Free Republic

A US government agency has drawn up a comprehensive plan to encourage five million Americans to stop smoking. The Interagency Committee on Smoking and Health, which developed the 10 point plan over 14 months, has proposed increasing the tax on a pack of cigarettes by $2 (£1; €1.60). Details of the national plan for tobacco cessation are published in the American Journal of Public Health (2004;94:205-10), and the plan was endorsed by four former US surgeons general—Jesse Steinfeld, Julius Richmond, C Everett Koop, and David Satcher—at a press conference last week in Washington, DC. The $2 tax is estimated to...

Providence Lawmakers are CHOKING RI's Economy!!!!!!!!!!!PROVIDENCE -- Influential legislators say this could be the year Rhode Island bans smoking in restaurants, bars, work areas and most public places. "I am confident we will see some kind of ban passed by both chambers," House Speaker Bill Murphy said at the start of this year's legislative session. "I would like to see a total ban" on workplace smoking, House Majority Leader Gordon Fox said Wednesday. Legislation is being drafted do just that, Fox said, including one to be introduced by the House leadership, a sure sign that it has a serious chance...