Judge awards state $8M from tobacco company

Attorney General Jim Hood’s lawsuit against Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. received an $8 million victory in court today.

Judge Jaye A. Bradley, in the Chancery Court of Jackson County, issued a ruling today on the Attorney General’s Motion to Enforce Settlement against B&W.

The original tobacco settlement requires the company to pay Mississippi for every cigarette it makes and ships. The Attorney General argued that B&W made cigarettes but shipped them to a third-party manufacturer, STAR. STAR tobacco then sold those cigarettes to consumers in Mississippi.
“The Court agreed with our position that B&W could not use such trickery to avoid paying Mississippi for those cigarettes,” Hood said.

Judge Bradley’s ruling stated: “There is no dispute that during the time period of 1999 through 2002, B&W manufactured and shipped to STAR more than 7.5 billion cigarettes. Further, there is no dispute that during the relevant time period at least 600 million STAR cigarettes were sold in Mississippi. However, B&W did not include these STAR cigarettes within their calculations for payments made to Mississippi pursuant to the Settlement Agreement.”

The Judge ordered B&W to pay approximately $8.1 million to the state. It also ordered the company to pay all the state’s attorneys fees and costs.

The court also stated that it would hold in abeyance awarding any punitive damages until it determines how much B&W owes on other matters that were raised in the litigation.

White Cloud Electronic Cigarette Unveils the Cirrus 3 Kit

The White Cloud undoubtedly falls under the best electronic cigarette category. This is owing to the very simple reason that the White Cloud Electronic Cigarette has managed to introduce products of the highest quality at all times. Their latest invention is the Cirrus 3 kit, which is undoubtedly the best deal for the serious smoker. Those smokers who would like to make a permanent switch from smoking tobacco to electronic cigarettes are undoubtedly in for a pleasant surprise when they get their hands onto the Cirrus 3 kit.

In this kit, you would be getting five smooth draw cartridges, three electronic batteries, one AC adapter, one USB charger and all these would be backed by the the six month warranty. The charging time that is required for making a single battery fully operational is approximately sixty minutes. Besides, this brand ensures that their consumers are provided more puffs with each cartridge.

With the aid of three batteries, you can actually puff 600 times more than what you usually puff in an normal e cigarette. This kit also provides the smallest e cigarette to have ever been made in this industry. This is all owing to the advancement in technology because of which the size of the cigarette has been reduced while its functionality drastically improved.

Using Moore’s integrated law, the size of the cigarette has been made shorter than the size of a filtered cigarette. At the same time, it has also been noticed that the size of the battery as well as the chargers have also been reduced here to make it easier for the consumers to carry it around. Besides, there have been several modifications with regards to the body of the cirrus 3 electric cigarettes.

The body of the new cirrus 3 white cloud electronic cigarettes has been made stronger after noticing that consumers drop it quite often. The new White Cloud cigs would witness an unprecedented shock absorption technology that is being used in its manufacturing procedure to ensure that the chances of breakages and pilferage are minimized and that the cigarettes last for a lifetime.

The cirrus 3 package has been designed to comply with all smooth draw cartridges and its battery can also be charged with the help of a normal charger. Besides receiving the best electronic cigarettes reviews from critics, the launch of the White Cloud cirrus 3 smoker kit has ensured that this brand takes over as the number one best selling brand of electric cigarettes in the coming years.

The truth behind cigarette health warnings

This edition of U-talk looks at the health warnings that appear on the sides of cigarette packets.

Our question about that comes from Lewis in the British capital London:

“I’ve got a question I’d like to ask the EU institutions: I’d like to know why they’re spending so much money putting pictures on packets of cigarettes to make people not want to smoke? Because I just think it’s ridiculous, if people want to smoke they’ll smoke.”

The reply from Frédéric Vincent, EU spokesperson for Health and Consumers:

“Firstly it costs European taxpayers nothing to put pictures on President cigarette packets. A European directive states that on each cigarette packet sold in the EU 40 percent must be devoted to health warnings for the consumer.

“The individual member state then decides how to deliver the warning, via picture or text. Currently in the EU there are seven states that use a picture, it is not mandatory, but possible to do under EU law.

“Does it discourage smoking? I hope so! Each year there are 650,000 tobacco related deaths in the EU, the leading cause of preventable death in the union. Recently the US introduced pictures on their packets, so it is beginning to spread and we think it is helpful.”

Armed robbers take car and cigarettes in Coleraine

There has been an armed robbery at a shop in the Knocklyn Road area of Coleraine.

Two men, one armed with a knife, went into the shop and threatened a member of staff shortly before 14:00 BST on Sunday.

A car belonging to one staff member was stolen along with a quantity of cigarettes.

A red van stolen in Belfast last week was recovered near the scene.

BAT Korea eyes premium cigarette market in Korea

British American Tobacco Korea is striving to shore up its presence in the Korean market with premium cigarette products.

The Korean unit of the global manufacturer has been diversifying its portfolio of pricey Sobranie cigarettes with Dunhill and Kent cigarettes brands in a bid to boost profits amid stagnant population growth and rising health concerns.

Although surging prices of tobacco leaves and labor costs led BAT to hike prices of some products by 200 won (19 cents) in April, Korea’s cigarettes largely remain below 3,000 won a pack, one of the lowest among OECD nations.

“BAT is thought to have suffered profitability deterioration, as ex-factory prices have frozen for nine years. The country’s cigarette prices are relatively low in light of its income level,” Baek Woon-mok, an analyst at Daewoo Securities, said in a report.

But the segment of multinational premium cigarettes ― including Dunhill, Kent and Philip Morris International Inc.’s Marlboro and Parliament ― has gradually expanded over the past several years, threatening the dominance of KT&G Corp., according to Euromonitor International.

“Korean consumers became increasingly partial to multinational brands, due to the quality of the tobacco used, as well as their premium packaging,” the London-based research firm said in a report.

“Furthermore, the resistance to imported products, which was previously commonplace in Korea, continued to diminish particularly amongst younger consumers.”

Since its inroads in 1990, BAT has emerged as the No. 2 seller in the world’s eighth-largest tobacco market. It set up a factory in 2002 in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province, by injecting around $100 million.

To jack up its 16 percent stake, the company unveiled its capsule filter technology and new packaging last year.

Kent Convertible and Kent Boost give customers an extra burst of menthol when they pop a small ball in the filter.

Kent Convertible, the first of its kind here, took up more than 1 percent within three months after its launch in July 2010, industry figures showed.

“Kent is the second-largest premium brand globally ― outside of the U.S. and China ― sold in over 80 countries,” Guy Meldrum, marketing executive director of BAT Korea, said early this year. “Kent stands for innovation and technology.”

For its Dunhill lineup, BAT churned out a series of new products such as Switch, Nanocut and Fine Cut, and renewed packaging for traditional Dunhill with “Reloc” technology.

The patented inner wrapping method entails a re-sealable double cover to ensure extra freshness for the tobacco.

“Dunhill has been an icon of premium brand in the market,” said chief executive Stephan Liechti. “Dunhill will continue to be a premium leader, keeping the same taste and quality with the premium seal Reloc.”

According to BAT, the premium tobacco sector logged double-digit growth last year and the trend is expected to continue in the coming years.

Another target segment is ultraslim cigarettes.

Dunhill Nanocut and Fine Cut are aimed at biting into the booming market enjoyed by KT&G’s Esse.

“Superslims are a global trend and have been the key design innovation of the last five years, with particular appeal to female smokers but also ‘cross-over’ appeal in a number of markets such as Korea where men have been receptive to the style,” Euromonitor said.

Bar, restaurant owners angry over smoking ban plan to exclude lawmakers

Bar and restaurant owners upset about Michigan's workplace smoking ban have a ban of their own in the works.

Protect Private Property Rights in Michigan said Tuesday that about 500 bars statewide plan to ban state lawmakers from their premises. It would start Sept. 1.

Excluding the lawmakers is a way for critics to draw attention to what they say are the harmful effects of the smoking ban.

Some bar owners say they have lost business because of the ban. Others say decisions about whether to allow smoking should be left to property owners. Read Smoking statistics 2011 from USA and england, a lot of information.


The Legislature-approved smoking ban took effect in May 2010.

"This subject needs to be opened up in Lansing again, it needs to be discussed again," said Steve Mace, executive director of the property rights group.

To highlight what they consider the hypocrisy of Michigan's smoking ban -- which exempts gambling floors of Detroit casinos -- business owners said the lawmaker ban also would have exemptions. It would not cover the Republican or Democratic leaders in the House or Senate.

Ari Adler, a spokesman for House Republican Speaker Jase Bolger, said the lawmaker ban is an interesting tactic but not likely to spark legal change.

The 5 Companies in the Tobacco Industry With the Lowest Earnings Yield

Below are the five companies in the Tobacco industry with the lowest Earnings Yields. Earnings yield is useful to compare the relative benefit of owning a stock vs. owning other yield assets such as bonds. If the earnings yield is higher, stocks may be considered undervalued.

Vector Group (VGR) has the lowest with an Earnings Yield of 3.61%; Philip Morris (Marlboro) is next with an Earnings Yield of 6.36%; and Lorillard (LO) has the next lowest with an Earnings Yield of 6.73%.

Altria Group (MO) follows with an Earnings Yield of 7.59% and Reynolds American (RAI) rounds out the group with an Earnings Yield of 8.99%.

SmarTrend currently has shares of Altria Group in an Downtrend and issued the Downtrend alert on June 28, 2011 at $26.22. The stock has fallen 2% since the Downtrend alert was issued.

Dissolvable Tobacco Moves to Center Stage

Tobacco mints, strips and toothpicks that melt in your mouth are considered the new frontier for tobacco companies, but some state and federal regulatory agencies are not sure how to classify the products, Time reports.

Last week, the Colorado Department of Public Health held a hearing on dissolvable tobacco products to talk about how the products could appeal to teenagers and children. Stephanie Walton, with the state’s health department, said that youth could be attracted to the price points and packaging of Camel Orbs, Sticks and Strips, which are being tested in Colorado and North Carolina by R.J. Reynolds. Dissolvable tobacco is not subject to regular tobacco taxes.

Marlboro and Skoal have been piloting dissolvable tobacco sticks in Kansas. Star Scientific has had dissolvable products Ariva and Stonewall on the market for 10 years, but the company has kept a lower profile in marketing the products.

Camel’s dissolvables are minty, small and easy to hide, detractors point out. R.J. Reynolds countered by saying the products are sold in convenience stores and other places next to tobacco products with the same health warnings and age restrictions.

Opponents also object to the appearance of dissolvables, saying they look like treats. “Those who keep referring to these tobacco products as 'candy' or 'mints' are irresponsibly perpetuating false and misleading information,” said Richard Smith, spokesman for R.J. Reynolds.

R.J. Reynolds developed its line of dissolvables to help smokers in an era of increased smoking bans. “They meet societal expectations,” said Smith. “There's no second-hand smoke, there's no spitting, and with dissovables, there's no cigarette-butt litter.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is currently looking into marketing and health effects of dissolvable tobacco products for a report due March 2012.

Big Tobacco Is Smoking Hot at the FDA

The nation's biggest tobacco companies are smoking hot at a new FDA rule that will force them to put graphic images - such as a dead body on an autopsy table and diseased body parts - on cigarette boxes and ads. Big Tobacco says such forced speech is unconstitutional.
"Such 'warnings' are unprecedented," the companies say in their federal complaint. "Never before in the United States have producers of a lawful product been required to use their own packaging and advertising to convey an emotionally charged government message urging adult consumers to shun their products."
The five plaintiffs include R.J. Reynolds, Lorillard, and the Liggett Group. They sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
The rule, which falls under the Tobacco Control Act, will take effect Oct. 22, 2012. It will require all cigarette packages made, starting a month before the deadline, to display the new text and graphic warnings, which must take up 50 percent of the front and back panels of a cigarette box and the top 20 percent of cigarette ads, according to the complaint.
The warnings must contain messages, such as "cigarettes cause cancer" and "smoking can kill you," as well as "color graphics depicting the negative health consequences of smoking."
The tobacco companies say the proposed images are not based upon facts.
"They were to appear in color and they included cartoon images, as well as disturbing, technologically enhanced photographs that used actors to maximize an emotional response from viewers," the complaint states.
The cigarette makers say the FDA acknowledges that the warnings were selected "not to inform consumers of facts that they do not know, but rather to make consumers 'depressed, discouraged, and afraid' to buy tobacco products."
They claim that FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg acknowledged that the warnings are meant to turn every pack of cigarettes into a mini-billboard for the government's anti-smoking campaign.
"This is precisely the type of compelled speech that the First Amendment prohibits," the companies say. "While the government may require plaintiffs to provide purely factual and uncontroversial information to inform consumers about the risks of tobacco products, it may not require plaintiffs to advocate against the purchase of their own lawful products."
They cite a 1977 Supreme Court ruling that prohibits the government from compelling companies to use their private property as mobile billboards.
Commonwealth Brands and Santa Fe Natural Tobacco are the other two plaintiffs.
The companies say the new rule violates their First Amendment rights and the Administrative Procedure Act. They want the government enjoined from enforcing the rules.
Big Tobacco has challenged several aspects of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act since it became federal law in 2009. It has initiated legal battles across the country over the law, claiming that provisions that regulate how tobacco may be advertised and marketed, and the mandated warnings, restrict speech.
The tobacco companies in this case are represented by Noel Francisco with Jones Day.

Tobacco display appeal could spark fresh Supreme Court row

Tobacco giant Imperial Tobacco is appealing against the legislation, which it says Scottish ministers have no right to make because it involves powers reserved to Westminster.

The group, one of the world’s largest multi-nationals, has indicated it could take the plans to Supreme Court judges if the Scottish Government does not back down.

BMC, NGO join hands for anti-tobacco campaign

As part its endeavour to make the city smoke-free, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) tied up with Voice Against Tobacco, an NGO, to launch a signature campaign on Friday. Inaugurated by BMC chief Subodh Kumar, Mayor Shraddha Jadav and Commissioner of Health Manisha Mhaiskar, the campaign aims at spreading awareness about the ill effects of tobacco.

“This initiative is part of our multi-pronged approach towards the anti-tobacco movement. It started with the hookah bars, then Ganesh mandals and bus stands and now this campaign,” said Mhaiskar.

The signature campaign aims at getting as many people as possible to sign a pledge saying they will stay away from cigarettes and other tobacco products. The campaign was launched in all the 24 wards of the city.

While the BMC seems to be taking steps to curb tobacco usage, there are some who feel these efforts are only on paper.

Tobacco ruling has a financial side

Basic compulsory insurance, which currently does not reimburse any anti-tobacco medication, will have to pay up. The health office made its decision on August 9. Criteria have yet to be fixed.

“This ruling is historical because it gives prevention the right place,” Jean-Charles Rielle, a doctor at the Information Centre for Tobacco Addiction Prevention in Geneva (CIPRET), told public radio on August 9.

Rielle, also a parliamentarian, welcomed the “financial boost” for smokers who want to give up.

On August 4 the Federal Court underlined that alcohol and heroin addiction could be considered an illness and that “under certain conditions” so could dependence on nicotine. In this case, insurance companies would have to reimburse medicines to treat smoking addiction.

The court partially agreed with drug maker Pfizer which wanted its Champix (or Chantrix) medication included in the list of medicines reimbursed by basic insurance.

Pfizer’s demand had previously been dismissed by the health office in 2008 and then in 2010 by the Federal Administrative Court. The federal court ruling meant the health office had to reconsider its position, which it has since August 9, confirmed the health office’s spokesman Daniel Dauwalder.

“Negative message”
For their part, health insurance companies have denounced the “negative message.”

“We only cover risk of illness and not prevention, which is not a risk. Prevention is down to individual responsibility and can’t be carried by everyone. This would be putting all types of behaviour under state control,” explained Yves Seydoux, spokesman for Groupe Mutuel.

But if alcohol addiction is considered an illness, why not tobacco dependency? Seydoux argues that tobacco addiction’s effects are not as great as those for alcohol.

Addiction to the bottle can “affect behaviour and create sometimes grave side effects, whereas it’s the consequences of tobacco addiction that are harmful to health”, he said. “It’s a question of free choice.”

Jacques de Haller, president of the Swiss Medical Association, does not quite agree. “From a medical point of view the two pathologies are different, but both are a dependency.”

“A smoker is addicted to tobacco which makes him lose his free will and can considerably shorten his life,” he said. In addition, there is “the real problem of passive tobacco addiction”.

Economic side
The health office must now decide when smoking addiction can be considered an illness through the treatment needed. Then it must pronounce on the second fundamental factor: the economic side of the treatment.

For de Haller this latter point makes the federal court’s ruling a positive one.

“The issue of non-recognised treatments by insurance companies affects those who need it the most – the lower economic classes – who are already penalised on a social level,” he said.

CIPRET says Champix can double the chances of heavy smokers giving up in three months. But Gianfranco Domenighetti, professor of health economics at Lugano University, warns that the controversial medication needs to be well tolerated.

“According to a Canadian study, this medicine increases cardiovascular risk by 73 per cent,” he said.

Tolerance and effectiveness issues have also been raised for other treatments such as nicotine substitutes or Zyban, an antidepressant used against addiction. But most of all, according to de Haller, “their effectiveness is not 100 per cent guaranteed”.

Other measures?
Seydoux hopes that the federal court’s ruling will be applied “rigorously”.

“The health office has enough room for manoeuvre to ensure that a free market does not develop and that the notion of individual responsibility over tobacco’s consequences remains in people’s minds,” he said.

Some voices, notably in parliament, have suggested that anti-smoking drugs should only be reimbursed if the treatment is successful. De Haller is sceptical about “making people pay in relation to the therapy’s success, when the effectiveness is not 100 per cent guaranteed”.

Do insurance companies intend to penalise smokers by raising premiums? “No, it’s impossible to ‘police’ people. Society has to accept deviances [from the norm] and that it can only curb the consequences of the deviances,” Seydoux said.

De Haller concludes that the solution is in any case “more political than health-based”.

“The most efficient measure is increasing the price of a packet of cigarettes. Each time, the number of smokers drops,” he said.

Why I love cigarettes: every puff is like a little hug

The other day I was sitting outside a cafe in Muswell Hill enjoying a coffee before a business meeting. Ashtrays were provided on the tables and I asked the waitress if I was allowed to smoke. She gave me the go-ahead and so I lit up. Within 30 seconds a lady at a nearby table asked me if I would stub it out as it “smells really bad and contains all sorts of awful chemicals”. I asked her if she’d ever tried one and, when she told me that she hadn’t, I offered her one. “They’re really quite yummy,” I added as she tutted and scowled and studiously turned to ignore me.

Smoking is banned almost everywhere now, with talk of banning it in cars and parks as well. The Government, whilst making billions in taxes from the sale of tobacco, continues to bleat about the dangers of smoking, and when I can actually hear them from all the way up there on the moral high ground, the anti-smoking brigade, whilst reeking of smugness, dare to criticise the informed choice of adults who want to enjoy one of life’s last great pleasures. Do they think we smokers aren’t aware of how damaging smoking is? I know exactly how bad cigarettes are for me. And yet I also know the wonderful benefits of it. It dampens my appetite (no bad thing given that I live off takeaway food), dampens my feelings (which keeps me out of prison given my dangerous levels of barely contained anger when not treated with nicotine), provides welcome relief from the mind-numbing hours of piano practice I do every day, gives me something to look forward to every morning, allows me to remove myself from dull conversations at parties and dinners and miraculously helps me both relax and concentrate all at once. Every one is like a little hug.

Alexander Graham Bell, Einstein, Orwell, Freud, Roosevelt, Kennedy, Wilde, Camus, Twain, Frank Zappa, Miles Davis and Stravinsky were all smokers, as is the universally delightful Avril Lavigne, and in an age where everything from driving to TV to eating red meat is apparently bad for me, if I choose to commit suicide slowly, over many years, then why can’t I be left alone while I’m doing it?
I had my first cigarette aged four when my grandmother gave me one and showed me how to smoke it. During a somewhat tumultuous childhood, cigarettes and music were my two constant companions that never let me down. I’m not going to go on Grumpy Old Men, I don’t want to encourage children to smoke, nor do I want to foist it on anyone else. I support the ban in general, especially in enclosed spaces, but cigarettes are as much a part of my life as food, coffee, friends and fresh air, and I want to be able to smoke in peace and without criticism. iPhones and BlackBerrys are just as addictive as smoking (take a look around you at any cafe, airport, foyer) and perhaps even more offensive – at least while I’m smoking I am present, focused and responsive to my environment. As I shall point out to the next jaywalking, tweeting/texting idiot who ambles into the road narrowly avoiding one of those stealthy, self-satisfied, vomit-inducing Priuses.

So if you’re sat in an increasingly hard-to-find smoking section of a restaurant with plenty of fresh air and empty chairs and someone lights up, suck it up or go sit inside. And do let me reassure you that should I get cancer, my health insurance will keep me comfortably in morphine for my remaining months and it won’t cost our glorious NHS a penny.

Prescription-only cigarettes 'not the way'

A proposal to make tobacco a prescription-only drug is causing fierce debate.

Its backer, Auckland councillor Arthur Anae, says the idea can work, given the Government's goal to make New Zealand smokefree by 2025.

Anae, also chair of Counties Manukau DHB's Pacific Advisory Committee, says New Zealand needs to start thinking outside the box.

"We have to come up with ideas to try to reach that target," he said. "The only way is if we are serious and if we want to stop it, make smokers get a prescription, as they do for a drug."

The former National MP said with a prescription, tobacco becomes needs-based and the doctor has the ultimate say on whether the patient really needs it or not.

But the Council for GPs and anti-smoking campaigners say shifting responsibility from the Government to the medical profession is not the way to make New Zealand smokefree.

"Asking doctors to make that decision - to give them something that they know is likely to kill the patient - I think is a very tough thing to ask them to do," said Ben Youden from Ash.

He said the health service would "grind to a very rapid halt" from having such a responsibility.

Smokers ONE News spoke to also said the idea is a step too far.

"I don't think it's anyone's right to do anything except for the smoker themselves," said Sinclair Allan.

Hidden problem: Cigarette butts clog city drains

While smoking can lead to a myriad of serious health problems, few associate the bad habit with clogging up storm drains. However, that is just what is happening in the city of Bluefield.

City officials estimate that 32 percent of all litter removed or found in city drains is from cigarettes. According to the city, approximately 95 percent of cigarette filters are made of cellulose acetate, a type of plastic that takes years to degrade.

The problem of cigarette butts in storm drains is becoming a big concern for the Bluefield Sanitary Board, according to Melanie Farmer, a community relations coordinator for the city.

That’s why city officials are launching a new campaign aimed at helping to alleviate the clogged drain problem.

The city was recently awarded a grant from the Keep America Beautiful Cigarette Litter Prevention program that will allow for the purchase of cigarette butt receptacles while also funding a public awareness campaign. The new receptacles will be placed throughout downtown Bluefield with the hope that those who smoke will place their cigarette butts in the containers, and not in city storm drains.

That’s why the public educational campaign will be necessary. If residents aren’t properly informed about the receptacles, they won’t know to dump their cigarette butts in them. And even once citizens are informed of the new receptacles being placed across the city, some smokers may still need a little bit of nudging or motivation to properly dispose of their cigarette butts.

According to Farmer, Princeton Avenue and Chicory Square are two locations where cigarette litter has been particularly problematic.

City Manager Andy Merriman said the ultimate goal of the campaign is to promote a “clean, healthy and beautiful” Bluefield.

It is our hope that area residents will help the city out by making use of the new cigarette butt receptacles. These are, after all, being provided as a convenience to those who smoke.

Cigarette butts shouldn’t be dropped in storm drains. That only causes additional problems. When storm water drains become clogged up, it will mean additional manpower, time and cost to the city to keep the storm drains cleared.

We urge all area residents who smoke to make use of the new cigarette receptacles. While the easy thing to do may be to drop your cigarette butts on the ground, it isn’t the right thing to do.

Health Ministry withdraws effort to restrict sales of cigarettes

Cigarettes in Slovakia will most likely be sold as they now are in multiple kinds of stores, the SITA newswire reported, as the Health Ministry has withdrawn a proposed change in its draft law based on objections received from a number of parties.
Originally the ministry wanted to restrict sale of cigarettes to a single point of sale or to one cigarette stand based on a revision to the law on protection of non-smokers. The ministry sought to better control the age of cigarette buyers and reduce the number of children smoking.
The Slovak Association of Commerce and the Tourism and Agriculture Ministry, as well as the Finance Ministry opposed the restriction, claiming that it would slash consumption of legally-produced tobacco products and increase illegal activities and fraud.
"Such restriction would increase evasion of tobacco excise tax and reduce income of the state budget from collected excise taxes on tobacco products," argued the Finance Ministry, as quoted by the SITA newswire.
The Health Ministry also gave in to reservations about increasing fines for violation of the law on protection of non-smokers. The minimum fine was originally supposed to be increased from its current €331 to €3,319 but neither the Economy Ministry nor the Justice Ministry agreed, considering it inappropriate or even liquidating and therefore "predisposed to lead to corrupt behaviour".
The Health Ministry eventually cut the bottom limit of the fine to €500. An increase in the maximum fine from €3,319 to €15,000 remained unchanged in the proposed amendment.
The proposed draft bill has undergone a few more changes: a ban on smoking would apply to all facilities serving food, including those where meals are not prepared but delivered from other facilities and served. The ban on smoking would also apply to community centres as well as fairgrounds and all sports grounds.
The Health Ministry submitted the amendment for interdepartmental review at the end of May. If approved by parliament it will take effect in the beginning of 2012.

Heat is harsh on marijuana crops

However, if the crops survive and drug investigators seize it, they can't burn the drugs due to the burn ban, said Mark Woodward, a spokesman with the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.

"We have been flying grids around the state as part of our summer annual marijuana mission," Woodward said. "Since early June, we have been in different parts of the state, and the majority of the plants that we are finding are in bad shape. We are finding fields that have been abandoned and they just let the plants die off because it was just too hard, too manpower-intensive to keep those plants alive."

The few good patches they are finding with quality plants are well-tended and have irrigation systems, like the patch of 1,900 plants they found near Foyil on Wednesday. The agents found the patch about a quarter of a mile off the road while conducting their annual aerial patrols of the state.

"There was a campsite out there," Woodward said. "They had a very sophisticated irrigation system running from this creek and they were pumping water through there so they were able to tend this patch literally 24 hours a day."

"They had some vegetables growing right next to the marijuana. That is the only way you are going to be able to keep these plants alive."

Woodward said that patch in Rogers County was an unusual find this summer.

"This extreme heat has been here since their prime growing season, which is back in June, so this is a really unusual year," Woodward said.

The burn ban, however, is interfering with the agents' normal procedure for destroyed the plants, he said.

"We are under a burn ban so we are certainly taking every precaution," Woodward said. "We are just going to store the plants that we are finding throughout northeastern Oklahoma this week and we will find a safe location and time to burn it."

Medical marijuana push nearer to November ballot

Efforts to legalize medical marijuana in Ohio are moving ahead, with a group submitting signatures to Attorney General Mike DeWine's office. And that could launch the petition collection process in time for the November 2012 ballot, the Associated Press reports.
Backers of the “Ohio Alternative Treatment Amendment” submitted 2,143 signatures summarizing the proposed amendment, which would allow those with qualifying illnesses to possess up to 3.5 ounces of marijuana, the news service reported. DeWine's office must validate at least 1,000 of those signatures and certify that the summary language is a fair representation of the amendment.
Should summary language be approved, backers must then begin collecting at least 385,245 valid signatures to make it to next year's ballot. Supporters say a win would open doors to medical treatment, while opponents worry it will create an enforcement problem.
State lawmakers in Indiana also are studying whether the state should decriminalize the use of marijuana or create a program that would allow people to use the drug to relieve pain.

Top 4 Large-Cap Stocks In The Cigarettes Industry With The Highest Revenue

Below are the top large-cap cigarettes stocks on the NYSE, the NASDAQ and the AMEX in terms of revenue.
The trailing-twelve-month revenue at Philip Morris International Inc (NYSE: PM) is $28.72 billion. PM's ROE for the same period is 152.36%.
The trailing-twelve-month revenue at British American Tobacco plc (AMEX: BTI [FREE Stock Trend Analysis]) is $24.44 billion. BTI's operating margin for the same period is 33.45%.
The trailing-twelve-month revenue at Altria Group Inc (NYSE: MO) is $16.54 billion. MO's ROE for the same period is 74.44%.
The trailing-twelve-month revenue at Reynolds American Inc (NYSE: RAI) is $8.66 billion. RAI's profit margin for the same period is 15.55%.

Billboard Says Hot Dogs Are as Bad as Cigarettes

Anyone who doesn't already know the ingredients of a hot dog consist mainly of the crap that falls on the floor after all the good stuff has been cut off the pig or the cow will find this new campaign informative. A billboard, located near the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, from the Cancer Project of the nonprofit Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine reads, "Warning: Hot Gogs Can Wreck Your Health." The headline is accompanied by an image of a cigarette pack filled with hot dogs.

The board was placed near the speedway because over 1.1 million hot dogs were served there during last year's races.

Of the campaign, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine Education Director Susan Levin said, "A hot dog a day could send you to an early grave. Processed meats like hot dogs can increase your risk for diabetes, heart disease, and various types of cancer. Like cigarettes, hot dogs should come with a warning label that helps racing fans and other consumers understand the health risk."

Think twice, people, before you devour that hot dog at your next cookout.