Free Republic

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Family and friends have suddenly found themselves blocked from shipping cigarettes and other tobacco products to American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq because of a new law meant to hamper smuggling and underage sales through the mail. The Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act of 2009 quietly took effect June 29.....

After the last several WAMMFests encountered challenges, organizers of Santa Cruz's annual medical marijuana awareness event appear to be in for an easier time getting the city's nod of approval. Today, the City Council will consider lifting a smoking ban at San Lorenzo Park for five hours Sept. 25 to allow authorized pot users to medicate inside open-air tents designed to create privacy. The item is on the council's consent agenda, indicating that it may not be as controversial as in years past. “For the city, it's a matter of course,” Mayor Mike Rotkin said.

The effort to ban smoking in all workplaces across the city appears to be going up in smoke, as prominent advertising executive Lionel Sosa tonight will brand the proposal as racist. "The proposed ordinance is economically discriminatory to members of the Hispanic community," Sosa will tell council, according to a text of his letter obtained by 1200 WOAI news. "When you look at the population of the small area bars, poll halls, and VFW halls that populate our community, you will see the overwhelming majority of those that will see their freedom of choice stripped from them by this ordinance...

Come November, Californians will have the chance to legalize marijuana for the specific purpose of raising revenues via taxes. We all knew that it would be just a matter of time before the same individuals would get enough signatures to put the legalization of marijuana up for a vote by the California citizens. It is a bit ironic when you consider how militant the same individuals wanting marijuana legalized have gone on a witch hunt against tobacco products. The attack on the tobacco industry began over 50 years ago when the Surgeon General forced the tobacco company's to label...

Obama signs bill restricting mail-order cigarette sales WASHINGTON — President Obama on Wednesday signed legislation that bans the U.S. Postal Service from shipping cigarettes — a measure that's expected to cripple the mail-order tobacco businesses run by members of the Seneca Nation of Indians. White House press secretary Robert L. Gibbs announced the signing in a brief statement that included no comment on the new law, which the Senecas fought furiously. In response, Seneca Nation President Barry E. Snyder Sr. accused the president of betraying the very Indian nations he wooed during his 2008 campaign and spoke to last fall....

St. Luke's Hospital & Health Network today announced it will only hire non-smokers starting May 1. As the region's second largest employer with over 7,000 employees, St Luke's will be the first in our area to implement such a policy, according to a press release. "While some may view this as a bold move," states Bob Zimmel, Senior Vice President of Human Resources at St. Luke's, "our organization feels strongly that promoting a healthier workplace benefits everyone."

It's none of my business what Barack Obama's LDL cholesterol level is. And I don't have to know that he is using nicotine therapy to attempt to kick his smoking habit. But all of this and more is dutifully passed along after the president's annual physical. Want to know his resting heart rate? It's available. And we're told that President Obama has been instructed by his physicians to "eat healthier" and "moderate his alcohol intake." What to make of this annual invasion of privacy? We've been privy to similar details about other presidents -- sometimes to an excruciating degree (President...

The traditional medicinal practice of smoking dried vulture brains to induce a vision of winning lotto numbers is killing off the bird's population in South Africa, researchers say. Scelo, a young healer in downturn Johannesburg's market for muti, or traditional medicine, says the birds are becoming more scarce. "I only have one every three or four months," he said. "Everybody asks for the brain. You see things that people can't see. For lotto, you dream the numbers." Rolled into a cigarette or inhaled as vapours, vulture brains can also help at the horse races, boost an exam performance, or lure...

The Justice Department says it's backing off the prosecution of people who smoke pot or sell it in compliance with state laws that permit "medical marijuana." Attorney General Eric Holder says "it will not be a priority to use federal resources to prosecute patients with serious illnesses or their caregivers." Party hardy! I mean -- let the healing begin! I don't think the federal government should be spending a whole lot of time on small-time druggies, and I'm undecided about legalizing pot, which enjoys 44 percent support among the general public, according to a recent poll. Recreational use is not...

States across the U.S. have been taking a harder line against an old problem -- cigarette smuggling -- as part of the widening search for solutions to their budget problems. States including Florida, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Rhode Island and Virginia this year have stepped up law-enforcement efforts with the aim of recouping taxes lost to bootleg cigarette sales. Studies indicate states are losing about $5 billion annually in tax revenue because of illegal tobacco sales, said Phil Awe, who heads the tobacco-diversion division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. "We do not want to have our...

Britney Spears walked off stage shortly after the start of a concert last night at Vancouver's GM Place, leaving the crowd to sit in the dark for 30 minutes. The Vancouver Sun reports that a voice came on the venue's loudspeaker during the dark period informing the audience that cigaratte smoke was to blame. "It's become uncomfortable and unsafe for the performers, including Ms. Spears,"

The SWOSU Student Government Association will host an open forum to discuss and debate the idea of having a tobacco-free campus this Wednesday, February 25, at 7 p.m. in Room 104 of the Stafford Center on the Weatherford campus. Everyone is invited to voice their opinion. Additional information is available by contacting SWOSU Student Body President Greg Franklin at sga@swosu.edu or by phone at (405) 408-****.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A proposed ban on smoking in most public places will be debated Monday in the Senate, and the chamber's top two leaders said Friday that the bill's chances for passage are good. "If there are no substantive amendments, I would assume it would pass," said Senate President Steve Morris, a Hugoton Republican. Senate Vice President John Vratil agreed, but cautioned that opponents will try to load it up with amendments.

Only two months after smoking areas were erected at two hospitals, the desire to go smoke-free on the premises will eliminate the smoking rooms entirely and replace them with smoking shelters. NHS Lothian (Scottland) will eliminate smoking rooms at Royal Edinburgh as well as at Astley Ainslie. The will then provide smoking shelters in it's phased shut down of the indoor smoking areas. The Health Board claims the action will assist smokers in quitting. The Health Board states, "These shelters will act as a platform to promote our stop smoking services, to encourage people to seek help to give up...

Britney Spears' parenting skills have come under fire yet again after photographs emerged showing the star smoking in front of her son as he plays with a packet of cigarettes. The singer, branded 'Puff Mommy' by the American press, eventually takes the Marlboro Lights and a lighter from the two-year-old's hands, but continues to subject him to second-hand smoke.

Smoking ban leads to new religion Wednesday 16 July 2008Café owners in the Netherlands are joining religious movement known as the One and Universal Smokers Church of God, the Telegraaf reports on Wednesday.‘We stand firmly behind the church’s teachings and that is smoking,’ Cor Busch, owner of the former Lindeboom café in Alkmaar told the paper. ‘Smokers are being discriminated against… but a beer and a cigarette belong together.’ Smoking has been banned in Dutch bars since July 1. Several dozen bars have joined the movement which claims the Dutch constitution and European rules give it legitimacy under the...

ITHACA — Legislation further restricting smoking in the City of Ithaca should reduce exposure to secondhand smoke while not creating unintended consequences, according to members of the Smoke-free Zone Legislation Subcommittee. The smoking ban legislation Common Council is exploring includes ... a huge variety of outdoor, public spaces, including parks, natural areas, outdoor concerts and festivals, trails and walkways, parking garages and lots, transit shelters, Newman Golf Course, and city cemeteries. This would include outdoor dining areas at all times, and entire parks or the entire Commons during festivals like Ithaca Festival or the Chili Cook-Off.... It could also include...

The predominately Democratic California legislature is at it again, coming up with different ways to take your personal freedoms away for the sake of a few. On the heels of attempting to make spanking a misdemeanor, the legislature now wants to make it permissible for a landlord to prevent smoking in apartment buildings on the pretext of protecting other tenants from secondhand smoke. The spineless legislator who sponsored the bill didn’t have the courage to make it a crime under the state’s Health and Safety Code. The proposed legislation merely allows the landlord to make the decision, essentially making him...

It's a story that virtually begs for the "only-in-Santa-Cruz" eye-roll treatment - another item in a wave of wackiness over the years that has painted the beach town, fairly or not, as nuttier than a bowl of granola. Only this time, it might actually be true - the "only-in-Santa-Cruz" part, at least. That's because two cherished progressive ideals - smoking bans and medicinal marijuana - have collided in a cloud of, well, smoke. The city last year banned smoking in two city parks, citing the threat to public health. The city also is on record in support of the local...

The Belmont City Council has passed an ordinance prohibiting smoking in multiunit housing, a measure hailed by supporters as a landmark ban that will give residents relief from second-hand smoke drifting into their apartments and condominiums. "It's to give people who are intolerant of second-hand smoke a chance to say, 'Please stop - you're violating the city's ordinance,' in the same way that if your neighbor has a loud rock band, you can say, 'Please stop,' " City Councilman Dave Warden said today. The council passed the measure Tuesday night by a vote of 3-2. The ordinance also bans smoking...