Tobacco.org

WATERVILLE No-smoking ban at playgrounds lauded 

Al’s Bar in Medway damaged in fire caused by cigarette butts in garbage can  

The assistant chief said the state fire marshal’s office investigated the fire Monday morning and found that the fire started in a garbage can in the “beer garden,” an outside area where patrons go to smoke.

Hale said it appears someone disposed of hot cigarette butts or emptied an ashtray into the garbage can, which was set against the wall of the building.

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Waterville looks at wider smoking ban  

Smoking ban eyed for recreation areas 

• Public Citizen Condemns WTO Attack on U.S. Efforts to Reduce Teen Smoking  

The World Trade Organization's (WTO) final ruling today against U.S. efforts to reduce teen smoking shows that our current trade regime is simply incompatible with basic public health regulation, Public Citizen said. With today's ruling, the WTO Appellate Body has now ordered the U.S. to water down or get rid of a key plank of its landmark Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 (FSPTCA), one of the few policy achievements of the Obama administration's first term. The act banned sale of candy and other sweet-flavored cigarettes used to attract children to smoking.

"The Obama administration and Congress must not bow to yet another ruling from a so-called trade agreement tribunal demanding that the U.S. get rid of yet another important health or environmental policy," said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch. "The Obama administration must stand with the thousands of Americans who have signed a Consumer Rights Pledge calling on the U.S. to not comply with these illegitimate trade pact rulings and to stop the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade negotiations that would greatly intensify this problem.

"Countries should not be weakening their public health laws to comply with the anti-health, anti-environmental WTO rules. This case underscores why countries must insist that WTO rules be altered and that no new agreements use the same corporate backdoor deregulation model," said Wallach. "If there is any silver lining to today's ruling, it is that it will confirm the views of growing numbers of consumers, citizens and governments that the WTO must be shrunk or sunk.

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Dropped cigarette leads to crash on beach in York  

Second Bangor fire in two days caused by discarded cigarette butts  

Two indicted for cigarette tax evasion  

AUGUSTA -- Two Somerset County men have been indicted on allegations that they sold cigarettes to customers that did not include tax stamps.

Daniel Long, 77, of Pittsfield, faces two counts of intentional evasion of cigarette tax; two counts of evasion of sales tax; failure to collect, account for, or pay over sales tax; and possession of un-stamped cigarettes; as well as five counts of unlawful trafficking in marijuana.

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Two indicted in evasion of cigarette tax 

AUGUSTA -- Two Somerset County men have been indicted on allegations that they sold cigarettes to customers that did not include tax stamps.

Daniel Long, 77, of Pittsfield, faces two counts each of intentional evasion of cigarette tax; two counts of evasion of sales tax; failure to collect, account for, or pay over sales tax; and possession of un-stamped cigarettes; as well as five counts of unlawful trafficking in marijuana.

The offenses occurred between May 28, 2009, and June 17, 2010, all in Somerset County, according to the indictment. . . .

Long was at his business, The Trading Post in Canaan, on Monday.

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Editorial: Tobacco-Free Campus Initiative goes up in smoke  

As far as the University of Maine is concerned, the house didn’t even shudder when the “winds” of a no-tobacco campus blew in.

In fact, only three little piggies have suffered referral to Judicial Affairs, the consequence of the Tobacco-Free Campus Initiative since the beginning of its enforcement at the beginning of this semester — small potatoes considering the girth of the smoking UMaine student, staff and faculty body.

According to Dean of Students Robert Dana, the ban has left airways significantly less hazy. But those not clouded in naïveté know that the only accomplishment the initiative has achieved is aiding smokers in the conception of novel, clever aversion tactics.

Newspapers provide an effective shield for the plumes; elongated sleeves cloak cigarettes. If smoking isn’t allowed on campus any longer, many certainly don’t heed that rule any mind.

But then again, we haven’t been given any motivation to care. There isn’t any special guild of enforcers hunting down the smoggers — all that exists are several pretty signs and stickers . . .

UMaine, you spent all this time and capital on a limitation that few constituents backed, and now you expect them to pick up your slack by adopting the unwanted role of deputy against their own interests.

Swallow your pride and deflate this suffering balloon before the air gets too hot. There are far more productive pursuits worthy of administrative attention than whether or not Billy wants to take a smoke break.

Butt out gracefully or risk getting burned.

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• Benefits can buy booze, cigarettes, anything legal  

A welfare recipient who receives benefits from Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) or Additional Support for People in Retraining and Education (ASPIRE) can walk into a supermarket and legally use their EBT card to buy a case of beer or a pack of cigarettes.

Robbin said she was "shocked" when she learned about the allowance. Lewiston Police Chief Michael Bussiere said he was disappointed to learn it was legal.

A spokesman for DHHS said there are no restrictions on the use of the benefits. In fact, TANF and ASPIRE money, under federal law, can be used for anything. DHHS is not allowed to require TANF or ASPIRE recipients to submit receipts showing that the federally mandated benefits were spent on intended items or services.

John Martins, director of communications at DHHS, said state authorities are researching options to help clamp down on purchases of alcohol, tobacco and other items with TANF or ASPIRE money on their EBT cards.

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Portland smokers to get fined for tossing cigarette butts  

In the spring, Portland's Downtown District, with help from the city, will launch a campaign touting the environmental and aesthetic reasons not to litter cigarette butts. The campaign, to be funded with a $1,000 grant from the national nonprofit Keep America Beautiful, will include signs on trash cans throughout the city and outreach through social media.

The sight of cigarette butts, seemingly everywhere, is one of the most common complaints from tourists who visit Portland.

City officials hope the threat of a $100 fine will get smokers to kick the habit of flicking their butts on the ground.

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Toss a cigarette butt in Portland, get a $100 fine  

The City Council on Monday night unanimously passed an amendment to the litter ordinance clarifying that dropping cigarette butts on city property — including streets, sidewalks, parks, alleys and gutters — is littering and can be fined accordingly.

The move came about in response to concerns expressed by members of Portland’s Downtown District and its executive director, Jan Beitzer.

“She said the No. 1 complaint she gets from visitors and businesspeople is the prevalence of cigarette butts in the downtown,” Councilor John Anton told his fellow councilors Monday night.

Anton said studies have shown a third of all garbage nationally consists of cigarette butts, and pointed out that the city of San Francisco has put a 20-cent surcharge on each pack of cigarettes sold to cover the costs of cleanup.

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University of Maine at Farmington second system campus to implement tobacco ban  

The University of Maine at Farmington’s smoking ban, similar to the University of Maine’s, officially took effect on Jan. 1.

The ban, which resulted from work done by the UMF Tobacco Task Force, is currently going through a trial period similar to what was done at UMaine last year before the ban became mandatory at the start of this semester.

“It’s still in what we like to call the warning stage,” said Dwight Cram, a public safety officer at UMF. “So far we have only had a couple of complaints.”

The entire campus is now considered a no-smoking area, including athletic fields and parking lots.

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O'ROURKE: If poor folks want to smoke, let them 

On January 1, 2012, Maine became the first state to ban smoking in all low-income public housing. Twelve thousand poor people faced their New Year's Day hangover without the solace of a Marlboro to accompany their aspirin and coffee.

This, of course, was good. Just ask the high-minded, right-thinking progressive elites . . .

The elites who denounce poverty despise the poor. . . .

The high-minded, right-thinking progressive elite would then be poor people, working crap jobs. And what a mess they'd make of it! Imagine elites manning the drive-through window at Burger King, giving customers all-lettuce, all-pickle Whoppers without buns, cheese, or burger patties to combat obesity. Or at the 7-11 making change for a twenty the way the Federal Reserve does. "Wait a minute, I've got to go in the back and print some fives." Or convening a yard care seminar and producing a 200-page white paper on sustainable grass maintenance instead of mowing your lawn. Or panhandling in the manner of the U.S. government, "Hey, Buddy, can you spare $787 billion so's a guy can get a stimulus package?"

Life would be hell if the high-minded, right-thinking progressive elite wasn't elite anymore. We'd better quit smoking.

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