Hello Everyone,
Well it's that time of year of again when you step outside for a smoke....you freeze your "buns" off. Below is an e-mail (with articles) that Sue Jeffers sent to "At Issue" and Senator Kathy Sheran. Perhaps we should do the same! It is time that they hear from us again.......because we are not going away! A couple of other news items:
1) Mark Benjamin has filed the appeal in the Tom Marino case and is waiting to hear back about the court date for oral arguments.
2) On February 7th, Mark Benjamin and Cynthia will be at Barnacle's Resort for the first anniversary of Theater Nights.
3) Theater Nights are NOT dead!
4) The state elections went well. Tshumper was ousted ...the one that wanted to ban smoking on farms. Shelly Madore was ousted...she had made the remark to a friend of mine,"Why weren't the fees increased more...they will never know". The fees she was talking about were license tabs. And there were more people THAT were voted out of office....I say GOOD RIDDENCE!!
5) SCHIP (Federal Tax Hike on Tobacco) is back on the table and look at the increases.
An increase in the federal tobacco tax was proposed as the funding source as follows:
Cigars from 20.719% to 53% with a $3 per cigar cap (+156%);
Little cigars from 4.0 cents to $1.00 per pack (+2,500%);
Cigarettes from 39 cents to $1 per 20 (+156%);
Cigarette papers from 1.22 cents to 3.13 cents per 50 (+256%);
Cigarette tubes from 2.44 cents to 6.26 cents per 50 (+256%);
Snuff from 58.5 cents to $1.50 (+156%);
Chewing tobacco from 19.5 cents to 50 cents (+156%);
Pipe tobacco from $1.0969 to $2.8126 (+156%); and
Roll-your-own tobacco from $1.0969 to $8.8889 (+814%).
On with the Show!
Sheila
E-Mail sent to "At Issue" and Senator Kathy Sheran from Sue Jeffers. (Both articles below sent with it.)
Tom and Kathy,
I believe I mentioned this very prediction (see below) on At Issue not too long ago. Also predicted, before the ban was passed, was the lost revenues from hundreds of closed businesses and the thousands of lost jobs attributed to the smoking ban adding to the current financial mess facing the state with the $5.2 Billion deficit. MRP reported 300 closed businesses which we all know is on the low side.
Sure wish we had those jobs and revenues now huh? I believe I also mentioned the hospitality industry used to be able to help people with a paycheck between jobs. Keep the businesses fat and happy and you can tax the heck out of them. Destroy their businesses and you end up with nothing when they close.
Hummm, options on the table include tax increases which will drive more people and businesses out (think Delta), gambling expansion (or asking the Tribes to pony up) or maybe we could line up behind the other states for a federal bailout. This might be a good time to look at zero based budgeting (not to be confused with priority based budgeting) and hardship waivers. Let me know how I can help!
Sue
PS I copied a bar owner, Sheila, she would be happy to discuss her losses and hardship waivers since the smoking ban took effect.
Youth smoking up despite ban
Friday, December 19 04:00 pm
The number of young people smoking in Scotland has risen sharply, despite the ban in pubs. Nearly a third of 16 to 24 year-olds are smokers, an official health report showed. The percentage - 31 per cent - is a substantial rise on the number of young smokers in 2004, which stood at 25 per cent. The smoking ban was imposed in March 2006. Public health minister Shona Robison said: "We are committed to doing all we can to reducing smoking rates in Scotland - both by encouraging more smokers to quit and discouraging young people from starting in the first place. "Significant progress has been made in recent years to shift cultural attitudes to smoking, but this report clearly demonstrates that firm action needs to continue if we are to succeed in our desire to make Scotland smoke-free." The findings will disappoint anti-smoking campaigners. Even though some of the demographic are too young to go to pubs, several experts predicted the ban would have a freezing effect on society, where smoking lost some of its charm to the young. But David Gordon of NHS Health Scotland said smoking figures did not always yield reliable results. "Smoking rates have fluctuated without showing any sustained trend between 1999 and 2007," he said. The figures show women are more likely to smoke than men between ages 16 to 19 while men become more likely to smoke between 20 and 24. Half of young adult smokers in 2006 were in employment, while 30 per cent were not in education, employment or training.
Smoking ban fails to curb the habit: Figures reveal men are smoking MORE
By Daniel Martin
Last updated at 11:42 PM on 16th December 2008
The ban on smoking in public has failed to increase the number of people quitting, a report revealed yesterday.
The proportion of men who smoke has actually risen since the ban in July last year while there was no change at all among women.
The figures, coming after years of declining smoking rates, are a massive blow to Labour's public heath policy.
According to the report, the average number of cigarettes smoked each day did not fall significantly
A survey of almost 7,000 across all age groups found on average there was no change in the number of cigarettes that smokers said they had.
But in men aged 16 to 34, the number rose, by one and a half cigarettes a day.
It had been hoped the ban would help reduce smoking rates among the poor in particular, but instead the number of cigarettes smoked by working class men has gone up.
Off the shelf: Other anti-smoking plans include selling cigarettes under the counter to cut smoking rates among children
The Health Survey for England, carried out by the NHS for ministers, has raised fears that smokers are simply lighting up at home rather than in pubs and restaurants - potentially putting children at risk.
Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb said: 'These are pretty stark figures which demonstrate forcefully that the Government's strategy on smoking has not been successful.
'It's yet another case of the Government pursuing tough eye-catching initiatives which in the end don't succeed in tackling the real problem.'
Pro-smoking groups called the smoking ban 'an unmitigated failure'
The smoking ban was introduced in England on July 1, 2007, to improve the health of those working in bars, restaurants and other workplaces through passive smoking.
However, ministers also hoped it would help them meet targets to reduce smoking rates, particularly among those from more deprived backgrounds.
When she introduced the ban, the then health secretary Patricia Hewitt said: 'This is an enormous step forward for public health. It is going to make it easier for people who want to give up smoking to do so. Over time it will save thousands of lives.'
But polls carried out before and after the ban show it has not had that impact.
The number of cigarettes smoked by men aged 16 to 34 has increased by one and a half cigarettes a day, from an average of 10.9 to 12.5 a day.
The percentage of females who smoke remained constant at 21 per cent, while male smokers rose from 23 per cent to 24 per cent.
One in three smokers said the ban had encouraged them to stay at home, where they could still smoke. The numbers saying the ban would encourage them to quit dramatically fell after it came into force.
A spokesman for the pro-smoking pressure group Forest said: 'These figures show that the smoking ban has been an unmitigated failure.'
A spokesman for the Department of Health said: 'Smokefree laws were introduced to protect employees and the public from the harmful effects of secondhand smoke.
'The legislation was never intended to be a measure to reduce smoking prevalence.'
