Iowa City police conduct tobacco compliance check

Iowa City Police conducted several tobacco-compliance checks at Iowa City businesses.

Police conducted the compliance checks at the local businesses on Jan. 18, 19, and 21. During the checks 54 businesses refused to sell tobacco to underage buyers.

Seven businesses failed the compliance checks: The Den, 123 E. Washington St.; Fareway, 2530 Westwinds Drive; Liquor Downtown, 315 S. Gilbert St.; Red Poppy, 341 E. College St.; Russ' Northside Service, 305 N. Gilbert St.; Walgreen, 2214 Muscatine Ave.; and Zombies Tobacco, 318 E. Burlington St.

Selling tobacco products to a person under the age of 18 is a simple misdemeanor; the first offense is punishable by a $100 fine. All violations are also reported to the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division for civil penalties against the tobacco licensee.

State receives tobacco grant to enforce complaince among retailers

Iowa has been awarded a federal contract to help inspect tobacco retailers to ensure they are complying with marketing and sales restrictions on cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products.
Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division (ABD) officials say their agency has been awarded a contract by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to help enforce provisions of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009. The FDA contract was awarded for one year, plus two option years.
Under the contract, division administrator Stephen Larson said ABD investigators conduct undercover buys, as well as advertising and labeling inspections, in accordance with the FDA Tobacco Compliance Check contract.

2 groups push medical marijuana

Two proposed medical-marijuana issues potentially headed for Ohio’s Nov. 6 ballot seem similar at first glance but are quite different in terms of specifics and supporters.

The Ohio Medical Cannabis Amendment of 2012 was approved yesterday by the Ohio Ballot Board, clearing the way for supporters to begin gathering the 385,245 signatures of registered voters needed to qualify the issue for the ballot. The group has until July 6 to submit names.

Mary Jane Borden of Westerville, a committee member for the Cannabis Amendment, said medical marijuana can be an effective, natural way to ease chronic pain without relying on addictive narcotic medications.

“We have a plant that’s been in existence for 10,000 years, and it’s never killed anyone,” she said.

Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have some form of medical-marijuana law.

In October, Ohio’s five-member ballot board, led by Secretary of State Jon Husted, approved a similar proposed constitutional amendment, the Ohio Alternative Treatment Amendment.

The general goal of both issues is the same: to persuade voters to amend the Ohio Constitution to legalize the use of marijuana to treat chronic pain associated with many diseases and conditions, including Alzheimer’s, cancer, HIV/AIDS, Parkinson’s, spinal-cord injuries and rheumatoid arthritis.

But the two proposals differ in their implementation. The Cannabis Amendment includes no limits on how much marijuana someone could buy, possess or grow, leaving that decision and many others to a commission to be established later.

The Alternative Treatment Amendment, by comparison, would embed voluminous detail in the Ohio Constitution, including the amount of marijuana (3.5 ounces) an individual could possess; where sellers could not locate (within 1,000 feet of schools, churches, recreation centers and drug-and-alcohol treatment facilities); and fees related to buying and selling.

Backers of the issues come from different points of view.

The Cannabis Amendment is supported primarily by patients, advocates and business people, said Theresa Daniello of Cleveland, who suffers from long-term thor-

acic back spasms. “My pain is forever,” she said, but it could be eased by marijuana.

The Alternative Treatment Amendment’s most high-profile backer is the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, a group that has long advocated complete legalization.

Geoff Korff, a Salem, Ohio, lawyer and businessman on the Alternative Treatment team, said he is uncomfortable with leaving specifics to a commission. He said his group is organizing and gathering signatures, targeting specific events statewide.

Korff thinks only one issue will make it to November: “I honestly believe there will have to be some reconciliation that takes place.”

The Columbus-based Drug Free Action Alliance doesn’t like either proposal.

“We don’t do any medication through the ballot box or legislative initiative. We do it through the Food and Drug Administration,” said Marcie Seidel, executive director. “We don’t think this is the proper way to do it. It should go through the proper channels so that when a person takes a medication, they know what to expect from a certain dosage, the side effects and interaction with other drugs.”

Smoking out good recipes

One of the aspects of the great outdoors that provides me just as much enjoyment as hunting and fishing is outdoor cooking. So I was quite happy when I received a high tech electric smoker for Christmas.
Smoking meat and fish is an ancient way of preserving them. Smoking is a cooking technique that showed up shortly after man discovered fire and has been used ever since. Today smoking has a lot more to do with imparting flavor to foods than preserving them. Smoking is an art, but the availability of information is so good that what were previously closely guarded family secrets are now all over the Internet. Smoking also tenderizes meat, turning some of the lesser cuts like beef brisket into a great meal.
To make smoked meat and fish, you really don't need a high-tech piece of gear. Smoking can be done with a simple fire pit. While I was in Texas at the Colorado Ranch the owner, Celso Uribe, made pork chops one evening on their version of the smoker, an open fire pit made of steel. The meat was marinated in the refrigerator for several hours and then cooked on the other end of the grill, away from the mesquite fire. Needless to say, the meal was excellent.
While you can get great results with a simple fire pit, there's something to be said for technology. It's nice having the temperature correctly regulated with an electric or gas smoker that has a controller. Charcoal smokers also work well.
The basic cooking principle is to cook at a low temperature until the meat reaches the proper internal temperature (which varies, lower for beef, higher for poultry or pork). Typical ideal smoking temperatures run from 200–220 degrees Fahrenheit. A meat thermometer is a necessary piece of equipment.
Most of the recipes for smoking have two to three components. They use a dry rub, which is a combination of spices and a sugar, usually brown sugar. The dry rub cooks into the meat and the sugar helps tenderize it while adding a sweet flavor. In addition to the dry rub, some of the recipes use a baste (called a mop). Barbeque sauces are also added, usually at the end of the smoking session.
The type of wood that you use makes a big difference. Any hardwood will do, but some are far better than others. The most common are mesquite, apple, hickory, and oak. Softwoods are not good for smokers, nor are wood scraps or anything like that.

Boy charged after man stabbed for cigarettes

A 14-year-old boy has been charged in connection to a stabbing in Winnipeg's North End neighbourhood on Tuesday.

A 19-year-old man was attacked just before 1 p.m. after refusing a request for a cigarette, according to police.

After the stabbing, the attacker robbed the victim of a pack of cigarettes. The attacker was then chased off by a witness at the scene, near Selkirk Avenue and Andrews Street, police said.

The injured man was sent to hospital where he was treated and released.

Police blocked off a section of Selkirk Avenue as they investigated the incident and searched for the attacker.

The boy was located and arrested at a residence a few blocks away in the area of Flora Avenue and Powers Street.

Officers have also recovered the knife believed to have been used.

The boy has been charged with:

Robbery with a weapon.
Possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose.
Carrying a concealed weapon.
Failure to comply with a prior sentence.
Failure to comply with the conditions of an undertaking.
He has been detained in police custody.

Australia fumes over kangaroos used to sell cigarettes

BAT, which is battling Canberra over moves toward plain packaging in Australia, is selling its Winfield brand overseas with a picture of a kangaroo on the front and a map of Australia on the back.

It is also using the slogan “An Australian Favourite” and Attorney-General Nicola Roxon, the former health minister, is not amused.

“I think many Australians are going to be outraged that a big tobacco company all the way round the world is using Australia's healthy lifestyle to market their deadly products,” she told reporters.

“What I think it's really showing is the sneaky levels that tobacco companies will go to to encourage people to buy their products.”

Australia is set to be the first country to mandate plain packaging to reduce smoking rates under a groundbreaking law passed in November.

Under the legislation, all tobacco products sold in Australia must be in drab, olive-brown packets with large, graphic health warnings showing diseased body parts and sick babies from Dec. 1 this year.

Brand imagery will also be banned, sparking a furious response from the major tobacco companies who have launched a constitutional challenge to the High Court, claiming it infringes their intellectual property rights.

Despite her dismay at Australian images being used to sell cigarettes in Europe, Roxon admitted there was little she could do about it.

“Whilst it's probably unlikely that we can do anything to stop these packs being sold in Europe, we certainly can call on British American Tobacco, as the Australian public can, to say 'get your hands off our icons',” she said.

“Don't use them to sell your product which actually has nothing to do with Australia.

“They are trying to imply to the European market that this is something that Australia promotes, that this is something that Australians prefer, that this somehow is connected with our healthy lifestyle.”

Quitting smoking with a little help from a friend

It’s where it began for more than a few smokers–in high school.

So it goes for “Pam” of Port Dover, who had been smoking for 40 years, before finding a way out.

Pam finally said goodbye cigarettes more than a year ago.

It wasn’t easy kicking the habit, but she got by with a little help from a friend.

A friend who had taken a “hynotist course’ hypnotized her in an effort to help Pam quit.

And it worked.

That’s not necessarily any other smoker’s preferred way to quit.

The Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit offers suggestions on it’s website to people who may want to help a friend or family member quit.

Smoking is the cause of the tens of thousands of deaths in Canada.

Tobacco Company Hides the Truth About Their Cigarettes

Cigarette giants Philip Morris USA may have altered data on the harmful effects of cigarettes, according to an independent study conducted by the University of California San Francisco (UCSF).

The study, which was published in the journal PLoS Medicine, found a 2002 Philip Morris report called “Project Mix” obscured the toxicity levels in their cigarettes and minimized the risk of cancer, heart disease and other smoking related illnesses.

The Philip Morris report detailed chemical analyses of smoke and animal toxicology studies of 333 cigarette additives.

The study also revealed that Philip Morris added further toxins to cigarettes after they released their “Project Mix” report, thus, underreporting the true toxin levels of their products.

“We discovered these post-hoc changes in analytical protocols after the industry scientists found that the additives increased cigarette toxicity by increasing the number of fine particles in the cigarette smoke that cause heart and other disease,” explained Dr. Stanton A. Glantz, professor of medicine of UCSF, and lead study author.

“When we conducted our own analysis by studying additives per cigarette, following Philip Morris’ original protocol, we found that 15 carcinogenic chemicals increased by 20 percent or more,” he added.

UCSF researchers suggest new protocols be established for when cigarette companies release product data.

Glantz also suggested the reason Philp Morris failed to specify all of the toxic effects in their animal studies was simply because their study and the amount of animals weren’t big enough.

“The experiment was too small in terms of the number of rats analyzed to statistically detect important changes in biological effects,” he concluded.

Tobacco Industry Vet Freudenthal Joins Imperial Tobacco Group

Kevin Freudenthal has been named president and CEO for Commonwealth - Altadis Inc. and region director for the Americas at Imperial Tobacco Group (ITG). He succeeds Graham Bolt, who retired from the company at the end of December.

Freudenthal will take overall responsibility for Commonwealth - Altadis from Eric Workman, senior vice president of marketing, at the end of the month.

Freudenthal has 26 years of industry experience and has made a career out of leadership and innovation in marketing tobacco products, the company said, working with large teams, crafting business strategy and improving profitability.

Before joining ITG, he was vice president for category management for Altria Group, and before that, spent two decades in executive positions at U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Co., where he began his career as a territory representative.
"Kevin is one of the most seasoned and successful tobacco executives, and we look forward to him being onboard starting on January 30. He will lead our efforts to complete the integration for CA as well as our mission for growth in the U.S. market," said Workman.

Freudenthal has been a member of the Tobacco Outlet Advisory Group, UST Retail Advisory Group, Texas Grocers & Convenience Association, California Grocers Association, National Association of Convenience Stores, and American Wholesales Marketers Association. He has also sponsored the CSP Executive Council and the Network of Executive Women.

Signature brands sold by Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Commonwealth - Altadis include USA Gold, Fortuna and Sonoma cigarettes, Phillies, Dutch Masters and Backwoods and White Cat cigars.

United Kingdom-based Imperial Tobacco Group has 51 manufacturing sites, around 38,000 employees and operates in more than 160 markets.

Higher cigar taxes won't reduce teen tobacco use

Contrary to Vincent DeMarco's claims, minors have access to tobacco products because youth and retailers are breaking the law ("Cigar tax increase would reduce teen use," Jan. 4). Increasing taxes is not the answer; enforcing the law is.

Higher taxes will cause additional economic hardship to Maryland's small business owners in the midst of the worst economy in 30 years.

If these businesses close, the unemployed will potentially seek public assistance. This one-two economic gut punch will only exacerbate Maryland's fiscal challenges.
Maryland's law-abiding adult premium cigar consumers are already paying high taxes. If the state legislature increases cigar taxes, adult consumers will take their business across state lines to lower- or no-tax states, costing Maryland precious revenue.

Tobacco Free Fun Night at Riverside Middle School

Riverside Middle School reACT Against Tobacco Club and RiverStone Health have partnered to organize a Tobacco Free Fun Night for seventh- and eighth-graders, their friends and families.
The event, which includes a dodgeball tournament, healthy food and prizes, begins at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 6, at the Riverside Middle School gym.
Students will compete in the dodgeball tournament in teams of seven. The winners will take on a team of teachers, and the team that loses this round will have to complete a comical challenge. Winning teams will receive shirts and prizes.
All participants and spectators at the Tobacco Free Fun Night are encouraged to make a tobacco-free pledge as they enter the building.

Tobacco growers get P5.4-m crop assistance

Tobacco growers in Abra province obtained a P5.4 million as production assistance from the National Tobacco Administration to perk up the age-old industry.

Administrator Edgardo Zaragoza said the loan package under the Tobacco Contract Growing System is targeted to sustain the livelihood of a major segment of the farming population.

“We are happy at NTA to learn that the provincial and municipal governments are wisely using their share from the Tobacco Excise Tax Act purposely for the benefit of our tobacco growers,” he said. “We have to return to them the benefits derived from tobacco production, especially the building of farm to market roads, so that they will be able to deliver their produce to the prospective markets the soonest.”

NTA-Abra branch manager Esmeralda Valera said 261 tobacco farmers have availed of the loan package. About 160 hectares of land are included in the cropping season in the 19 tobacco-growing municipalities .

Flue-curing barns in the different towns have been installed to ensure quality leaves that would command a higher price in the market and assured planters of better returns on investment.

Zaragoza urged beneficiaries to be quality and not quantity-oriented.

“We want our farmers to continue increasing their income from tobacco production that is why they should not rush the harvesting of tobacco leaves so that they will be able to get the better ones especially when already dry so that buyers will not take advantage of the situation,” he said. Valera said the capitol was still distributing fertilizers from the remaining subsidy for the cropping season.

Tobacco farming is concentrated in 19 of the 27 towns, an industry second to hybrid and native rice production in lowland and upland municipalities over the past decades.