Report: Fewer Alaskans are smoking

Fewer Alaskans are smoking these days. That’s the word from the recently released update on tobacco use in Alaska.
The annual “Alaska Tobacco Facts” update is produced by the Tobacco Prevention and Control Program, which is part of the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services. The report introduction says the document is designed to be a “brief, annual update of key indicators from state data sources” and that it can be used to educate Alaskans “about the toll that tobacco continues to take on the health and well-being of our citizens.”

Statistics cited in the report are measured from the year of 1996, before two key events: the tobacco tax increase in 1997 and Alaska’s decision to join in the national multi-state Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement in 1998.
Here are some of the key findings, taken from the report’s summary page:
• Per adult cigarette consumption declined 55 percent from state fiscal year 1996 to fiscal year 2011; 433 million fewer cigarettes were sold in 2011 compared to 1996.
• In 2011, tobacco use cost Alaska $327 million in direct medical expenditures and an additional $236 million in lost productivity because of tobacco-related deaths.

Smoking ban needs clarification

You have to feel even a little sorry for smokers these days. Not only do they have to be reminded that 'SMOKING KILLS' each time they reach for a pack, but they've also been, for a while now, a preferred beating stick of the tax man.

Taxing cigarettes is a largely guilt-free way of raising revenue. They shouldn't be smoking anyway, the thinking is. So year after year, smokers have been hit with state-imposed increases. With all that pressure, no wonder they smoke cheapest Dunhill cigarettes.

This new ban on smoking in public places will only add to the indignity of being a smoker in 2013. For years, they've been prevented from lighting up on airplanes, even though, given news reports of drunken pilots, terrorist plots, and faulty landing gear, a cigarette might have done the nerves a world of good. They've had to contend with strict no-smoking rules in all sorts of places when they travel to the US and even parts of one-time smoker-friendly Europe.

Yes, the walls have been closing in. Now, even in good old Jamrock, the land of anything goes, smokers are faced with the reality that the only really safe place to smoke is at home. Who wants to smoke at home? That's like drinking at home. I'm not a smoker, never been, but I imagine that there's a social aspect to smoking that can't be fulfilled if you're puffing on a cig, alone, between an ironing board and a garden hose. It just doesn't work.

BAN WELCOMED

Personally, I welcome the ban. Growing up, I never had a problem inhaling second-hand smoke. In fact, I rather liked the scent of a burning cigarette. (As an aside, this might explain why I'm still mystified by mathematical equations made up of three or more Xs and Ys). But as the anti-smoking campaigns started growing and I began to realise the ill effects the smoke could cause, I started avoiding second-hand smoke whenever possible.

If nothing else, this ban will help eliminate some awkward conversations I've had to have with smokers. I was in a cramped restaurant once when a clearly agitated woman next to me retrieved from the confines of her ample bosom a pack of cigarettes and a lighter ironically emblazoned with a picture of the Pope. Here we go, I thought. I'll have to move. To my surprise though, the woman turned to me and said, "Does the smoke bother you?" Pleased by her thoughtful consideration, I wanted to find a nice way to say yes, it does bother me. "Well, I do kind of have a ..."

Cigarette smoking advertising online

A history of tobacco as well as cigarette advertising is one of the most interesting and educational for marketers, makers,
PR-specialists and doctors. That evidently shows precisely how trends and views change as the time passes. The first cigarette advertising
appeared with the very first cigarette package. Inside 1884, when people considered using tobacco to be rather unique habit and the simply smoking

No Smoking Day: Quit smoking in a few simple steps

 
Experts speaking at a seminar at the King Edward Medical University (KEMU) in connection with the World Smoking Day on Friday gave tips to smokers who wished to quit smoking.
“Giving up smoking is difficult but if you follow some simple steps it may become easy,” said Dr Rana Sohail.
“The first thing you have to do is select a date when you plan to quit… Don’t smoke after that date,” he said.
He said the smoker should let his friends and family members know about the plan.
“He should remove all smoking accessories including lighters, cigarette cases, match boxes and filters from his workplace and house,” Sohail said. “Thirdly…he shouldn’t get back to it, come what may.”
He said some smokers felt the need to smoke after meals and in washrooms. This, he said was because of the nicotine addiction. “Nicotine patches are available in the market which can be pasted on the body…the quantity of nicotine can then be gradually decreased,” he said.

Ban smoking in public spaces will not be easy

Minister of Health, Hon. Dr. Fenton Ferguson, says the move by the Government to ban smoking in public spaces will not be easy, but is a task that has to be undertaken to protect public health.
He was speaking on Monday, June 3, at the Medical Association of Jamaica’s (MAJ) Symposium at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel, New Kingston.

There are the most common used cigarettes are : Winston Classic, Winston Blue, Winston White The Minister informed that six million persons are dying annually from tobacco smoking and 600,000 from passive smoking, just from being in the same space with someone who smokes.

“My mandate as a Minister of Health is to ensure and protect the health of the nation. Therefore, I ask for your support because when that decision is taken, it’s not going to be easy,” he stated.

“Cigarette companies are very powerful but I believe that it still remains the one industry that kills its most loyal and best customers and therefore, for us, we must do what we have to do,” he stressed.
The Government is seeking to put into place a Tobacco Control Act that will protect citizens from the harmful effects of tobacco smoking, by prohibiting its use in public areas and workplaces.

Dr. Ferguson noted that when the legislation comes into effect, Jamaica will join countries in the Caribbean such as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname that have already passed such statute.
He stressed that his position on the matter “is not an anti-smoker position; it is a pro-health position. Therefore we must recognise that it is not a personal thing.”

Statistics from the 2008 Jamaica Health and Lifestyle Survey show that by the age of 16 years, 19 per cent of smokers had initiated the habit and 14.5 per cent smoke cigarettes, while 13.5 per cent admit to marijuana use.

Figures provided by the Jamaica Cancer Society (JCS) reveal that approximately 80,000 young people across the world become addicted to tobacco each day and if trends continue, an estimated 250 million children and young people will die as a result of tobacco smoking-related illnesses.

The anti-smoking legislation is in keeping with Jamaica’s obligations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.