buy cigarettes or chewing tobacco in Colorado, and it’s against the law for an adult to give either to them.

But it’s legal for those under 18 to possess or use tobacco products because of a loophole.

That could change, however, after a Senate committee unanimously approved a measure Monday that would bar minors from possessing or using tobacco and allow police to confiscate it from them.

Senate Bill 88, which heads to the Senate floor, would make Colorado the 36th state to ban tobacco use by anyone under 18. The measure by Sen. Ron Tupa, D-Boulder, also would penalize retailers who sell tobacco to minors, even unknowingly, and would require tobacco sellers to ask for identification from anyone who looks less than 30 years old.
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Store clerks in eight surrounding counties were cited in January by Alcohol Law Enforcement agents for allegedly selling tobacco products to minors.

Agents checked 111 retail establishments and cited 19 store clerks in Robeson, Scotland, Hoke, Harnett, Johnston, Lee, Sampson, and Wayne counties.

As part of the state’s Tobacco Education and Compliance Check Program, ALE agents every month randomly check stores that sell cigarettes and other tobacco products to make sure the clerks are asking for identification and refusing sales to anyone under the age of 18. (more…)

FAIRFAX, Va. — You won’t be able to buy cigarettes or any other tobacco products at Wegmans anymore.

The upscale supermarket chain said the sales from tobacco sales have been profitable. But store officials said they decided health concerns outweigh the profits.

Wegmans will now offer programs to help employees who want to quit smoking.

There are 70 Wegmans stores in five states, including two in Virginia and one in Maryland.

BOSTON - Advocates and legislators launched an effort today to raise the state’s cigarette tax by $1 per pack.

House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, D-Boston, is planning to file legislation to hike the $1.51-per-pack tax to generate $152 million a year to pay for health care. If approved, the $1 increase would be the fourth hike in the cigarette tax in the last 15 years.

State Rep. Rachel Kaprielian, D-Watertown, a supporter of the tax, and other advocates released results of a survey of 501 voters that found 63 percent support raising the tax and 33 percent oppose it.

The telephone poll, conducted by Kiley & Co. of Boston, was taken Jan. 24 to Jan. 27 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 5.4 percentage points.
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TRENTON, N.J. - New Jersey lawmakers are targeting teen smoking.

An Assembly health committee on Monday advanced a bill to prohibit the use and possession of tobacco by those under age 19. Violators would face community service.

While it’s currently illegal for anyone under 19 to buy tobacco, possessing it is not.

Sponsors of the bill cite statistics showing a third of New Jersey high schoolers smoke at least occasionally and 90 percent of smokers begin before they turn 18.

They say New Jersey would become the 20th state with such a law.

The bill passed the Assembly in 1999 and the Senate in 2000 but then-Gov. Christie Whitman failed to act on it.

BECKLEY, W.Va. (AP) — State prison inmates are no longer allowed to use tobacco.

State Corrections Commissioner Jim Rubenstein says the ban that began Saturday should save the state $400,000 in health care costs.

The ban does not apply to correctional officers. Rubenstein says correctional officers will be allowed to smoke in certain segregated areas.

State corrections officials imposed an indoor smoking ban in 2006. A plan to make the entire system tobacco free last July was put on hold to address concerns raised by employees and others.

Information from: The Register-Herald, http://www.register-herald.com