Homeless people get cigarettes for Christmas

The charity, called Omsorgsjul - Hemlösa (Care Christmas - the Homeless) has organized traditional Christmas smorgasbords in Norrköping for the past 17 years.

At this year's Christmas party, the charity handed out gifts like hats, warm clothes and boxes of chocolate to the homeless and other vulnerable people who attended the festivities. The guests also received a pack of cigarettes each.

"There would be an outcry if they didn't receive their cigarettes," Lennart Cederberg, head of the charity, told the local Folkbladet newspaper.

"It has become a tradition and, moreover, many of them are sick and they must have this," Cederberg said, adding that the 150 packs handed out this year were light cigarettes.

Lena Sjöberg, president of Dentistry Against Tobacco said handing out cigarettes "sends the wrong signal", according to .

"I think it is in the human interest to try to inspire people to take up more healthy habits, and giving cigarettes as Christmas presents is not the right way forward," said Sjöberg.

"Only the tobacco industry needs tobacco. Besides, the government has decided that we should try and reduce tobacco use among those who smoke the most, including the homeless."
The Local.
Asked if he thinks handing out cigarettes sends "the wrong signal", Cederberg replied: "These people are our friends whom we care about and in this context the cigarettes aren't that dangerous. They smoke all the time anyway."

"They have smoked for a long time. We can't take that away from them. The most important thing is that we don't hand out alcohol and money."

He said the recipients keep calm by smoking and that those who complain about the unorthodox Christmas gift should instead focus on the real problem, which is homelessness.

"Come and help them and make sure they receive accommodation instead of whining," Cederberg urged.

"Some of these people have to go into communal garbage rooms to smoke. The cigarettes help them stay awake and keep them from freezing to death."

None of the charity's donors have complained about the cigarette gifts. If they do, said Cederberg, the charity would have to rethink its policy.

"Otherwise we will continue handing out cigarettes at the Christmas party," he stated.

Tobacco vendor goes back to court

An unusual case is unfolding in a small courtroom in rural Nova Scotia that could have serious implications for anti-smoking legislation in the province and possibly across the country.
The drama, which pits the owner of a small family business against government, has been quietly simmering for four years.
It was 2008 when Bob Gee, owner of Mader’s Tobacco Store in Kentville, was first charged with illegal storage and display of tobacco products.
After numerous delays, the 68-year-old Gee successfully argued in court in 2010 that the province’s legislation banning the point-of-sale display of tobacco products is an infringement of his constitutional right to freedom of expression.
Part 2 of his case began Tuesday in Kentville provincial court, where a Justice Department lawyer must prove that the infringement on Gee’s charter rights is reasonable and justified in a free and democratic society.
“I’m feeling positive about it,” Gee said in an interview before the court proceedings. “I think things look good for us.’’
Gee, whose family has owned and managed the small retail business on Aberdeen Street for the past 45 years, would like to retire and leave the store to his son, Jeff. But the court case has delayed his retirement.
He has always argued that tobacco is a legal product in Nova Scotia and that he wants the freedom to conduct business without government interference.
Gee was charged under the province’s Tobacco Access Act, which prohibits the display of tobacco products in a store. After several court appearances, the Crown stayed those charges to allow Gee to comply with amendments to the legislation permitting customers to shop using an in-store catalogue.
Gee refused to comply and was charged again in 2009. He has removed tobacco products from his store window but still prominently displays them behind the counter in what anti-smoking advocates refer to as a marketing power wall.
His charter battle is the only legal challenge in Canada against legislation banning the display of tobacco products, and it could set a precedent.
Curtis Palmer, Gee’s lawyer, is asking Judge Claudine MacDonald to rule that the legislation is invalid.
If he wins, it could throw the province’s anti-smoking strategy into disarray at a time when most provinces and many western countries have moved toward similar legislation banning tobacco displays, according to The Chronicle Herald.
Ed Gorse, a lawyer for the provincial Justice Department, said the case is important to the province.
“It’s important in terms of protecting people from point-of-sale display and advertising of tobacco products.”
In the absence of laws regulating them, retail displays are the most prevalent form of tobacco advertising that young people and former smokers are exposed to, said Rob Cunningham, a lawyer and policy analyst for the Canadian Cancer Society, in an interview outside court Tuesday.
“This legislation reduces smoking, especially among youth, and we strongly support it,” said Cunningham. “We believe it’s essential for the legislation to remain constitutional.”
Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia’s chief medical officer, testified that the ban on point-of-sale displays is one measure in a comprehensive attack on smoking.
“The ultimate goal is to have an ever-decreasing use of tobacco by Nova Scotians,” he said.
The court also heard that Gee is the only one of 1,243 tobacco retailers in the province refusing to comply with the legislation.

U.S. Quit-Smoking Policies Need Improving

U.S. federal and state policies are at a "tipping point" in terms of winning the war against smoking, according to an American Lung Association report.

"Over the next year, key decisions will be made by the federal government and the states about whether or not they will help save lives, prevent disease and reduce health costs," Paul Billings, senior vice president of advocacy and education at the American Lung Association, said in an association news release.

The association believes the federal government has missed important opportunities to improve Americans' access to medications and counseling to help them quit smoking. The record among states is mixed, but too few provide coverage to help people kick the habit, the report said.

"We know that the vast majority of smokers want to quit, but the complex web of state and federal coverage for effective quit-smoking programs and treatments prevents too many from getting the help they need," Billings said. "States and the federal government can reduce the enormous health burden of tobacco use by providing access to these proven interventions."

Here are some key findings from the association's 2012 annual report:
In terms of Medicaid coverage, only two states (Indiana and Massachusetts) provide comprehensive coverage to help people quit smoking, and two states (Alabama and Georgia) provide no coverage. Four states (Colorado, Kansas, North Dakota and South Dakota) provided new counseling benefits for pregnant women in 2012. Connecticut and Tennessee announced new benefits for everyone in 2012 that are close to comprehensive.

In terms of state-employee health plan coverage, only four states (Illinois, New Mexico, North Dakota and Rhode Island) provide comprehensive coverage. All other states provide some type of coverage. In 2012, Florida, Georgia, Nebraska and New Jersey added new smoking-cessation benefits for state employees, informs Health Day.

Va. official pitches mandatory anti-smoking classes

A Fairfax County supervisor wants to know whether county employees who smoke can be forced to take classes to help them quit, reports HamptonRoads.com.

The Washington Post reports that Gerald Hyland, a Democrat, first made the suggestion at a board meeting last month. A county spokeswoman says the county's attorneys are looking into the question.

Hyland's father smoked and died of lung cancer at age 50. He says it's "time to get serious" about reducing the number of smokers in the county workforce.

About 10 years ago, Hyland proposed cutting smokers from the county's payroll. In recent years, some employers have adopted policies against hiring smokers, who often have to pay higher health-insurance premiums.

Several supervisors say they don't agree with the idea of mandatory smoking-cessation classes.

Dominican Republic Requests WTO Panel Over Australia’s Plain Packaging Law

 Late last week, the Dominican Republic requested the establishment of a panel under the dispute settlement procedures of the World Trade Organization (WTO) challenging Australia’s plain packaging measures for tobacco products.

Starting Dec. 1, Australia will mandate that all tobacco products be sold in plain packaging. Packaging will be a standardized drab brown color, with the brand and variant name in a standardized font and place, banning all logos or other design features. This move will prevent tobacco products from using their well-known trademarks and geographical indications, the republic stated in a press release.

These unprecedented measures will undermine the Dominican Republic's tobacco industry, in particular its premium cigar sector. By prescribing standardized plain packaging, the tobacco market will be driven towards commoditization, with declining prices, and increasing — rather than falling — consumption and illicit trade.

In June, the Ukraine and Honduras diplomats filed trade disputes with the World Trade Organizations protesting the Australian plain packaging law, informs NACS Online.

Washington State Cigarettes Nearly 40% Contraband

A soon-to-be published study by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in Michigan reveals 36% of all cigarettes consumed in Washington are contraband, KREM.com reports.

"The bottom line here is that many governments are making tobacco products as valuable as illicit narcotics," said Mackinac's Michael LaFaive.

Contraband cigarettes for Washingtonians are any that do not pay the state’s $3.02 per pack tax. In 2010, Washington State increased its cigarette tax by a dollar a pack to the fourth highest state tax in the nation.
The Washington Department of Revenue’s Mike Gowrylow said his department will soon release its own contraband cigarette data, and he expects the number of contraband cigarettes to be about one in three.
“(That’s) substantial, to go from one in four contraband cigarettes (the figure prior to the 2010 tax hike) to one in three,” Gowrylow said.

By Washington State’s last estimate in 2011, 94 million packs of cigarettes were consumed in the state, a tax loss of $284 million for the state.

Officials have said it’s difficult to quantify how much of the smuggling is from criminal organizations and how much is “casual smuggling” — from people who purchase their cigarettes out of the state, where the tax is cheaper, reports NACS Online.

Hooked on Hookah

A hookah is a water pipe that contains a smoke chamber, bowl, and a hose or hoses.

Sweetened tobacco is mixed with fresh fruit and heated. Its smoke passes through water and is drawn through the rubber hoses to mouthpieces, where it is inhaled.

"I like it. It's a lot smoother than cigarettes, and it tastes a lot better,'' said Chris Sedwick, 20, of Erie, an Edinboro University of Pennsylvania student who recently attended his first hookah session with friends.

Sedwick estimates he has smoked an average of one pack of cigarettes daily for the past year and a half. He wants to quit smoking cigarettes.

For more than an hour, he puffed on white-grape-flavored tobacco.

"It's smoother, and it tastes really good,'' he said. "I like putting my tongue where the smoke comes through and tasting it. It's a lot smoother and less harsh on your lungs.''

A quality hookah water pipe costs about $300, Mustafa said. Most of the 150 hookah pipes -- each about 2 feet to 3 feet in height -- in his stock range in price from $250 to $300, he said.

The sweetened tobacco comes in more than 40 flavors, including apple, blueberry, grape, strawberry kiwi, mint and lemon mint.

The smoking mixture is usually 40 percent tobacco and 60 percent fruit. The tobacco is mixed with fruit and is packaged that way.