Adelaide City Council approves smoking ban in Rundle Mall

ADELAIDE City Council has approved on a long-awaited bylaw that will make smoking along Rundle Mall illegal.

Council has endorsed the decision made at a committee meeting earlier this month to ban smoking along the strip and adjoining laneways.

It is now expected to be rubber-stamped by state parliament's Legislative Review Committee before the council begins enforcing the ban in July.

Smokers will escape fines for the first six months of the bylaw, during which council officers will ask them to butt out and hand them a leaflet explaining the ban.

After that time expires, smokers will be fined $62.50 if they refuse to stop smoking.

Speaking at a full council meeting, Lord Mayor Stephen Yarwood said the ratification of the law by council was a sign of "cultural change".



"People (now) expect more from the public environment than having smoke blown in their face," Mr Yarwood said.

"I think one per cent of the City of Adelaide where you can't smoke, and 99 per cent where you can, is a small victory, especially in a place where we have upwards of 25 million visitations per year."

Mr Yarwood said the bylaw was a "fair balance" considering the types of people who use the city retail strip.

"This is about places where people tend to gather, being the tables, chairs, the seats in the mall. That's where the old people need to rest, that's where the young people with young families need to rest," he said.

Smoking banned on all Windsor Regional Hospital grounds

Windsor Regional Hospital is kicking what many consider a bad habit. As of April 1, there will be no smoking on any hospital property, including parking lots and bus shelters.

The new policy has upset some, such as Mike Eansor.

"It's ridiculous, because I'm in a wheelchair, I'm crippled, and it's difficult to get around. It's just not right," Eansor said.

Student Andrew Bradt thinks it's a good plan.

"I think it might be a good. If people are really motivated to go and smoke, then they'll go and do it," he said. "[But] if you're in the hospital it might not be a good idea for you to be smoking anyway, depending on your condition."

The policy has support from hospital staff. A survey showed 72 per cent of employees support it.

"The hospital has a responsibility as a healthcare organization to be role models by developing and supporting policies that are in the best interest of health and wellness," reads a posting on the hospital's website.

WV Still Struggles with Smoking Rates

As more West Virginia officials start to take a closer look at health care costs, many are taking a closer look at the contributing factors.

Kanawha-Charleston Chief health officer Dr. Rahul Gupta was a guest on this week's edition of The State Journal's Decision Makers to talk about the high numbers of smokers in the state.

West Virginians continue to lead the nation in the number of smokers. 26 percent of the state's population, 22 percent of high schoolers and 11 percent of middle schoolers are lighting up.

"The tobacco companies know that if you get them hooked early, and get them hooked well, they will smoke through their lifetime," Gupta said.

Gupta said people who smoke lose an average of 14 years from their life span.

And West Virginia's tobacco tax, at 55 cents per pack, continues to be one of the nation's lowest. Gupta said in New York City, youth smoking rates have gone from 17 percent to 8 percent in the past 10 years, and he said it's in part because of high tax rates.

Gupta said smoking has been a part of the culture for hundreds of years and it would take a multi-faceted approach to cutting smoking numbers.

"We have to fully fund programs at state and community levels," he said.

Gupta also said a strong counter-marketing campaign needs to be waged, along with strong second-hand smoke prevention policies, such as the one already in place in Kanawha County that bans smoking in any public area.

Gupta also said cessation programs need to get more serious.

"It bothers me as a physician that people, when they want to quit, we are not able to provide them help as a system," he said. "Whether it's the doctors, hospitals, the insurers, the insurance companies ... we have lifetime limits, we will give them gum, but we won't give them pills; we won't give them counseling.

"We play games with our folks who want to smoke, and then we put a stigma on them, so these are things that we could do in a nutshell in a large picture, that actually will help West Virginia move forward."

Gupta said smoking at work takes several victims, as well, because it hurts the employer in terms of productivity time lost.

"There is no reason we can't have smoke-free workplaces," he said. "It would help cut that cycle where the body requires that substance put in every so hours."

NY cigarette racketeering case to proceed: Judge

A federal judge on Monday declined to throw out a lawsuit brought by New York City against a suspected ring of smugglers that allegedly sold millions of cigarettes without paying local taxes.

The city in April filed a civil racketeering suit against over two dozen sellers and distributors of cigarettes, claiming they avoided paying more than $6.5 million worth of city taxes on 437,721 cartons of cigarettes.

Between 2003 and 2009, the city said the defendants at the center of the suspected scheme, operating under the name 2U.com, ran a "classic bootlegging operation, modernized with the Internet."

In its lawsuit, the city said one group of defendants would buy tax-free wholesale cigarettes from suppliers across the country, and then sell them online and on the phone to a network of retailers in the city. The suppliers were also named as defendants.

In refusing to dismiss the action, U.S. District Judge Barbara Jones in Manhattan said the city had standing to bring the case, which was brought under federal racketeering laws and the Contraband Cigarette Trafficking Act.

"We have successfully fought those who tried to find tax loopholes, and we will continue to fight those who try to skirt the law," Corporation Counsel Michael Cardozo said in a statement.

Nora Coleman, a lawyer for one group of defendants, declined to comment on the ruling.

The case is The City of New York v. Israel Chavez et al., U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 11-2691.

Smoking among youth still considered a problem

Although youth smoking rates have declined since the 1990’s and early 2000’s, it is still seen as a significant problem.

Smoking and smokeless tobacco use are initiated and established primarily during adolescence. More than 80 percent of adult smokers began smoking before 18 years of age. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported that each day in the US, approximately 3,800 young people under 18 years of age smoke their first cigarette, and an estimated 1,000 youth in that age group become daily cigarette smokers. Tobacco use can lead to nicotine dependence and serious health problems.Nicotine dependence is the most common form of chemical dependence in the US, and research suggests that it may be as addictive as heroin, cocaine, and alcohol.

The CDC lists factors that are associated with youth tobacco use and include the following:

*Youth perceive that that tobacco use is the norm.

*Youth are exposed to smoking and tobacco use in the media.

*Youth are exposed to the use and approval of tobacco use by peers, siblings, and by parents or guardians.

It was reported that teenagers who don’t smoke say one of the main reasons is their parents. Kids know and respect their parents’ expectations, and a parents’ influence is real. Parents are in the best place to help guide your child as he or she struggles with peer pressure to begin smoking. Parents can decrease a child’s likelihood of smoking if they let them know clearly and repeatedly that they don’t approve. Without lecturing, parents can remind children of the negative effects of smoking, such as the expense, how it causes wrinkles, bad breath and diseases such as cancer.

Studies have shown that children whose parents smoke cigarettes are at much greater risk of smoking themselves. Parents can share their stories about why you started to smoke and also talk about the addiction cigarettes can have and the effect smoking has had on your health. Parents can also talk on how difficult it can be to quit and inform their children if their planning to quit as well.

Cessation can significantly reduce the risk of suffering from smoking-related diseases. Smoking cessation lowers the risk for lung and other types of cancer, reduces the risk of coronary heart disease and peripheral vascular disease, and reduces respiratory symptoms such as coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath.

Springfield smoking ban goes back to voters

Springfield residents will be asked to vote on a smoking ban again. The City Council on Monday voted against repealing the new ban, which sends the law to another vote in June.

Opponents have been trying to repeal the ban since it was approved last April.

The Springfield News-Leader reports ( ) that possible amendments to the ban will be presented during public hearings before the June vote. The amendments could include exemptions for tobacco shops and electronic cigarettes.

Supporters of the ban have argued the City Charter requires the council to unanimously approve any changes to the smoking ban, but city legal staff has said that provision doesn't apply to approving a citizen-backed petition.

Ex-tax man jailed over tobacco bribes

A former tax office investigator has been jailed for corruptly taking bribes from illegal tobacco producers.
A County Court judge said today that Philip James Roper, 52, had been motivated by greed and had tarnished the reputation of other investigators in carrying out important duties.
Roper, who served for nine years as a federal policeman before joining the Australian Tax Office, was found guilty by a jury of dishonestly asking for a benefit, dishonestly receiving a benefit and theft.
He also pleaded guilty to dishonestly receiving a benefit and abuse of public office.
In sentencing this morning, Judge Joe Gullaci said Roper had come into contact with Jimmy Wang, and a middle man, who were involved in the illegal tobacco, or chop-chop, industry.
The jury decided that Roper's relationship with both men was corrupt.
The offences occurred between June 2001 and the middle of 2004 by Roper asking Wang for the names and addresses of other chop-chop sellers. Roper told Wang, who he met at the Gotham City brothel, he would look after him.
Judge Gullaci said that Wang had believed that the arrangement was beneficial because it would remove competitors.
The information Wang provided also allowed Roper to steal tobacco leaf and cutting machines, which were sold and the profits taken by Roper.
Roper also stole five 100 kilogram bales of tobacco leaf from a Dandenong property. These were sold and he shared in the profits.
He also "parked" a prosecution of a woman who had sold chop-chop at the Caribbean Garden Markets by telling his colleagues that her address could not be determined.
The woman's husband had also been selling chop-chop at a supermarket in Frankston North.
Judge Gullaci said that Roper, a father of three adult children, had destroyed his own reputation by his actions but since the offences occurred, had rehabilitated himself and was not likely to reoffend in the same way.
He described the crimes of Roper as an "abuse of trust and power" and that Roper was motivated by the lure of easy money, free meals, meeting in hotels and being feted by criminals. "But at the bottom of it, your motivation ... was greed," said Judge Gullaci.
Roper was jailed for two-and-a-half years but will be released on a recognisance order of $1000 after 14 months.

Indian girl trapped in life of cigarette rolling

Sagira Ansari sits on a dusty sack outside her uneven brick home in this poor town in eastern India, her legs folded beneath her. She cracks her knuckles, then rubs charcoal ash between her palms.

With the unthinking swiftness of a movement performed countless times before, she slashes a naked razor blade into a square-cut leaf to trim off the veins. She drops in flakes of tobacco, packs them with her thumbs, rolls the leaf tightly between her fingers and ties it off with two twists of a red thread.

For eight hours a day, Sagira makes bidis - thin brown cigarettes that are as central to Indian life as chai and flat bread.

She is 11 years old.

Sagira is among hundreds of thousands of children toiling in the hidden corners of rural India. Many work in hazardous industries crucial to the economy: the fiery brick kilns that underpin the building industry, the pesticide-laden fields that produce its food.

Most of the children in Sagira's town of Dhuliyan in West Bengal state work in the tobacco dust to feed India's near limitless demand for bidis.

Under Indian law, this is legal.

Sagira, who has deep brown eyes and a wide smile, joined her family's bidi work when she was seven. At first she just rolled out thread for her older sisters and brother, then she helped finish off the cigarettes, pushing down the open ends. Last year, she graduated to full-scale rolling.

She is not alone. Her best friend, Amira, also rolls bidis. So do Wasima and Jaminoor and the rest of the girls in a neighborhood that is, at its heart, a giant, open-air bidi factory.

Parents and children roll cigarettes on rooftops, in the alleyways, by the roads. One woman draped in a red shawl in the yard behind Sagira's house breast feeds her baby while rolling. Of the roughly 20,000 families in Dhuliyan, an estimated 95 percent roll bidis to survive.

Sagira is expert enough that even when distracted, her fingers continue to flit blindly through the tobacco shavings in front of her.

She says the work can make her ill, with a cold, a cough, a fever. Her head often aches. So do her fingers.

Sometimes, she takes her woven basket of tendu leaves and tobacco to the banks of the Ganges to roll in a circle with her friends. She stops every so often to splash in the river for a few moments. Then she gets back to work.

Nicotine level in cigarettes may be reduced

The Health Ministry is considering reducing the nicotine content in cigarettes to curb the smoking addiction.

Its minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said he had ordered the ministry’s director-general to conduct a study into the implementation of the step.

It would be yet another move in a long line of government efforts to break the addiction to cigarettes.

“Currently, the nicotine content in one cigarette stick is 20mg. We hope that by reducing the amount, we can help smokers care for their health and control their addiction,” he said after joining the Felda Lurah Bilut settlers in a “10,000 steps a day programme” here yesterday.
Liow said there was no fixed reduction target yet as the plan was still in discussion but he hoped that it could be reduced by 10mg.

He added that the smoking cessation programme introduced in health clinics had been successful.

“The programme’s success rate has increased from 60% to 80%. Next, we want to move this programme to the community level,” he said.

However, he added that smokers themselves needed to be aware that they could only break the habit using their own willpower.

U.S. Backs Antismoking Ad Campaign

For the first time, the federal government will directly attack the nation’s tobacco addiction with a series of advertisements highlighting the grisly toll of smoking, a campaign that federal health officials hope will renew the stalled decline in the share of Americans who smoke.
The government’s investment in the campaign is relatively modest: $54 million this year. The tobacco industry spends that much and more, on average, in just two days of promotional efforts. California has spent about $20 million annually since 2000 on anti-tobacco advertising, while New York spent about $10 million annually between 2003 and 2009. Other states also finance such ads.

But the effort by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is the first in which such advertisements will be played throughout the country. Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, the C.D.C.’s director, said the campaign would save lives and money.

“We estimate that this campaign will help about 50,000 smokers to quit smoking,” Dr. Frieden said Wednesday in an interview. “And that will translate not only into thousands who will not die from smoking but it will pay for itself in a few years in reduced health costs.”

The advertisements, which will appear on television and in newspapers starting Monday, show former smokers discussing the terrible health consequences of their habits.

In one TV ad, Terrie, 51, of North Carolina, who has a hole in her neck and barely any hair on her head after suffering head and neck cancer, tells the camera, “I want to give you some tips about getting ready in the morning.” She then pops in a set of false teeth, dons a blond wig and inserts a small speaker into the tracheotomy in her neck. She ties on a scarf to hide the device and says, “And now you’re ready for the day.” An announcer says: “You can quit. For free help, call 1-800-QUIT-NOW .”

Studies have shown that such graphic advertisements are effective in persuading smokers to quit, but they have also often led to opposition from smokers, who call them alarming and demeaning, and to efforts by the industry to end financing for the ads.

David Howard, a spokesman for the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, which makes Camel and Pall Mall cigarettes, declined to comment directly on the advertising campaign because he had not seen it.

“We believe that adult tobacco consumers should be provided with accurate information about the risks associated with tobacco use,” he said. R. J. Reynolds is part of a group of tobacco makers that have sued the Food and Drug Administration to overturn rules that would require cigarette companies to cover much of their packaging with graphic warning labels. Two weeks ago, a federal judge in Washington declared the rules an unconstitutional violation of the companies’ free speech rights. The government is appealing.

Mr. Howard said that he doubted that tobacco companies would raise similar objections to the C.D.C. advertising campaign since it would not involve “taking our packaging to deliver anti-tobacco information.”

Dr. John Seffrin, chief executive of the American Cancer Society, said that cancer mortality rates are dropping faster than ever in the United States, and that the reduction in the proportion of Americans who smoke is one of the main reasons. He noted that a third of all cancers are directly attributable to smoking, and that many smoking-related cancers are unusually deadly and expensive to treat.

“If this ad campaign helps people quit and prevents some from starting, it’s the right thing to do,” he said.

Along with vaccinations, few public health efforts have the capacity to save as many lives as those that combat smoking.

Smoking remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States, killing more than 443,000 Americans each year, according to federal estimates. More than eight million Americans live with a smoking-related disease.

The C.D.C. ads will emphasize that smoking causes immediate damage to the body, and feature three former smokers providing tips about how they successfully quit.

“I’ve been waiting for the government to do this for 40 years,” said Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. “Even in the tightest budget times, this is absolutely the right thing to do.”

State Police raids Beckley business for synthetic marijuana

The West Virginia State Police seized $72,000 worth of synthetic marijuana from a Beckley business Thursday after several weeks of undercover work, reported Sgt. D.W. Bennett of the Beckley detachment.

Bennett said that between February and March 15, undercover units purchased this synthetic marijuana from Blue Moon Video on Robert C. Byrd Drive in Beckley.

The synthetic drug, sold as potpourri, was then sent to the State Crime Lab for testing that revealed the Blue Moon purchases did contain a controlled substance, he said.

“What we want the public to be aware of is that this stuff is dangerous. It has caused deaths nationwide, and its possession or sale is just as illegal as selling real marijuana,” he explained.

While some “head shops” sell herbs for smoking that do not contain a controlled substance, it is pretty easy to tell the difference.

Most synthetic pot is labeled as incense or potpourri, is sold for $5 a gram and comes in packages of 4 grams, he explained.

“It’s common sense. It does not sound reasonable to pay $20 for a package of potpourri. If business owners are being approached to sell this, the pricing on it should raise some alarm,” Bennett added.

Thursday’s raid is still under investigation and no charges have been filled at this time; however, sale of synthetic marijuana is a felony offense, he said.

Colchester residents offered support to stop smoking

ADVICE to stop Colchester residents smoking tobacco is being offered ahead of No Smoking Day on Wednesday.

The British Heart Foundation is warning people about the dangers of all types of smoking from cigarettes to cigars to pipes and shisha pipes.

New figures revealed a rise in shisha bars in the region and the charity warns people should not be under any illusion about this being a healthy alternative.

Dr Mike Knapton, associate medical director at the BHF, said: “Contrary to popular belief, shisha is not safer than smoking cigarettes. Don’t be duped by the sweet smell and wholesome sounding fruity flavours, if you use shisha you are a smoker and that means you’re putting your health at risk.”


More than 750,000 people attempt to quit on No Smoking Day each year.

Soldiers and their family are being offered support through the welfare service.

On Wednesday the Colchester Garrison health trainer is joining forces with the Ormiston Children’s Centre to launch a weekly stop smoking support group.

Advice and details will be available at The Musket Club, Fallowfield Road, from 10.30am until 2.30pm.

MU students seek smoke-free campus sooner

Student leaders at the University of Missouri want the school to speed up its move to a smoke-free campus.

The Columbia Daily Tribune reports that the Missouri Students Association is asking Mizzou administrators to ban smoking on campus starting in January. The current plan calls for a completely smoke-free campus starting in 2014.

The UM system's flagship campus has been phasing out public smoking since 2006. Current rules provide for designated smoking areas, but student government president Xavier Billingsley says that student smokers don't abide by those rules.

Myrtle Beach restaurants ponder smoking ban impact

Flanked by cities to the North and South with sweeping smoking bans, restaurants and bars in Myrtle Beach are now considering the impact of a smoking ban in their city.

Smoking bans are in effect in both Surfside Beach and North Myrtle Beach, meaning that restaurants and bars that used to cater to both smokers and non-smokers, must ask certain customers to put out their cigarettes before coming inside. Certain Myrtle Beach restaurants say they've developed a loyal clientele based on their ability to cater to both smoking and non-smoking crowds.

"The pier itself and the wraparound bar allows for smoking," said Mike Phillips, a bartender at the 2nd Ave. Pier. "But both the bar and the restaurant are smoke free."

Phillips says several customers come to the bar at the pier because they know they can light up while enjoying their drink. If a ban were put in place, those customers would have to find another spot to smoke.

"We'd have some customers that disapprove," Phillips said. "But I don't think it would be to the point we'd fight a ban. If the ban's citywide, they're going to go somewhere and I'll assume they'll still come here."

Visitors to the Grand Strand area say smoking bans are commonplace in several states, so they're actually surprised to see people can still light up indoors, and it even affects where some people choose to eat.

"Ohio passed a statewide smoking ban," said visitor Bobby Bianchi. "Now, I just don't have that experience of being in a smoking establishment, so I'm more prone to take a step back."

Smoking Decline in Young Adults Slowing, U.S. Report Finds

One in three young adults is a cigarette smoker, according to a U.S. Surgeon General's report that says a decline in tobacco use among youth has slowed in recent years.

Prevention efforts must focus on this demographic because surveys have shown that 88 percent of adult smokers were introduced to the habit by the time they were age 18, according to today's report by Surgeon General Regina Benjamin. More than 3.6 million students smoke cigarettes, the report found.

About 30 percent of young smokers will quit, the report found, while half of those that continue will die from tobacco- related causes. Smoking early in life carries substantial risk, including cardiovascular damage and reduced lung function, according to the report.

"Targeted marketing encourages more young people to take up this deadly addiction every day," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, said in a statement. "This administration is committed to doing everything we can to prevent our children from using tobacco."

A substantial minority of youth believe smoking controls body weight though there's little evidence the assumption is true, according to the study's authors. While there is evidence for lowered weight among smokers after age 35, there is no relationship in smokers who are younger.

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Pharmacies should not sell tobacco products

There are close to 550,000 smokers in British Columbia, and 6,000 British Columbians die from smoking related illnesses each year.

For the past four months, the British Columbia government has provided free access to smoking cessation therapies for British Columbians who want to quit. It is a valuable program that would be money well spent if not for the fact that many who are trying to quit must pass through drug stores where cigarettes and other tobacco products are sold to get to the dispensary at the back of the store to pick up their cessation medication.

Smoking is a strong addiction and the temptation of knowing that cigarettes are being sold in the store is often too strong to pass up. And the sale of tobacco in pharmacies is contrary to the health professional role pharmacists play in society.

British Columbia is in the small minority of only three provinces and territories (Manitoba and Yukon being the other two) that still allow cigarettes to be sold in pharmacies. Approximately half of the more than 1,000 B.C. drug stores or other retail establishments that contain a pharmacy still sell cigarettes. It’s time for the British Columbia government to legislate the removal of cigarettes and other tobacco products from British Columbia pharmacies and stores that contain a pharmacy.

American Lung Association Congratulates the Journal Tobacco Control

Last week the American Lung Association recognized the journal Tobacco Control for 20 years of publication. When its first issue was printed in 1992, Tobacco Control was the only journal focused primarily on the topic, according to an editorial in the commemorative issue.

"The American Lung Association congratulates the journal Tobacco Control on the occasion of its 20th anniversary. During its two decades of publishing, Tobacco Control has become an important source of evidence that has played an invaluable role to researchers, policymakers and advocates in making the case as to why tobacco control policies are so important in saving lives and saving money," the statement reads. "The Lung Association looks forward to more of its strong, thoughtful examinations of the day’s most pressing tobacco control issues."

Tobacco ban gets a face lift: Smoking sections?

Recent concerns have been raised regarding the smoking situation on the campus of ETSU.
Legislation is currently being considered by the SGA that would include setting up designated smoking areas around campus.
Dalton Collins, president of the Student Government Association, suggests that the current rules are unfair and that they place an unnecessary burden on smokers.
"The smoking policy at ETSU is one that is unfair to every person who works, resides and pursues higher education on this campus," Collins said.
"By advertising a policy which bans all tobacco use except in the privacy of one's personal vehicle, ETSU has created a regulation which is unfair to smokers as it requires them to walk, in some cases, extreme distances to consume a legal product."
Due to the lack of enforcement of the smoking ban, non-smokers often feel powerless when filing complaints about second-hand smoke.
"With no enforcement of the policy, non-smokers are left with little recourse for complaints and violators go unpunished," Collins said. "This has led to blatant disregard for university policy and the use of tobacco products in areas that are inconsiderate of non-smokers and, indeed, in violation of Tennessee law. The behavior continues to worsen with each semester as smokers continue to overcome a ‘fear' of disciplinary action for their violation."
The implementation of designated smoking areas brings into question the concept of the "smoke-free campus." However, according to the legislation, the designated smoking areas would still be in compliance with the Non-Smoker Protection Act and the Tennessee Annotated Code.
There would also be a buffer zone created of no less than six feet between the smoking areas and frequently used paths to reduce the threat of secondhand smoking hazards.
The purpose behind these actions is to create a comfortable learning environment for all parties involved and to alleviate any tension that may be building between smokers and non-smokers.
The SGA has been working for the last two years to get designated smoking areas implemented and for the current rules regarding smoking to be better enforced.

Spanish village council votes to raise funds by growing marijuana

A tiny Spanish village has voted to lease land for growing marijuana as a source of desperately needed revenue -- a unique but legally questionable way of battling an economic crisis highlighted by staggering unemployment and a looming recession.

A government official with the National Drug Plan said such planting would in fact be against the law and that prosecutors would intervene as soon as the first pot seed was sown.

The village of Rasquera, population 900 and in the northeastern Catalonia region, said its town hall councilors approved the plan Wednesday night in a 4-3 vote.

Rasquera is a picturesque, compact hamlet of stone buildings at the foot of a mountain range in Tarragona province. It has a castle that dates back to the 12th century.

The Barcelona newspaper La Vanguardia says it is the kind of village that is dying -- its young people leaving for lack of work, and those left behind desperate for some lure to keep people put.

The idea is for private citizens to lease or lend land to town hall, which would then create a company to manage the land and lease it to an association of marijuana-smokers in Barcelona.

Under Spanish law, consumption in private of cannabis in small amounts is allowed. But growing it for sale, or advertising it or selling it, are illegal, the anti-drug official said on condition of anonymity under department policy.

The group that wants to acquire the marijuana, called ABCDA, said on its website that it will make an initial investment of $40,000 but makes no mention of how much it will pay Rasquera per year. A representative who declined to give his name said more details would come when ABCDA signs a formal agreement with the village in the coming days.

ABCDA said the project would create 40 jobs in Rasquera -- workers to grow, harvest and package the pot -- and the marijuana produced would go to ABCDA members.

Rasquera's mayor, Bernat Pellisa, could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.

But after the Wednesday night vote he hailed the plan. "It is a question of opportunity, which is going to bring in money and create jobs," Pellisa.

The National Drug Plan official said Thursday the project has zero chance of getting off the ground.

If it somehow did, Rasquera's way of raising money in hard times would indeed be novel.

Many Spanish cities and towns are trying to cope by cutting spending on things like social services such as health care and education.

Illegal hookah joints may face closure

Taking cue from Gurgaon, Delhi government is planning to carry out inspections of hookah bars in the city to check if they are serving nicotine. According to sources, the government had received a number of complaints from resident welfare associations regarding the increasing number of young smokers. Those found violating the norms may face closure.

The anti-smoking wing of the government is planning to conduct inspection with the Delhi police. “We are planning to pick up samples from such places and get them checked in laboratories. We want to ensure that these places are not serving nicotine as it is banned in Delhi,” said health minister AK Walia.

The Delhi Police maintain that restaurants or bars serving flavoured hookah do not require license. However, if bars are found serving tobacco molasses containing nicotine, their license will be cancelled.

Restaurants and bars in the city require health license from civic bodies to serve food, the excise department gives license for serving alcohol, the fire clearance from Delhi Fire Services, and finally, the licensing wing of Delhi Police gives them a final clearance.

“Flavoured hookah centres don’t need license and hookah with nicotine are banned in Delhi. If someone is serving it, it is a violation of license. If caught, the license of that restaurant can be cancelled,” said a police official.

A hookah can cost anything between Rs 250 to Rs 1,000 in the city.

In November last year, Gurgaon had imposed a blanket ban on bars serving hookah, a number of such places were raided by the Gurgaon police too. Two hookah bars in Panchkula were asked to close shop as the quantity of nicotine in their products was found to be more than the permissible limit. The authorities are planning to come up with a new policy for running such places.