'Plain packs will make smoking history'

Stripping cigarette packs of their colourful exteriors and forcing them to be sold in plain packaging could prove fatal for the global tobacco industry. Who says so? No less an authority than Tobacco Journal International, the self-styled "leading international trade publication for executives in the world of tobacco". One of its front covers in 2008 said simply: "Plain packaging can kill your business." Back in 2008, plain packs were just an idea; now they are about to become a reality in Australia at the end of this year, with other countries set to follow suit, possibly including the UK.

Australia has blazed a trail in passing plain packaging legislation. Canada had tried, but failed in 1994, when momentum disappeared amid ministerial changes and intense lobbying from the big tobacco firms. Fast forward to 2012 and a policy that for years has been just a gleam in the eye of public health campaigners has become the new weapon of choice worldwide for governments against a powerful industry.

However, without Simon Chapman, Australia might not have taken the bold, pioneering step that has left cigarette firms furious and fearful for their future.

Chapman, a professor of public health at the University of Sydney, is an unusual character: an academic who is better known as a campaigner, a feisty media performer who relishes debating with Big Tobacco mouthpieces, a snappy phrase-maker with a stand-up's wit and timing, and an ex-smoker who wants to smash an industry whose products he once consumed.

His 2008 paper arguing for plain packs was accepted by a preventive health taskforce, set up by the Australian Labor government, and then implemented – to the taskforce's astonishment. Chapman downplays his role. "I don't like David and Goliath metaphors and I don't like being painted as the David," he says, aware that his instrumental role in advocating the policy, and determined campaigning in the Australian media, has seen him become a hero to anti-tobacco campaigners. "I have been one of the most prominent people making the case and attacking the industry, though there were a couple of dozen very smart researchers and activists in Australia involved," he says.

"He's one of the great figures of tobacco control in the world," says Deborah Arnott, director of Action on Smoking and Health. "Everyone looks to Simon Chapman, not just in Australia but in the world, for leadership on campaigning. Simon suggested plain packs to the taskforce and was the public face of campaigning for it – he's a real hotshot campaigner."

'Plain packs will make smoking history'

Stripping cigarette packs of their colourful exteriors and forcing them to be sold in plain packaging could prove fatal for the global tobacco industry. Who says so? No less an authority than Tobacco Journal International, the self-styled "leading international trade publication for executives in the world of tobacco". One of its front covers in 2008 said simply: "Plain packaging can kill your business." Back in 2008, plain packs were just an idea; now they are about to become a reality in Australia at the end of this year, with other countries set to follow suit, possibly including the UK.

Australia has blazed a trail in passing plain packaging legislation. Canada had tried, but failed in 1994, when momentum disappeared amid ministerial changes and intense lobbying from the big tobacco firms. Fast forward to 2012 and a policy that for years has been just a gleam in the eye of public health campaigners has become the new weapon of choice worldwide for governments against a powerful industry.

However, without Simon Chapman, Australia might not have taken the bold, pioneering step that has left cigarette firms furious and fearful for their future.

Chapman, a professor of public health at the University of Sydney, is an unusual character: an academic who is better known as a campaigner, a feisty media performer who relishes debating with Big Tobacco mouthpieces, a snappy phrase-maker with a stand-up's wit and timing, and an ex-smoker who wants to smash an industry whose products he once consumed.

His 2008 paper arguing for plain packs was accepted by a preventive health taskforce, set up by the Australian Labor government, and then implemented – to the taskforce's astonishment. Chapman downplays his role. "I don't like David and Goliath metaphors and I don't like being painted as the David," he says, aware that his instrumental role in advocating the policy, and determined campaigning in the Australian media, has seen him become a hero to anti-tobacco campaigners. "I have been one of the most prominent people making the case and attacking the industry, though there were a couple of dozen very smart researchers and activists in Australia involved," he says.

"He's one of the great figures of tobacco control in the world," says Deborah Arnott, director of Action on Smoking and Health. "Everyone looks to Simon Chapman, not just in Australia but in the world, for leadership on campaigning. Simon suggested plain packs to the taskforce and was the public face of campaigning for it – he's a real hotshot campaigner."

California university system plans tobacco ban

The University of California system announced last week that it will completely ban tobacco products, including cigarettes and chewing tobacco, on all 10 of its campuses.
More than 500 colleges and universities around the country ban smoking in some fashion. But the degree of these bans vary, and few have gone as far as the University of California system.
Marquette’s smoking policy states that people on university property cannot smoke indoors or within 25 feet of university buildings. There are no listed consequences for violating the rule.
University of California President Mark Yudof sent out a letter to campus chancellors last week, making the news public.
“As a national leader in healthcare and environmental practices, the University of California is ready to demonstrate leadership in reducing tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke,” Yudof wrote. “Offering a smoke-free environment will contribute positively to health and well-being of all U.C. students, faculty, stuff, and our patients and visitors.”
The ban will apply to every person who sets foot on a University of California campus. The penalties for violators of the ban are unknown, but it is certain that the ban will also prohibit tobacco sales and advertisements throughout the system.
Becky Michelsen, an advisor for Spark, a student group that encourages healthier lives and advocates for policy change on tobacco issues, said she thinks a smoke-free or a tobacco-free campus policy is a possibility at Marquette.
Michelsen said one of Spark’s goals for the year is to draft a proposal to encourage Marquette to be tobacco-free.
“In order for the university to take this action I believe that there would need to be a lot of student support,” Michelsen said. “It would take some research to determine what type of policy would be best for Marquette.”
Michelsen said Marquette’s urban campus could pose challenges for a smoke-free policy.
According to Marquette’s Center for Health Education and Promotion, 26.4 percent of Marquette students used tobacco within the last 30 days. Nationally, 35.2 percent of college students used tobacco in the last 30 days.
Alex Emig, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences, said she would appreciate a smoking ban on Marquette’s campus.
“It would be nice to not have to smell the smoke on campus,” Emig said.
Nathan Bilodeau, a sophomore in the College of Business Administration, smokes on occasion and said he would be opposed to a campus-wide tobacco ban.
“(A smoking ban) would be hard to enforce at Marquette with all of the (non-Marquette students) on campus,” he said.
Bilodeau said banning the sale of tobacco products would be the most annoying part of the ban.
Nick Lollino, a freshman in the College of Engineering, smokes on occasion and said he would not like a ban on the selling of tobacco products.
Lollino said he feels the current rule of smokers staying at least 25 feet from buildings works well.
“(The current rule) keeps the smoke away from people who don’t want to be around it,” Lollino said.

Antigo residents reeling after alleged marijuana ring at high school

Residents in this Langlade County city are reeling after drug charges were filed last week against local football coach and school principal John Lund.

As the Antigo School District suspended five school employees on Monday, expanding the list of those allegedly involved in a marijuana distribution ring, locals wondered how to explain the situation to their children and what to believe.

Lund was charged Friday on four counts of manufacturing or delivering marijuana, three counts of possession of marijuana with intent to deliver and one count of maintaining a drug trafficking place. Scot D. Peterson, a former special education teacher with the district was charged with 26 drug offenses, including 23 counts of manufacturing or delivering marijuana, and Bradley J. Maahs, Lund’s brother-in-law, was charged with three counts of manufacturing or delivering marijuana.

Four Antigo School District employees and one Merrill Area Public Schools employee were placed on paid administrative leave on Monday when their names were linked to a Langlade County Sheriff’s Department investigation.

“It’s a sad deal for the school district,” former Antigo School Board member Jim Tatro, 75, said, while seated at a table in Two Angels Family Restaurant north of downtown Antigo. “It’s a slap in the face to the good teachers.”

Bob Breutzman, 71, of Antigo, seated next to Tatro, nodded and sighed. Breutzman has a grandson in his sophomore year at Antigo High School and is most concerned about the students who looked up to Lund as their football coach.

“Anyone who deals with youths has a responsibility to be a role model,” Breutzman said.

Residents said there was no gossip or speculation about Lund until the school district suspended him in November. That decision set the rumor mill spinning, and people shared their own theories about the reason for the decision, said Linda Erickson, an Elcho resident who works as a waitress at Dixie Lunch restaurant.
Speculation that Lund got involved with drugs was the most common guess, Erickson said.

A Push To Stop Smoking

With the use of tobacco rising in the United States, the Sioux Falls Health Department is looking at ways to discourage people from using tobacco.

Just over a year ago, smokers had to comply with a new smoking ban in South Dakota, and now other options to protect even more people from the harm of tobacco are being looked at in Sioux Falls.

The Sioux Falls Health Department believes the use of tobacco is getting a little out of hand and they want to help control and reduce the amount of tobacco users.

"That is going to require collaboration of many individuals in our community to look at what do we see as the desires of the community to perhaps reduce the use of tobacco use in public places or perhaps even in private places," Sioux Falls Director of Health Jill Franken said.

The health department's hope is to educate the public but also possibly limit the number of places people can smoke.

"Reducing tobacco use in apartment complexes and rental properties that would be one strategy that various communities have engaged in already," Franken said.

Another option would be to ban smoking in parks, which is what Yankton County did back in 2006. Their parks are now completely smoke free.

"There is already over 500 counties that have put ordinances in place for no smoking in parks, which is one we certainly would want to have a conversation about," Franken said.

And while no official details have been set, the message is clear: their goal is to reduce smoking and the use of tobacco in Sioux Falls.

The Sioux Falls Health Department plans to work with the city to come up with ways to not only educate but also deter people from using tobacco.

Lighting up dangerous to more than just smokers' health

The Surgeon General warns that smoking is dangerous to your health.

The Savannah-Chatham police chief warns that smoking in public buildings and business within the city limits — and soon maybe extended to unincorporated Chatham County — is dangerous to your freedom.

Your financial adviser warns that smoking is about to get more dangerous to your wallet.

With all these warnings — to borrow a line from Chief Martin Brody — you’re gonna need a bigger cigarette pack.

Smokers are wheezing heavily these days and not just due to the carcinogens they inhale into their lungs countless times a day. The city of Savannah’s smoking ban — excuse me, the Smokefree Air Act — is a year old now. The Chatham County Commission is expected to consider a similar measure at its meeting Friday.

And as the Georgia General Assembly opens its 2012 session today, a $1 hike in the state cigarette tax is again among potential tax reform measures. The increase will face Alamo-like opposition in the House, but powerful groups have been lobbying for it for five years. The bump has found traction. And remember what ultimately happened at the Alamo.

Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em? Only if you’re in a designated area or out in the hinterlands and then only if you can spare a few minutes from working the second job you took to pay for the cigs.

Hide the habit

Granted, the typical smoker deserves about as much sympathy as a Kardashian or a thirsty mosquito.

Their standing as pariahs is self-inflicted.

Many — not all, but many — are inconsiderate. Do they really need to light up before that last bite of dinner reaches their stomach? Can they not figure out how to move upwind from the people around them? Is it that difficult to collect butts and dispose of them properly instead of littering up the beach, sidewalk or park lawn?

Plus, their decision to poison themselves drives up health care costs for all. And the eau de ashtray makes some unpleasant to be around.

Smokers know society is losing patience with them at an Usain Bolt pace. Many are hesitant, even embarrassed, to acknowledge the habit.

“I never thought smoking was sexy or cool, even when society perceived it that way. But it’s still stupid, and I don’t want people to know that I smoke, especially with the way it’s viewed now,” said Melissa, a self-proclaimed “light-smoker” who spoke on condition her last name be withheld.

Yet smoking isn’t the only vice with consequences for the rest of us. Drinking and driving puts us all at risk on the roads and impacts car insurance rates. Alcoholism can damage family and personal relationships. Gluttony and unhealthy eating habits lead to obesity and drive up health insurance premiums.

So should the smoker’s decision to blacken his lungs subsidize an income tax break?

The $1 tax hike would generate approximately $335 million in revenue a year, enough to cut income taxes by 0.13 percent.

Meanwhile, the nico-addict’s personal finances go up in smoke.

Colleges ban smoking, even in your car

If you smoke, you may be breathing less easily on college campuses these days. Looking for the designated smoking area at Florida International University? There is none. Want to light a cigarette inside your car at the University of Florida? Don't let the cops see you.

Hoping to smoke during your break at Nova Southeastern University? You have six months left until NSU becomes the latest college to go tobacco-free. Come July 1, the covered smoking benches will come down and smoke-free-campus signs will go up.

"Although we'd like people to quit, we're not saying you have to. You just can't smoke here," said Tom Vitucci, NSU's director of campus recreation and leader of the smoke-free effort.

College campuses are becoming less tolerant of smokers, replacing tobacco restrictions with outright bans, even while in your car. Violators face discipline ranging from warnings to expulsion or termination in extreme cases. Most will just be told to extingish their cigarettes, Nova officials said.
Many people welcome the policies, saying they promote health and protect non-smokers. Others see them as overreaching and discriminatory.

"I understand that some people on campus don't like smoke, but they go to clubs and don't seem to have an issue with it," said NSU junior Carin Pool, 30, of Plantation, who was smoking on campus Friday. "It seems a little bit like they're picking on smokers."

Since announcing the forthcoming tobacco ban in November, NSU has been sending notices through email and its Facebook page, offering smoking cessation classes to students and employees.

About 75 percent of students and employees who responded to an NSU survey supported the change, Vitucci said. About 9 percent identified themselves as smokers, he said.

Max Scheiner, 20, of Plantation, is a non-smoker who supports the policy.

"It will mean cleaner air for everyone," he said.

But critics said these policies go beyond the initial intent of protecting people from second-hand smoke

"If you're in your car, you're not even talking about second-hand smoke. You're not affecting anyone else," said George Koodray, assistant director of the Citizens Freedom Alliance, a group that advocates smokers' rights. "This is about trying to stop someone from doing something you don't approve of even when it's legal."

Vitucci said it would send the wrong message if vehicles were excluded from the smoke-free policy.

WA campuses go smoke free

Total smoke bans were applied at the universities of Western Australia, Curtin and Edith Cowan from January 1, while Murdoch plans to follow suit by the beginning of next year. The four will join the Fremantle-based University of Notre Dame, where smoking was banned from all indoor and outdoor facilities in 2002.

The public universities’ move follows an accord by the four vice-chancellors for a total phase-out. “They all decided to bite what I think isn’t a very large bullet,” said Curtin health policy professor and anti-smoking campaigner Mike Daube.

“Universities are where the research has been done on identifying the harms of smoking. It is not appropriate that you should have smoking on university campuses any more than on health premises.”
But Murdoch opted for a staged ban, with accompanying education and awareness campaigns, following consultation by working groups and heavy opposition from some students.

“In our view a transition year was more likely to deliver better results in terms of achieving a smoke-free campus environment for 2013,” said acting vice-chancellor Gary Martin.

The University of Adelaide also phased in its total smoking ban between in 2010 and 2011. Meanwhile James Cook University’s Cairns campus has banned smoking from all but four external designated areas, while Macquarie will this year review plans for a total smoking ban from 2015.

Smoking is banned from the grounds of many TAFEs and most schools, including all public schools in NSW, Victoria, Western Australia, Tasmania and the ACT. Total smoke bans are also common in overseas universities including about 640 US campuses, according to the American Nonsmokers’ Rights Foundation.

In WA, tobacco sales are being banned and ashtrays removed from campuses, with reminder signs and bins for cigarette butts installed at key entry points. But staff and students are encouraged to quit smoking rather than scurry off-campus for a puff, with UWA allowing staff to salary sacrifice the cost of quit smoking classes.

“We don’t want to punish smokers – we want to help them and ensure a healthier environment for everybody,” said human resources director Bob Farrelly.

A UWA spokesperson said no staff had been assigned to enforce the new regulations, but that disciplinary action could be taken against repeat infringers.

ECU has also arranged support programs for staff and students, but $250 fines can be levied. Penalties also apply at Curtin.

“[But] there aren’t going to be squads of smoke police driving around campus,” said Professor Daube.

“I don’t think there’ll be much more than the need for the odd tap on the shoulder, which is to some extent what happens now anyway. If people don’t like smoking around them, they’ll gently say so.

“I’m sure that somewhere in the middle of a campus, somebody will light up a cigarette. But the campuses will be 99.9 per cent smoke free, and that’s pretty good.”

Professor Daube said a Curtin survey had found that just 4 per cent of students were regular smokers, compared to the general population rate of about 15 per cent.

He said WA had the lowest rate of smoking amongst young people – 4.8 per cent of 12-17 year-olds. “We’re not going to get many smokers among university students.”

Professor Daube said passive smoking was still an issue in the open air, because people tended to smoke in areas where people congregated. “They don’t rush off into isolated areas to have a smoke.”

He said the ban was also about making a statement. “Our universities are sending out a signal that smoking is not now a normal and acceptable behaviour.”

National Tertiary Education Union president Jeannie Rae said the bans were a good idea, so long as there were accompanying staff support programs.

She said the move would improve workplace safety for staff and help protect young people at a stage of waning parental influence.

“As big public workplaces, it’s probably the sort of thing universities should do,” she said.

She said smoking had reached a “tipping point” in universities and was no longer the focal activity for ‘water cooler conversations’.

“People sit around what used to be smoker’s corner without cigarettes,” she said.

“Smokers get dirty looks from people to move away and let them not smoke in peace.”

UWA said only a handful of students and staff had opposed the change. But student support for the ban hasn’t been universal, with Murdoch students worried smokers could endanger themselves by heading off-campus for night-time cigarettes.

They were also concerned that international students and visitors wouldn’t understand the ban.

“We are already a minority group as smokers, and it ostracises us even further,” student Alexs Huber told the Murdoch University newspaper last year.

“They have to understand that there will always be smokers no matter how much people protest it.”

New Year sees rush to give up smoking

The number of smokers trying to quit in Wanganui has risen dramatically since New Year, say local pharmacies.

The January 1 price rise and the growing awareness of the health dangers saw smokers seeking help from chemists, their GPs and Quitline.

Nicotine gum was the hot favourite followed by patches and lozenges, chemists said.

One pharmacist said some people had given up smoking but were now addicted to the gum.

At Aramoho Pharmacy, Ray Anderson said dozens of quitters had come in since New Year.

"It's not easy to do, but we encourage them as much as we can."

Some people had been pushed into giving up with others finding the latest price rise just too much, he said.

Mr Anderson said you can pick the determined quitters, the ones who will give up.

"Because the ones who are not so sure keep coming back for more help."

There had been a steady flow of people trying to quit coming into the Wicksteed Pharmacy, manager Bernie Muller said.

"For some it was their New Year's resolution; it was the right time to give it away."

Patches, lozenges are tried first, then, if they fail, some people get themselves on to medication like Champix which only comes with a doctor's prescription.

At Gonville Pharmacy, Lynette Hood said that since cigarettes rose in price a stream of people trying to give up came into the shop.

"Some people really struggle with it but most really want to make it happen."

National stop-smoking support service Quitline said this week there had been a record number of people throughout New Zealand trying to quit.

Nearly 2500 had signed to the service's telephone and web-based support in the first week of 2012.

In Wanganui more than 40 people had registered with Quitline since January 1.