Bills on Cigarette and Plastic-Bag Taxes, Judicial Retirement Falling to Wayside

As expected, the House Finance Committee on Jan. 24 tabled a proposal by Del. Patrick Hope (D-47th) to increase Virginia’s cigarette tax from 30 cents per pack to $1.45.

Hope wanted the increased revenue to be used, in part, to fund Virginia’s Medicaid obligations. State officials estimated it would bring in nearly $300 million a year in new revenue.

Even before the action, the measure had little chance in the Republican-led House of Delegates, which can be counted on to oppose new or higher taxes. Virginia’s tax on cigarettes is among the lowest in the nation.

* A bill by Del. Adam Ebbin (D-49th) to require a 5-cent tax on single-use plastic bags from supermarkets and retail establishments also appears dead in the House Finance Committee.

* A measure by Hope to extend the mandatory retirement age for state judges from 70 to 73 died a quick death Jan. 16 in the lower house.

A subcommittee split 5-5, with one abstention, on reporting the legislation to the full Committee for Courts of Justice.

A similar measure from Del. Charniele Herring (D-Alexandria) also failed on a 5-5 vote.

Cigarette May Have Caused Apartment Fire

Investigators say a flicked cigarette may have started an apartment fire in the 9000 block of Richmond Avenue on Thurday night.

It was first reported at 10:30 p.m in southwest Houston.

Responding firefighters found a small fire on the balcony of a third floor apartment unit at ‘The Aberdeen’ complex. Firefighters were able to put the flames out before they spread.

According to the Houston Fire Department, the residents of the burned apartment were home when the flames broke out. Apparently one of the tenants threw a lit cigarette out onto the balcony.

It hit the corner and rolled into a wooded area of the structure, which caught fire. The damage was limited to mostly the balcony.

The fire department says the situation could have been a lot worse, and emphasized how dangerous even the smallest of fire sources can be.

Call to stub out tobacco testing offer to students

An attempt to recruit Christchurch students to test cigarettes has sparked a Ministry of Health investigation.

Smokefree agencies are outraged by a Student Job Search advertisement looking to recruit 15 students to test a brand of cigarettes and provide feedback.There can be many cigarettes brands from which to choose for test , for example, Kiss cigarettes or Esse cigarettes.

A Ministry of Health spokeswoman said the local smokefree enforcement officer had been asked to investigate the "possible legal issues" raised by the trial.

"We are concerned by any activity that seeks to undermine the efforts, and the gains made so far, to further reduce the prevalence of smoking in New Zealand, particularly amongst young people," she said.

"The Ministry of Health aims to make smoking less appealing to young people, and this product test undermines that objective."

The ad asks for male and female smokers aged between 19 and 29.

Participants would go to an undisclosed central Christchurch location to collect the cigarettes and be paid $50 following a final interview.

The Press understands the brand is Benson and Hedges.

Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) director Ben Youdan said tertiary age students were particularly vulnerable to starting smoking.

"The tobacco industry is flashing the cash to entice them into `research' that will extract the secrets of exploiting this vulnerability. This is yet another example of tobacco companies deliberately targeting young people.

"Tobacco companies, of course, claim they do not do this, but paying university students to market-test their brands shows how important young people are to their business."

He said the law did allow for tobacco products to be given away.

"If there is a loophole in the law that allows for tobacco to be given away to research participants the upcoming Smoke-free Environments Amendment Bill needs to address this, along with other ways tobacco companies can market their product, particularly at youth."

Students are being recruited through People for Information for market research company Colmar Brunton.

Colmar Brunton was forced to apologise in October last year over a survey it sent out for British American Tobacco. The survey was sent to 10,000 people and said that depending on their answers, they could be asked to join a study involving smoking cigarettes.

About 20 people complained about the wording of the survey, which they believed encouraged people to smoke.

Colmar Brunton spokesman Chris Vaughan said the company did research for clients in accordance with "strict guidelines" to ensure recruitment for consumer research was limited to existing smokers aged over 18."The research in question is not aimed at Canterbury students or any university students," he said.

Smokefree Canterbury youth representative Sarah McCallum said she had not come across the ad on Student Job Search, but was disgusted by the idea of recruiting youth for a smoking trial."To think that they are trying to get young people to test new products is just disgusting and shouldn't be allowed," the 18-year-old said.

"Some of us need financial assistance and can get roped into things like this."

Fellow youth representative Kris Austin said the posting of the ad on SJS did not send a good message.

"It's like, `hey guys, do you want some money to try out some new poison?"' he said.

SJS chief executive Paul Kennedy said jobs could be posted on the site without staff viewing them.

Wake schools to get $3m windfall from cigarette tax case settlement

RALEIGH -- In these parsimonious times when many government agencies are pondering staffing cuts to deal with budget deficits, the Wake County schools just got an unexpected $3 million windfall.Cigarette taxes should be paid otherwise there can be big problems for those who don't.

As part of a plea arrangement entered this morning in Wake County Superior Court, two South Carolina cigarette distributors agreed to pay $6.5 million in restitution and fines to settle a protracted and complicated tax fraud case that could have resulted in prison time.

Larry Phillips, 62, and John M. June Jr., 38, each entered Alford pleas to two counts of obtaining property by false pretense.

Under the arrangement, Phillips and June did not admit guilt, but acknowledged that prosecutors had sufficient evidence to bring convictions.

Initially the men were charged with criminal conspiracy and attempting to evade state taxes.

June and Phillips, who operated J & E Distributors Inc.and Tobaccoville USA Inc., were accused of trying to avoid a 2005 state cigarette tax increase in a complicated scheme in which sales records and invoices were created to show they sold 958,000 cartons of cigarettes in August 2005 shortly before the tax jumped from 50 cents per carton to $3.00 per carton.

Prosecutors said the men overstated their 2005 cigarette sales and understated their 2006 sales to sidestep the tax increase.

In court today, Joseph B. Cheshire V and Thomas Manning, two Raleigh attorneys representing the men, said the distributors had gotten a five-page letter from a different attorney in 2005 who told them what they did was legal.

Judge Donald Stephens, the chief resident Wake County Superior Court judge, said today he took an active role in helping prosecutors and defense lawyers arrange a plea that both sides could accept.

Phillips and June have already paid $2.5 million to the state Department of Revenue and made a $1 million contribution to a state trust fund set up to deal with tobacco-related health claims.

The men also had a $3 million check for the the Wake County courts, which will be forwarded to Wake County schools as court fines routinely are.

"This whole fight has been about money, and I'm going to resolve it with money," Stephens said. "Sometimes, when you make bad business decisions, the best way to resolve it is by paying a heck of a lot of money."

The men, who made no comments after their pleas, will be on unsupervised probation for 18 months.

Stephens said under his calculations the $3 million fine could help save the jobs of 50 to 60 Wake teachers.

"Everybody benefits from this decision," Stephens said from the bench. "Hopefully the board of education finds some rational way to spend the $3 million."

Lawmakers to consider boost in Idaho cigarette tax

BOISE, Idaho (AP) - State lawmakers are expected to consider a bill that would significantly boost taxes on cigarettes in Idaho during the upcoming session.

Rep. Dennis Lake, the Republican who heads the House Revenue and Taxation Committee, said Thursday he has agreed to sponsor a bill supported by health groups to increase the cigarette tax by $1.25 per pack.

Lake detailed the proposal at a legislative preview sponsored by The Associated Press.

A pitch for any tax increases will face a tough fight in the 2011 session with the conservative turn of the Idaho Legislature during the November election.

But Lake says his bill to increase Idaho's 57-cent-per-pack cigarette tax may find favor because of the savings it could bring in health care-related costs associated cigarettes and other tobacco products.

Hiring at ProMedica to exclude smokers

Two years after ProMedica Health System was among those to ban smoking everywhere on their hospital grounds, officials have taken the next step: not hiring anyone who uses tobacco products.

Many persons are smoking brands liek Kiss cigarettes or Winston cigarettes.

ProMedica, along with St. Rita's Medical Center in Lima, Ohio, this month became the latest local employers in the health-care industry to shun those who smoke and use other tobacco. Such policies not only set an example for the community, but they also are expected to eventually help lower insurance costs as the overall work force becomes healthier, officials said.

"We are a health-care organization — we should be promoting health," said registered nurse Laura Ritzler, director of corporate and employee wellness at ProMedica. "We should have people role-modeling healthy behavior."

Medical Mutual of Ohio, which has about 500 employees in Toledo, adopted a similar policy three years ago. The Cleveland insurance company since has been joined by Cleveland Clinic and others in the health-care industry statewide.

Firms in other fields also have refused to hire smokers, including Scott's Miracle-Gro Co. of Marysville, one employer studied by ProMedica as its policy was formulated. ProMedica and Medical Mutual, meanwhile, are among those providing free smoking-cessation assistance for existing employees, which has helped reduce the ranks of tobacco users.

A matter of concern
At ProMedica, job applicants are asked about their tobacco use, and if their screening is positive after denying use, they will not be hired. Those who declare tobacco use or do not pass the screening can reapply for a position after 90 days.

It can take varying amounts of time for nicotine to leave the body based on frequency and length of use.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio dislikes policies monitoring what employees do off the clock, said spokesman Mike Brickner. Because Ohio is an "at-will" state, meaning employees can be fired for any reason without proving just cause, that dislike has no effect when it comes to not hiring smokers, he said.

"It's definitely something we have seen an increase in around the state and nationally," Mr. Brickner said. "There's not a lot legally [here] that can be done."

Michigan also is an "at will" employment state. It also has employers that have adopted policies against hiring tobacco users, and improving wellness and financial issues certainly have played a part.

The cost of tobacco use
Tobacco use nationwide costs an estimated $193 billion annually, including $97 billion from loss of productivity because of premature death and $96 billion in smoking-related health-care costs, according to the latest statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Within nine months of quitting, people experience less coughing, sinus congestion, and other problems. And five to 15 years after quitting, the stroke risk for former smokers is equal to nonsmokers; at 15 years, their risk of coronary heart disease also is the same, according to information from the American Cancer Society.

The possibility of being able to lower health-care costs and increase productivity is among benefits that have drawn interest in Medical Mutual's policy from employers in various fields, said Sarah Susalla, Medical Mutual's manager of health promotion and wellness.

"It's a fairly common question," said Ms. Susalla, a registered nurse. "We can certainly provide some direction."

Area hospitals
St. Rita's is one of Catholic Health Partners' first hospitals to adopt a policy against not hiring tobacco users. The hospital and Lima Memorial Health System, which is part of ProMedica, started enforcing the policy Jan. 1.

Mercy, a fellow Catholic Health Partners entity with several hospitals in northwest Ohio, does not have a similar policy. Neither does the University of Toledo Medical Center, formerly the Medical College of Ohio.

St. Rita's policy was questioned upon its announcement last month, but the furor has died down, said Jennifer Van Tilburgh, the hospital's human resources director.

"It really is legal, and it really is in our rights to do it," she said.

Mixed reaction
ProMedica's policy has drawn mixed reaction.

For Toledo Hospital's Cheryl Gomez, a patient safety specialist, the policy was a wake-up call to stop smoking after about three decades.

"There's no denying the evidence — the medical evidence — that smoking is not a healthy habit," Ms. Gomez said. "All of a sudden it just kind of hit me, ‘It's time.' "

Ms. Gomez stopped smoking Dec. 21, less than a month after ProMedica's policy was announced.

She is using nicotine replacement products, and she started getting smoking-cessation counseling last week from a certified tobacco treatment specialist.

"It's hard to say to your patients ‘You have to stop smoking' when you haven't done it yourself," said Ms. Gomez, adding that her clothes and hair formerly smelled of smoke. "No matter how quiet you are about it, people know when you smoke."

So-called third-hand smoke, toxic residue that remains on clothing and other items, was another concern for ProMedica, said Ms. Ritzler, the wellness director. It can be especially harmful to children, she said.

Among others who have weighed in on the debate is John Kirkbride, a retired Washington Local Schools educator and administrator. He said that instead of not hiring smokers, officials should hire them under the condition that they quit, he said.

"I don't care whether my doctor smokes or not — I would prefer they hire the best doctor," Mr. Kirkbride said. "I want the best doctor, or nurse, or health professional that I can have."

Ms. Ritzler said maintaining such a policy would be complicated, and ProMedica used existing policies as models.

ProMedica's position is clear cut, and Southwestern College in Toledo, which offers training for medical-related careers, has posted the policy and encouraged students to refrain from smoking, she said.

What's next?
The next step will not be refusing to hire people because they are obese, a charge made by some opponents, although weight-loss efforts will continue for willing employees needing help, Ms. Ritzler and others said.

Going tobacco-free on hospital campuses and elsewhere two years ago was harder to accomplish than not hiring smokers, Ms. Ritzler said. Employees were given six months to prepare for the tobacco-free change, and some cut down smoking dramatically even if they haven't totally quit, she said.

"We've always had a mission to improve the health of our own employees and the community as well," Ms. Ritzler said.

The Economics Behind Marijuana and Its Illegality

Marijuana is one of the most commonly used illicit substances in the United States. However, the history of the drug is ripe with controversy ranging from its use to its illegalization. To truly understand the situation regarding marijuana it is only proper to look at the root of the controversy surrounding it. People choose to smoke marijuan or different cigarette brands like Bond cigarettes or Temp cigarettes.

Once the 1930s rolled around, and the prohibition of alcohol had failed tremendously, there was a feeling of failure in most prohibitionists' minds. One of the jaded prohibitionists, Harry J. Anslinger, soon found himself at the forefront of yet another prohibition movement in the United States. During the latter years of alcohol prohibition many Southwestern states were pushing for a law against marijuana as a means to persecute the Mexican immigrants who offered cheap labor during the Depression.

In response to the public's outcry for action, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) was founded in 1930 as an agency of the United States Department of Treasury. Secretary of the Treasury, Andrew Mellon, felt his nephew-in-law, Harry J. Anslinger, was the perfect candidate for the job of FBN commissioner. While Anslinger was upset over the failure of the prohibition of alcohol, the cries for action against marijuana enabled Anslinger to focus his attention on a new scapegoat substance.

For the first 4 years of the FBN, Anslinger never felt cannabis to be a real threat, but he eventually changed his mind and began one of the most heinous campaigns of propaganda in the history of the United States. At the time the campaign began, accurate scientific studies of marijuana had not been conducted; in fact, marijuana was not properly studied until the 1950s, long after the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 was passed. Most of the evidence used to lead the Supreme Court in their decision to pass the Marihuana Tax Act was created and distributed by the FBN.