Middletown Smokers Who Light Up in a Park Could Face Jail Time
A new ordinance enacted by the Middletown (New York) City Council makes smoking in a park a potentially criminal offense that could result in jail time, according to an article in the Times Herald-Record . According to the article: “Middletown voted to ban smoking in two parks and 30 feet from any city playground on Monday.
San Francisco Lawmakers are More Interested in Regulating the Mission of Stores and Feeling Good About Themselves than Protecting the Public’s Health
After its ban on tobacco sales in pharmacies was struck down by the courts because there was no rational basis to exclude pharmacies in supermarkets and box stores from the ban, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors is now considering extending the ban to all pharmacies. The purpose of the ban, according to one Supervisor, is to ensure that pharmacies sell healthy products, not products that harm people. An article in the San Francisco Examiner explains the rationale: “Cigarettes and chewing tobacco are a tiny fraction of the products sold, and pharmacies should be selling medicine and helpful items, not items like cigarettes that kill you,” said Supervisor Eric Mar, who introduced legislation Tuesday that broadens the tobacco ban
Major Health Care Cuts for the Poor Necessary Due to Smokers Not Smoking Enough
According to an article in the Scranton Times-Tribune , declines in smoking are resulting in health insurance cuts for low-income Pennsylvanians, due to reduced tobacco settlement payments to the state as a result of the lower cigarette consumption.
California Taxpayers to Spend a Quarter Million Dollars Studying Effects of Thirdhand Smoke Dust on Skin
According to a press release from the University of California at Riverside, the school has received a $250,000 grant from the state-funded tobacco research program to study the effects of thirdhand smoke dust on the skin.
