Wisconsin has become the next-to-last state to require so-called fire-safe cigarettes.

Gov. Jim Doyle signed the bill a year-and-a-half ago and the law took effect on Oct. 1.

Fire-safe cigarettes are designed to snuff themselves out if they’re not smoked for a certain length of time.

The idea is to prevent fires started by cigarettes that are left smoldering.

Sen. Judy Robson, D-Beloit, tried for five years to require fire-safe cigarettes, soon after New York became the first state to mandate it.

Now, every state but Wyoming has similar laws on the books although some won’t actually take effect until next year or 2011.

The National Fire Protection Association says 800 Americans die each year from fires caused by smoking materials.

But not all smokers are crazy about the new cigarettes.

Milwaukee tobacco retailer Jeff Steinbock says some of his customers complain that the new smokes don’t taste as good and they have to keep lighting them up because they go out too quickly.

Steinbock says it’s another case of blaming the product instead of people for their irresponsible behavior.

Medical professionals continued to send a strong message about tobacco’s ill effects as the Micronesian Medical Symposium continued yesterday, while presenting the current state of cancer incidence and mortality rates to the region’s doctors and nurses.

Tobacco smoking has been linked not only to lung cancer, but to a number of other cancers and health problems, said Dr. John Ray Taitano, founder of the Micronesian Medical Symposium.

“Smoking prevention is the only thing that’s been demonstrated to decrease the risk of lung cancer,” said Dr. David Quinn from the University of Southern California.

Guam had the highest smoking rate per capita in the nation for the period from 1998 to 2007, according to a study published in March by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (more…)

We walk up to the bulletproof glass at the counter.

“Newports, short,” we tell the clerk, sliding payment to him through the slot below. He slides back our cigarettes and a receipt.

The damage: $7.50. Smokers looking for economic relief must love this store. It’s a dollar cheaper a pack than most stores in Chicago.

But if you’re the deficit-ridden city or Cook County, this store is not your friend. Not when the pack bears no evidence that the 68-cent Chicago tax and the $2 Cook County tax have been paid.

As cigarette taxes have gone up, smokers have been finding ways to avoid them, from driving out of state to buying online.
(more…)

Beginning Jan. 1, the tax on cigarettes will increase to $1 a pack from 30 cents. Other tobacco products will see an increase to 45 percent from 12 percent, following voters’ overwhelming passage of Proposition 2 in Tuesday’s municipal elections.
“I think we had a lot of smokers who voted for it. A majority of smokers want to quit. A majority of smokers don’t want to smoke at any price,” said Matt Felix, director of Juneau’s office of the National Council on Alcohol and Drug Dependence.
Paul Bennett was one of those smokers. He said he smokes three or four cigarettes a week and voted for the tax hike because the extra cost would help him curb the habit.
“I guess it’s pretty bad. I’m a smoker, it’s not cheap,” he said.
The unofficial vote tally was 3,366 to 2,156. (more…)

SPRINGFIELD — The idea of raising Illinois cigarette taxes by a $1 a pack could come up again as early as next week as a way to pay for the state’s biggest scholarship program.
Raising taxes by $1 was debated this spring as a way to generate more money for health care for low-income people.
Now, Gov. Pat Quinn wants to use money from a cigarette tax hike to pay for the state’s Monetary Award Program. It’s the biggest need-based scholarship program in Illinois, but the state’s financial problems have left money for spring semester grants in limbo.
Though the Illinois Senate approved of raising cigarette taxes earlier this year, there weren’t enough votes in the House to follow suit. Lawmakers returning to Springfield next week could try again.
The Senate sponsor of the tax plan said spending more on health care will draw in federal money. Then, state money could be shifted to pay for MAP grants. (more…)

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - Smoker or non-smoker? It can be a divisive issue and now comes the question: just how much should employers be able to regulate when and how employees smoke? Norton Healthcare is tightening up its anti-tobacco policy and it’s burning some smokers up.

Trying to find a smoker to talk to you about smoking isn’t easy.

One smoker, who didn’t want to be identified, summed up this way: “Smoking is bad. You’re not supposed to smoke.”

Many smokers want to stay hidden, and that’s just fine by Norton Healthcare administrators, at least while their employees are at work.

“It’s just what happens here that impacts the patients’ care that we’re most concerned about,” said Jim Parobek, Norton Vice President of Ancillary Services. (more…)

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - The state Supreme Court has dismissed an injunction had barred state collection of cigarette taxes from tobacco stores licensed by the Osage Nation.

Justices last week ruled that a lower court didn’t have jurisdiction to stop the Oklahoma Tax Commission from collecting 86 cents per pack from the tribe’s licensed tobacco retailers.

The justices noted that a tobacco compact between the parties required any disputes be resolved through binding arbitration.

The tribe avoided paying the rate because of an exception in the compact that allowed it to pay the amount paid by the nearby Pawnee Tribe, 58 cents.

When the Pawnees terminated their compact in 2008, the Osages’ tax reverted to 86 cents, sparking a lawsuit by Osage-licensed retailer, Feather Smoke Shops.

Commission spokeswoman Paula Ross says the agency considers the matter closed.

One area distributor says new Food and Drug Administration oversight powers don’t appear to be negatively impacting tobacco sales in the St. Joseph area following recent restrictions on flavored cigarettes.

However, those changes are likely just the beginning as anti-smoking/anti-tobacco groups continue to watch what other changes the FDA has in store.

Brian Dickins, owner of Saint Joe Distributing, said sales of chewing tobacco have increased as flavored cigarettes are done away with. Others who prefer flavored tobacco simply can buy small flavored cigars, which are close to the size of a cigarette and come in smaller packages, but cost almost half as much.
(more…)

HARRISONBURG, Va. — Attention smokers with a fondness for flavor: your Djarum Blacks cigarettes, vanilla cigarettes and packs of Splash are on the out. On Sept. 22, the Food and Drug Administration issued a ban on flavored cigarettes, including clove, candy or fruit flavors. The FDA is also considering a ban on menthol cigarettes and other flavored tobacco products.
The FDA said flavored cigarettes are a “gateway” for children and teenagers to become regular smokers, and almost 90 percent of adult smokers start smoking as teenagers. The average age of a new smoker is 13.
Studies cited by the FDA have shown that 17-year-old smokers are three times as likely to use flavored cigarettes as smokers over the age of 25.
Mike Lynn, an employee at Harrisonburg’s B&B Tobacco, said he’s noticed this trend.
“Generally a younger population — females and a majority of college students — smoke flavored cigarettes,” Lynn said. (more…)

Perspectives vary widely on the $1-a-pack tax increase on cigarettes that goes into effect today, making projections about increases in state revenue and improved health of the citizenry hazy at best.

Some smokers say they’re sure of the tax’s effect.

“I’m going to quit because of it,” said Josh Braccidiferro of Middletown, a smoker for about 10 years. “I’m not spending $7 on a pack of cigarettes.”

People who sell cigarettes say a scrounging state government is rifling the pockets of blue-collar Nutmeggers.
(more…)