Posted on 03/09/2006 1:50:06 PM PST by southernnorthcarolina
Americans smoked fewer cigarettes last year than at any time since 1951, and the nation's per capita consumption of tobacco fell to levels not seen since the early 1930s, the association of state attorneys general reported yesterday.
Using data the federal government gathers when it collects taxes on cigarette sales, the group found a 4.2 percent decline in 2005 alone and an overall drop of more than 20 percent since tobacco companies reached a legal settlement with the states in 1998.
-- snip --
Federal studies show that about 21.7 percent of high school students still smoke, as do 20.9 percent of adults — about 45 million Americans 18 and older. Tobacco use remains the leading preventable cause of death, causing more than 400,000 deaths a year.
-- snip --
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
If you like Cohibas, the 420s might be too light for you. But they're pretty darned cheap for their excellent quality. Just don't smoke them right after you get them. Take them out of their cellophane and stick them in a properly cared for humidor. Too dry and they acquire a bitter taste, and shipping them always results in them being too dry. The wrapper is a light colored, pretty leaf, usually unmarred. The torpedos are the best, but hard to get.
I think they're on special right now for the tokes, 5x50, box of 24, for about $23. Supposedly retail is around $80 for the box. These are a great cigar to share with friends, sparing your cohibas for personal enjoyment. ;-)
I think 420 is the code cops use to indicate pot.
More people are chewing/dipping though.
But are people still dying, or in the hospitals, or in the nursing homes? I hope everyone quits so they can LIVE FOREVER!!!!!! Praise the Lord for people's good behavior. Now if the government can get the rates of anul sex down, this country will be great.
Fantastic news. Let's hope that we get the number of people hooked on this dangerous, filthy, disgusting habit down to zero.
[i]My goodness - if these results are based on tax data, shouldn't some mention be made of the possibility that folks are cheating on the taxes? Especially since increased tax avoidance is a fairly predictable consequence of a tax increase.
Here are two straws in the wind - first, NY City noted a huge increase in bootlegged cigarettes after they raised the tax from $0.08 to $1.50 per pack.
And secondly, this national survey suggests that portion of adults who smoke leveled off in 2005 at 20.9%, the same as in 2004. It is not clear how to compare that to the second paragraph of the article, which told us that "the group found a 4.2 percent decline in 2005 alone", but I am presuming that they found a 4.2% decline from 2004 to 2005.
Well, who knows? Maybe smokers have not quit, but are cutting back. Or could the under-18 set be driving this result? Probably not - this data (550 page .pdf), which goes to 2003, did show a drop-off of high school students who smoked from 28.5% in 2001 to 21.9% in 2003. That said, the article tells us that "Federal studies show that about 21.7 percent of high school students still smoke, as do 20.9 percent of adults", so it appears that from 2003 to 2005 student smoking has been flat.
This strikes me as unreasonably optimistic:
Cheryl Healton, president of the American Legacy Foundation, a tobacco-control group initially funded by the legal settlement, said the continuing decline suggests that the national health goal of reducing smoking rates even further by 2010 is within reach.
"We're on target to exceed the national goal" of having no more than 15 percent of youths and 12 percent of adults smoking, Healton said. Few of the other national health goals adopted in 2000 appear to be achievable, she said, "but this is one battle we're winning."
12 percent of adults by 2010? Has she looked at this chart? From 1997 to 2005, the percent of adults who smoke has fallen from 25% to 21%. Based on a 4% decline over the past eight years, she is now forecasting a 9% decline over the next four years? Wow.
There may actually be a story here for an investigative reporter - "Hey dude, where are my tax receipts" comes to mind. But this article is not getting it done.[/i]http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2006/03/what_were_they_.html
4:20 was the answer given by the lead singer of the Greteful Dead (Jerry Garcia) when asked "When is the best time to smoke pot?"> He said he didn't know and threw out "4:20"
I hear that "rolling your own" in a great way to save money.
Up here, they've been sending tax bills to people who bought over the internet to avoid the 6% sales tax.
This is good news. Now the taxes the states depend on from this revenue will have to be shared by all.
I believe it...I just don't see nearly as many people smoking in public as I once did. When I was a kid every adult I knew smoked...now there are only two smokers in my fairly large circle of friends. BTW, I quit 12 years ago...and still want one at least 100 times a day.
Close, but no doobie.
4:20 was the time a group of kids from some California high school would meet up to light up. And a new "tea" time was born!
"The hundred-billion dollar lawsuit against tobacco companies and sky-rocketing tobacco taxes worked so well that we're going after junk food and soda. We're leaning toward an obesity tax," Ted Kennedy said.
I would never have known that. I lost one friend to the pot smoking crowd. That has to be a record low for someone living in Hawaii, but that's it. Only one.
Used to go by to pick him up to go clubbing and we'd have to wait for him to get high. Got to the point where it was easier not to call him.
Stupid headline ping.
Apparently, only pot smokers who are now all dead from over doses, or who have gone respectable and won't admit they smoked back in the 1970s, know the truth.
http://www.concept420.com/what-is-420.htm
A lot of suppositions though.
There, that's better.
Nothing that comes out of that woman or that group can be taken at face value - it is all paid propaganda.
They are basing their numbers on tax receipts based upon per pack sales and self reporting. Teens are going to lie, and adults are not stupid enough to admit to being the only politically correct group that currently exists that can be discriminized against at will.
I imagine it'll be up to about 6,000,000 in a year or two.
Gives the nanny-staters and do-gooders a more lofty goal.
Such a burden they bear.
I disagree. The absolute number (not just the per capita number) of annual cancer deaths (all forms of cancer) may have peaked. And this article points out that the rate of lung cancer deaths among men has been declining for more than a decade.
And to state the obvious, there's a long lag time between declining smoking rates and declining death rates. People don't often get lung cancer after smoking a year or two. A decade or two, yes. So give the grim reaper stats a little time to reflect the realities.
To bring together your two favorite subjects, have you noticed how much Wal-Mart charges for smokes?
Yup. They whine about all the medical costs associated with smokers, yet they whine when they lose the tax dollars associated with taxing smoking. I do not, never have, smoked. Smoking killed my father. I hate it. But, these stupid politicians will whine about the lost tax dollars as smoking declines and want to raise GAS price again to make up for it. Just wait. IT'S COMING!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.