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Archive for “Smoking” news
Will Penn’s Smoker Ban Even Work?
By Nick Vadala 2/22/2013
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Back in October, the University of Pennsylvania held a massive conference extolling the virtues of the class of drugs known as psychedelics. Finally, I thought, an important institution with a rational approach to drugs. But, alas: wrong again.
Philly’s Cigarette Smoking Rates At Lowest Point in Recent History
By Nick Vadala 11/15/2012
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Philadelphia, I'm so proud of you. Like me, you're kicking the cigarette habit, and in greater numbers, too. According to new data released today, smoking adults in the city have fallen by 15 percent over the past four years–that's 40,000 ex-smokers, all told. In a city where as many as one-in-four adults smokes, that's a huge decline, and it's mainly thanks to Obama's increased tobacco tax rates, the Clean Indoor Air Law, and our own Get Healthy Philly program. Good work everyone, just think of all the money you can spend on booze now. [Philly.com]
President Obama Made Me Quit Smoking
By Nick Vadala 9/28/2012
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Anyone remember that enormous federal tax hike that President Obama instituted just 16 days after he entered office? I do, because I’m a cigarette smoker—or was, anyway, until about two months ago when I was finally priced out of vice by Obama’s biggest tax increase this term. Mitt Romney might have forgotten about it, but Obama's tobacco tax has generated upwards of $30 billion in new revenue since it took effect on April 1, 2009. Essentially overnight, the prices of cigarette packs all over the U.S. increased by 22 percent, forcing smokers to shell out more cash to stave off the nic-fits. Since then, roughly three million Americans have quit, resulting in a historic low for tobacco use, which now hangs at 18.9 percent nationwide. If sin taxes don't work, then the folks over at USA Today have some serious fact-checking to do.
Cape May Bows to Smoking Canadians
By Alexandria Barbadoro 6/07/2012
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In February, Cape May’s city council voted down a smoking ban on its beaches. So, good news: You can’t take the Jersey out of Jersey, not even in haughty Cape May. At least through the summer of 2012, you’re free to light up and use the beach as your personal ashtray.
Smokers Need Not Apply for Doylestown Jobs
By Mike Bertha 5/10/2012
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A new measure prevents smokers from being considered for job openings in Doylestown Township. The rule won't be applied to current employees and will not affect police department hiring, but otherwise, you won't be able to be hired by the township. Apparently, the idea is that the move will help keep the price of the township's health coverage down. [NBC Philadelphia]
The CDC’s Anti-Smoking Ads Are Bad for Your (Mental) Health
By Joel Mathis 4/23/2012
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A message to the Centers for Disease Control: We get it. Smoking is bad. Really bad. We’re glad you want to save us from damaging our health. But your new anti-smoking ads are shocking, disgusting, and too provocative—and they’ve crossed the line.
Will Smoking Make a Comeback in Center City?
By Victor Fiorillo 3/01/2012
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Remember the old days of Philadelphia, where you could light up a cigarette pretty much anywhere? It seems like just yesterday that I was sucking down Camel Lights at Bob & Barbara's and catching an after-dinner drag on a Nat Sherman at Tank Bar. But it wasn't yesterday. It was 2007 when Philadelphia went the way of New York, passing one of the most restrictive smoking bans in the country. Five years in, the city has made the odd move of relaxing some of the regulations.
Smoking Banned in Cape May?
Preliminary vote unanimous
By Scoop 10/19/2011
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In a preliminary vote, Cape May City Council voted 5-0 to ban smoking on public beaches and in a number of other public parks and spaces. A public hearing will be held before the final vote slated for November 14th. [WHYY]
Why I’m Hoping Big Tobacco Wins in Court
Why humiliate smokers?
By Christopher Moraff 9/15/2011
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The other night, my wife and I sat down to watch True Grit with Jeff Bridges, an event that we'd both been looking forward to with alacrity given that our schedules rarely permit 110 minutes of uninterrupted leisure time together. The film was a worthy nod to the original, incidentally, with an exceptional performance by 15-year-old Hailee Steinfeld as the protagonist Mattie Ross; unfortunately, the price of enjoying it (beyond the five bucks I paid to rent it, that is) was sitting through the 90-second anti-smoking ad that is now standard operating procedure for nearly any film that carries as much as a whiff of that universally maligned weed known as nicotiana tabacum, or more commonly, tobacco.
