The Senate unanimously passed the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act (PACT Act) March 11, which would help prevent tobacco tax evasion and underage purchasing by consumers through a ban on remote sales of tobacco.

The bill — which passed the House in May — is authored by Sen. Herb Kohl of Wisconsin and co-sponsored by a bipartisan group of 20 senators. The House version, penned by Rep. Anthony Weiner of New York, passed by a vote of 397-11. But because the House and Senate version are different, the House will need vote to accept the Senate version, which if passed, the bill would go to President Barack Obama’s desk. (more…)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid initiated the hotline process for the PACT Act this evening just before 6:00 PM. The Senate has now adjourned for the evening and will resume the PACT Act hotline process first thing tomorrow morning.

We need Anybody and Everybody to burn up the phone lines to the US Senate tomorrow morning and object to the passage of this bill. Anything you can do to make this happen will be greatly appreciated. There may be no more tobacco mail order if this bill is passed tomorrow. PLEASE FORWARD THIS REQUEST TO ANYONE YOU THINK CAN HELP US.

REMEMBER… There may be no more tobacco mail order if this bill is passed tomorrow.

Your online tobacco buying days may be numbered…

PACT Act
THE SITUATION: Right now there is legislation pending in the United States Senate - the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act of 2009 (“PACT Act”) (S.1147) which contains, among other bad ideas, a provision to make ALL cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products nonmailable. This legislation has already been passed by the House of Representatives and is currently in a Senate Committee that could send it to the Senate floor at any time for a vote!

Click here for a detailed description of how YOU can help defeat the 2009 PACT act in PDF format.

With so many places around the world instituting smoking regulations, increasing taxes and, quite literally, kicking smokers to the curb, it’s getting harder to find cigarette-friendly vacation spots.

But not every country is trying to kill that buzz. On the flip side, some of them, such as Greece, are attempting to crack down but are failing miserably.

You may feel alone smoking in some major U.S. cities, so we’ve compiled a list of countries with the most prevalent tobacco use among people aged 15 or older, based on 2005 data from the World Health Organization.

Nonsmokers, too, will want to take note of the list. As you might guess, a smoker’s paradise can be, in turn, a nonsmoker’s hell.
(more…)

St. Louis County residents get to vote next Tuesday about whether or not to clear tobacco smoke from restaurants. In Kirkwood, voters take on a separate anti-smoking proposition, more stringent than that of the County. If the County Proposition N passes, its smoking ban would take effect in 2011. Kirkwood’s proposition would take effect in January, 2010, and allows fewer exceptions than does the county ban.

I appreciate a smoke-free dining area. I can’t argue with evidence that second-hand smoke is harmful. I can, however, point out exaggerations from both sides.

I have not made a study of studies, but it stands to reason that frequency and intensity of exposure come into play - and I have rarely seen those cited. The danger from second-hand smoke and a host of other things we ingest is relative to exposure. (more…)

The nation’s two top cigarette-makers are boosting per-pack prices by 6 to 8 cents a pack.
Though the companies won’t say why, analysts believe it is to cover new user fees charged by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to pay for the costs of its new assignment to regulate tobacco.
The increase on what Altria’s Philip Morris USA and Reynolds American’s RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co. charge wholesalers seems unlikely to have a big effect on smoking, as this spring’s 61.66 cent-a-pack hike in federal excise taxes did.
Last week, Altria Group Inc. chairman and chief executive Michael E. Szymanczyk told analysts the effect of that tax hike accounted for about two-thirds of the 16 percent drop in the number of cigarettes it sold in the third quarter. The rest came from wholesalers’ inventory reductions.
That price effect was in line with the historical trend, he said.
Though tobacco companies don’t disclose their models for forecasting the effect of price changes on smoking, economists and security analysts have estimated that every 10 percent increase in prices cuts consumption by 4 percent.

Should Menlo Park ban smoking in apartment and condominium units? In parks and gardens? Everywhere within city limits?

Those are some of the questions Menlo Park’s City Council will take up in a study session at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27. The meeting will be held in the council chambers, in the Civic Center complex between Laurel and Alma streets.

The city will also consider adopting a licensing requirement for tobacco retailers, after El Concilio of San Mateo County lobbied the council to do so.

Menlo Park resident Barbara Franklin has been stumping for a ban on smoking in multi-unit residences in the city for almost a year; the council is taking up the issue at her request.

Electronic cigarettes are opening a new front in the tobacco wars as state and local lawmakers try to restrict the product, which may allow users to circumvent smoking bans.
The battery-powered device is made up of a cartridge containing nicotine, flavoring and chemicals. It turns nicotine, which is addictive, into a vapor that is inhaled. Users say they’re “vaping,” not smoking.

E-cigarettes are used by at least a half-million Americans, says Matt Salmon, head of the Electronic Cigarette Association.

“People who smoke ought to have better alternatives, because some can’t quit,” he says. His father, a longtime smoker, died last week of cancer and emphysema. (more…)

After their bid for a tobacco tax hike went up in smoke last session, crusaders for the cause are coming back again, confident that Utahns will soon be paying more for their cigarette fix.
“It’s 100 percent,” said Sen. Allen Christensen, R-North Ogden, who has unsuccessfully sponsored the bill for the past several years.
Christensen said he plans to push to raise the 69.5-cent per-pack tax up to $2. It would make Utah’s tax on par with Arizona’s and give the state the 11th-highest cigarette tax in the country. Earlier this year, Congress raised the federal cigarette tax 62 cents per pack to $1.01.
Advocates for the tobacco tax hike, like the American Cancer Society and American Heart Association, hope the higher tax would motivate 3,000 teens and 10,000 adult smokers to kick the habit and thousands more to never pick up the habit. (more…)

ALBANY — Gov. David A. Paterson has asked the U.S. Justice Department for a “threat assessment” if he were to begin trying to collect taxes on cigarette sales by Indian tribes, including the Seneca Nation.

In a letter to top federal prosecutors, the governor also suggests he might need help from Washington in putting down any possible unrest by Indian tribes if the tax collection starts.

The unusual request, dated September 23 to the U.S. Attorneys in New York state, including Buffalo, seeks the federal government’s assistance to the “likelihood of violence and civil unrest” if he began enforcing the state’s collection on the tax-free cigarette sales (more…)