Tobacco.org

LETTER: Health news proves need for smoke ban  

Kudos to The Star for such a fine New Year's gift. The Jan. 1 lead article, "Study: Smoking ban saved lives, hearts," was terrific. The paper's decision to run this on Jan. 1 was brilliant, an eye-opener on a day when many of us are seeking to enforce new resolutions and are contemplating how to begin the New Year.

The purpose of this My View is to urge Gov. Mitch Daniels and the General Assembly to make Indiana a smoke-free state. Let's start the year off right, save hearts and lives, model healthy behavior, protect all Hoosiers in all public places and provide a wholesome environment for our children. . . .

For a cleaner environment, a healthier future for our children and a truly safe workplace for all employees, we must make the logical and correct choice of a comprehensive smoking ordinance for Indiana.

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LETTER: SMOKING IN AMERICAN INDIAN AND ALASKA NATIVE PEOPLE WITH DIABETES REVISITED ($$) 

Morton et al's article on smoking and diabetes in American Indians and Alaska Natives raises important concerns.1 Because of the longstanding organized emphasis on smoking ascertainment and cessation for individuals with diabetes, the findings likely reflect a serious ascertainment bias.

The Indian Health Service (IHS) Division of Diabetes has measured smoking status in American Indians and Alaska Natives with diabetes since 1986 with the Annual Diabetes Care and Outcomes Audit.2 The IHS Standards of Care for Diabetes emphasize smoking assessment. In 2007, 91.8% of patients with diabetes, systemwide, were assessed for tobacco use. Less than a quarter (23.4%) reported current . . . [Full Text]

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LETTER: TOBACCO TAXES AND CIGARETTE CONSUMPTION IN LOW INCOME POPULATIONS ($$) 

In their letter in response to Franks et al.'s analysis of the failure of tobacco taxes to effectively reduce smoking among lower socioeconomic status smokers,1 Farrelly and Engelen assert that concerns about the regressivity of tobacco can "easily be addressed...by earmarking revenue from cigarette excise taxes to evidence based smoking cessation interventions targeted to low income populations with the highest smoking rates."2(p582)

This is a noble sentiment, but optimistic, given political reality. After a decade of more than 100 separate state increases in tobacco taxes and strong efforts by public health advocates, there have been few instances of such an . . . [Full Text]

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LETTER: Tax cigarettes, alcohol and gas - but not incomes 

I would like the citizens of Iowa to strongly oppose any initiatives to seize income at the local level, as cited in the Dec. 28 article, "Plan Would Give Iowa Cities Power to Tax Incomes."

Government's thirst for money has become insatiable, and it could be argued that its greed could rival that of any greedy corporation. In these trying economic, environmental and health-care times, I propose the following: Impose drastic tax increases on gasoline, cigarettes and alcohol. . . .

The cigarette- and alcohol-tax increases would help to reduce tobacco and alcohol abuse and addiction.

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DEAR ABBY: Happy relationship threatens to go up in smoke 

DEAR ABBY: Happy relationship threatens to go up in smoke 

DEAR ABBY: Man disgusted by girlfriend's new habit  

My girlfriend, "Jasmine," has been seeing a therapist to deal with serious depression and anxiety issues, and I think she has done well for the most part.

I am just upset that she has taken to smoking with her co-workers to deal with stress. My mother smokes, and I find it disgusting.

We have discussed this more than once, and she insists that my asking her to stop is "being controlling." . . .

People who reach for a cigarette when they are feeling stressed regard the cigarette as a "friend" they can hold onto. What they don't realize is the cigarette is holding onto THEM -- and occasional smokers become dependent not only on the ritual but also the "drug."

You have a hard choice to make, and so does Jasmine. Perhaps it will be easier if Jasmine does the choosing. Tell her that if you smell tobacco on her hair, skin, breath or clothing, you won't kiss her. If she hasn't quit smoking within 30 days, you'll have your answer.

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LETTER: Soft soap on smoking  

Like thousands of other smokers, I now have to stand out in the wind and rain to have a cigarette as we are no longer allowed to smoke in pubs or cafes.

The government already has a helpline to help people stop smoking. Now it is planning to make shops put cigarettes under the counter and out of sight, to help prevent our young people taking up the habit.

I can understand all this and I am in full agreement with it, if it prevents people smoking and as a result saves them from dying of cancer.

What I can't understand is how the government allows young people to be shown smoking in TV soaps.

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LETTER: Smoke-free  

I have some trepidation about how this new statute will be enforced. Will bar management strongly support this new initiative with signage and active monitoring by employees? Or will we have to self-police and ask those who light up indoors to take the smoke outside? In other American cities where this law was enacted, the net effect was that more people came out to these places of business and business actually improved.

I hope the media highlights this issue early in 2009 so that it's in people's minds when they enter a now smoke-free private club or other building.

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• Letter -- Smokers Are Paying Enough 

This past fiscal year, Virginia received more than $170 million in cigarette excise tax revenue, $92 million from cigarette sales taxes and an additional $133 million in payments from the Master Settlement Agreement -- nearly equaling the $400 million in annual Medicaid expenses the editorial attributed to Virginia smokers. Cigarette smokers also paid $64 million in excise taxes to local governments.

About half of the price of a pack of cigarettes sold in the state goes to the government. Increasing this burden with a higher cigarette excise tax would be unfair to adult smokers and would harm Virginia's manufacturers, tobacco growers, wholesalers, retailers and the jobs they provide.

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Letters -- Raising Virginia's Cigarette Tax?  

LETTER: Smoking and drugs are dangerously fashionable  

The destructive path: Drugs and smoking, the fashion of the modern era.

Who would think that a habit from the past would ever become the world's greatest killer? . . .

Even though we live in a country with conservative ideals, it is surprising to see smoking and drug addiction on the rise. The youth of our country is indulging in such unhealthy activities. Young boys and girls are seen smoking and taking drugs. Even more worrisome is the fact most of these activities take place in school campuses.

Sheesha is made available to children below 18 years in some coffee shops. Some stores sell cigarettes to children below the age of 18.

What's the use of having 'Cigarettes are the main cause for lung and heart disease' printed on every packet when no one cares about it?

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Smoking harms health, friendship 

Dear Wheezing: You have already explained your health problems to your friends, and they either don't completely believe you or are letting their addiction make their choice for them.

Either way, their choice is unfortunate.

If you want to try to revive this friendship, you could tell them, once again, that your health situation is chronic.

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LETTERS: Voters clear when voting smoke-free 

New York should respect Senecas’ treaty-based rights 

I object to a News editorial about New York's efforts to impose taxes on commerce within Seneca Nation territory. It had no basis for labeling a sovereign nation unethical for exercising our inherent right to sustain an economy selling lawful products. For the Seneca Nation -- which more than two-thirds of Western New Yorkers polled consistently support on this issue -- this is not about tobacco, or gasoline, or prices, or taxes; it's about our sovereign, treaty-based rights. . . .

The question is: Will state officials comply with their oaths of office to respect our 1794 treaty with the United States that protects the Seneca Nation's "free use and enjoyment" of our land?

Our Nation already paid dramatically for the free use of our lands and immunity from state taxes through the loss to this state of nearly all of our aboriginal territory. We refuse to be used as some kind of tribal ATM machine for state leaders to tap every time New York's economic condition deteriorates.

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