American teens believe that smoking cigarettes is riskier than using illicit drugs or binge drinking, a new government report shows.

That perception may increase the likelihood that they’ll experiment with alcohol or illegal substances, the report authors said.

“We are on the right track with cigarette smoking and need to keep raising awareness among teens about the dangers of other substances,” Pamela S. Hyde, administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), said in a news release from the agency. “Understanding that perception of harm is a strong predictor of potential substance use among young people can help guide the development of substance prevention messages.”

Responses from 44,979 adolescents, aged 12-17, who took part in the 2007 and 2008 SAMHSA National Survey on Drug Use and Health showed that teens’ perception of cigarette-related risk was constant among all groups, but there was considerable age- and gender-related variation in perception of risk associated with other types of substances.

Among the key findings:

* Nearly 70 percent of all respondents believed smoking one or more packs of cigarettes per day posed a major health risk.
* Only 40 percent of participants believed binge drinking (having five or more drinks of alcohol once or twice a week) posed a major risk, and only 34.2 percent thought smoking marijuana once a month posed a major risk. Using cocaine once a month was seen as highly risky by 49.7 percent of the adolescents, while 50.9 percent believed using LSD once or twice a month was highly risky.
* Girls were more likely than boys to associate great risk with smoking one or more packs of cigarettes a day, having five or more drinks of alcohol once or twice a week, and smoking marijuana once a month.
* Boys were more likely than girls to perceive great risk from trying heroin once or twice.

More information

The American Academy of Family Physicians offers advice on how parents can prevent substance abuse in children.
SOURCE: U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, news release, Dec. 17, 2009

Bobby Labonte Racing (BLR) will be displaying some new colors during the 2010 dirt late model racing season. The team announced today the addition of Tantus Tobacco and their Red Buck Filtered Cigars brand as the primary sponsor of the No. 41 Red Buck Filtered Cigars machine driven by Brad Neat, who joined BLR last month. Red Buck will also be an associate sponsor of five-time dirt late model champion Earl Pearson Jr. and his No. 44 entry.

This is not the first time Red Buck has entered into the world of dirt late model racing. The 29-year-old Neat developed a relationship with Red Buck this past season and now looks forward to growing the successful partnership at BLR.
“The people at Tantus Tobacco and the folks who work on the Red Buck brand are truly passionate about dirt late model racing and its fans,” said Neat. “We worked together a little last season, and it’s great that they are joining us at Bobby Labonte Racing in 2010. I’m focused on winning races for them, but more importantly representing them throughout the year. They are giving us all the tools to be successful in every event we enter.”

“Tantus Tobacco is excited about the upcoming 2010 race season,” said Ross Haynes, Director of Sales for Tantus Tobacco. “We are proud to have the Red Buck name associated with two great drivers and avid outdoorsman such as Brad and Earl.” Neat was a two-time winner on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series in 2009 on his way to finishing seventh in the national championship. Pearson won four times on tour and finished third in the championship chase. Team owner Bobby Labonte knows that the addition of Red Buck will only make the team stronger.

“Tantus Tobacco is a company that believes in quality,” said team owner Bobby Labonte. “That makes them a great fit to our race team and we’re proud to welcome them on board. We hope to deliver them wins and represent them to the millions of dirt late model fans all across the country. Their partnership will make us a better team and that is something we’re all looking forward to.”

Neat and Pearson will make their debut with Red Buck February 1 when the team travels to Florida for the 34th annual DART Winternationals.

BOSTON — When Massachusetts began offering virtually free treatments to help poor residents of the state stop smoking in 2006, proponents hoped the new Medicaid program would someday reap benefits.

But state officials never expected it would happen so soon.

New state data show a steep drop in the smoking rate among poor people. When the program started, about 38 percent of poor Massachusetts residents smoked. By 2008, the smoking rate for poor residents had dropped to about 28 percent, a decrease of about 30,000 people in two and a half years, or one in six smokers, said Lois Keithly, director of the state’s Tobacco Cessation and Prevention Program.

There are also indications that the drop has lowered rates of hospitalization for heart attacks and emergency room visits for asthma attacks, she said.

The data has not yet been peer-reviewed. But the numbers have already grabbed national attention, with several United States senators and anti-smoking advocates using the data to push for similar new Medicaid coverage for tobacco addiction in the national health care legislation.

Senators Richard J. Durbin of Illinois and Bernard Sanders of Vermont have introduced an amendment that would do so, and the Senate could vote on it by the weekend. If the amendment fails, Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa said he would try another avenue: seeking an expansion through a conference committee that will ultimately reconcile the House and Senate bills.

“We should be able to find an opening,” Mr. Harkin said in an interview. “This is one demonstrable way we can actually bend the cost curve and keep people healthy.”

It seems movies with humans just aren’t gonna cut it this year with the cinemas filled with hot teen wolves and vampires and, now, ten foot blue Na’vi, so we settle back to enjoy the fantasy sci-fi 3D masterpiece with a predictable plot that is Avatar.

The Auckland screening was packed with media and celebrities made to queue and be electronically scanned for any recording devices; slightly heavy-handed security insisted upon by Fox to eliminate piracy, two days before the film goes public. It would be very hard, however, to capture on a handheld cellphone this movie, given that what makes it great is the 3D and the visual effects.

Coming out afterwards, broadcaster Marcus Lush commented, “It’s the new Star Wars. Unbelievable. Shame they’re all blue.”

There’s no risk of spoiling the ending to say that in a nutshell, it’s a colonialists vs indigeneous people-love-story-turned-war-action film; you got that from the trailers. Yes, going there has opened Pandora’s box. The plot isn’t that deep, but does it need to be? James Cameron’s last film, Titanic, was great and you knew how that was going to turn out and you still went.

The 3D effects in Avatar draw you in, making you feel more connected to the action and to the oft one-dimensional characters. In the forest scenes with 3D animals flying at you, it is like you are there and I admit to jumping quite a bit in my seat. The flying scenes were breathtaking; the visual effects were the best I’ve ever seen. In fact, New Zealander Richard Taylor and Weta workshops got a round of applause at the end when the credits rolled his name, and well-deservedly so.

Jake Sully (Sam Worthington, last seen in Terminator 4 also as sort-of-human) is a marine whose late twin brother was a scientist on Pandora, with an avatar created using his human DNA together with Pandora’s Na’vi peoples’ DNA. Jake shares his brother’s genes and can “step into his brother’s shoes;” a poignant line to one who lost the use of his legs and who desires a new beginning and a fresh start in a faraway land, with the added bonus of getting an expensive operation to restore his legs if he cooperates with the bosses.

It’s not run by the US Military as such; ex-Marines are working on Pandora as hired guns for The Company, who can sell a sparkly coal-like mined ore for $20 million a kilo. And where does the ore lie, but under the Home Tree of the Na’vi people, a race seemingly based upon size zero Native Americans slash African tribespeople who are at one with their world and connect to animals and trees through their nervous system with glowing optic cables in their ponytails.

The Colonel is a stereotypical battle-crazed soldier hell-bent on getting his ore and at odds with biologist Dr Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver, best remembered for fighting Aliens not siding with them) who smokes cigarettes in every scene where she’s not tall, thin and blue.

It’s an action movie, but not played for one-liners like Die Hard. The Colonel gets many of the good lines and his Pres. Bush line, “We’re fighting terror with terror” got a good laugh from the audience. The only groan of cringe came from a Jake-Na’vi Princess tender cuddle.

The flora and fauna were for me the biggest stars in Avatar. You get a delight from watching Jake blunder around on Pandora, touching anenome-esque plants and walking on ground that lights up with every step. The creatures are as good as any fantasy and more imaginative than most, with many-legged horses, dinosaur-like animals, and even dragons. Waiting for the next amazing creature to appear does bring back a sense of wonder that many have said is lost from the going-to-the-movies experience as escapism.

To Cameron’s credit it didn’t go crazy with violence or sex; it has been rated M for mature audiences with battle violence but wasn’t too scary or overly violent; perhaps the same as say Jurassic Park or Terminator, and the only sex scene is a kiss. The battle scenes are incredible and the last one with helicopters vs the Na’vi is a real highlight of the film.

A nice touch is the extent they went to to form an entire language complete with sentence structure and grammar. I’m sure geeks will learn to speak it like they do Klingon. A professor of linguistics spoke on NZ’s National Radio today, saying James Cameron gathered 30 words from various cultures around the world, including the “ng’ sound of NZ Maori, and gave them to him to create a unique language for the Na’vi. Luckily for Jake many of them learned English at a school run by Grace so the whole movie isn’t subtitled.

I’d say whilst not a classic, Avatar is certainly ground-breaking in its visual effects and is a must-see for all sci-fi and fantasy fans and I can’t wait to see it again, as it was so much to take in the first time visually. Knowing what’s going to happen, doesn’t ruin a movie like this. It’s old-fashioned storytelling and romance set on a land far, far away…

Roger Cohen’s piece on “Climategate” (Herald, Dec. 9) miss-ed some key details. Serious scientists recognize the roles of both human-released atmospheric carbon dioxide and other natural phenomena on global temperatures.

Deniers who suggest the contrary, or who make uninformed claims over the recent decade’s temperatures, generate interesting sound bites and misinformation, but nothing more. Global temperatures result from a delicate balance between enormous heat radiated to Earth from the sun, counterbalanced with what Earth reflects back plus what it radiates into space.

CO2 reduces Earth’s radiation into space and disrupts that balance. Minute imbalances have profound long-term affects. The sun blasts Earth with, on average, 350 watts per square meter – pole-to-pole, day and night, summer and winter, 24/7. Without reflecting back 100 w/m2 and radiating 250 w/m2, average over the entire Earth, we would rapidly become a crematorium.

This precise balance controls our temperature.

Balance two 300-pound linebackers on a teeter-totter and nothing moves. Hand one a six-pack of beer, and he drops to the ground. Debating whether the 300-pound football player or the 5-pound six-pack caused the drop is ludicrous – which is the very logic used by deniers debating whether human-caused CO2 or natural phenomena cause global warming.

That humans increase atmospheric CO2 levels is beyond debate. At issue is the effect of CO2 on global temperatures. The correlation between global mean temperatures and atmospheric CO2 during the last 50 years is a stunning 79 percent. That means 79 percent of the variance in temperature is explained by CO2 level alone, the other 21 percent by all other causes combined.

It doesn’t matter if you use the temperature data from the much-maligned Hadley CRU, from NOAA or NASA. The relationship is 1 degree Celsius per 100 parts per million of CO2.

I wholly support Cohen’s suggestion to “follow the money.” Shell, BP and Exxon-Mobile most recently reported combined revenues of $1.2 trillion, with net earnings before taxes of $141 billion. Oil lobbyists received $125 million to discredit global warming science. It reminds one of big tobacco’s earlier denials of a link between smoking and lung cancer.

Gerald Baumann, Durango Editor’s note: Gerald Baumann holds a doctorate degree in mechanical engineering specializing in heat transfer and thermal science.

SAN FRANCISCO — San Franciscans would see a bevy of more “no smoking” signs in The City if legislation introduced Tuesday is approved.

As The Examiner reported in November, Supervisor Eric Mar reignited the stalled legislation that would forbid smoking in a slew of new settings, adding to existing bans in bars, restaurants, parks, transit stops and taxis.

The bill would expand no-smoking zones to include farmers’ markets, outdoor seating areas of restaurants, cafes and coffee shops, and common areas of multiunit housing complexes.

Smokers would have to light up farther away from entrances, exits, windows and vents of all buildings. And smoking would only be allowed at the curb of sidewalks, streets and alleys. If there is no curb, smoking would be prohibited within 15 feet of entrances or exits, according to the bill.

Smokers also would have to be at least 20 feet from transit shelters, boarding areas and ticket lines, including those for cable cars.

The legislation would ban smoking while waiting in lines at ATMs, theaters, athletic events, concert venues and cab stands.

The initiative — meant to further protect residents from harmful secondhand smoke — was introduced after more than two years of vetting by community groups, local businesses and The City, Mar said.

Those who break the rules would face up to a $100 fine for the first offense and upward of $500 for multiple offenses, the legislation says.
The bill was introduced in 2008, but it faced opposition from businesses and did not gain the political traction needed for approval.
By: Mike Aldax
December 16, 2009

There is one place in Bhutan where the Indian-made Wills cigarette has not captured the tobacco market, not even the black one. The remote gewog of Laya smokes Chinese-made cigarettes like Hongtashan, Kingsize, Huangguoshu, Lian Xia, Hong Mel, Fupongyan, Five Bulls and Mellow Turong.

Layaps just call it “tangkhu,” which means tobacco – probably because of the difficulty in pronouncing the brands. The cigarettes are cheap and abundant and sneaked in from across the northern borders. Locals prefer Hongtashan, but King Size, costing Nu 80 for 20 sticks, is cheaper and more popular.

Laya smokers cannot remember since when they have been smoking, but say that Chinese cigarettes had been around in Laya for a long time – since Layaps and Tibetans across the border started trading. China is the largest single manufacturer of tobacco products in the world. It boasts a virtual monopoly in the people’s republic of China, which accounts for roughly 30 percent of the world’s total consumption of cigarettes.

“Indian cigarettes are expensive and tasteless. The Chinese King Size is the best,” said a smoker, Ugyen Dorji, 29. “For smokers with low income like us, Chinese-made cigarettes best suit our need.” A strong rumour that Chinese-made cigarettes would make the smoker impotent not long ago made Layaps think twice before they lit up, but today the rumour has died and smokers are convinced it was just a hoax. “I’d been smoking for six years and didn’t have any problem with impotency,” said Ugyen.

Other Layap smokers said that smoking is a common habit among Layaps. “It may be because of the cold and easy access to cigarettes,” said one smoker. “Many pick up the habit at a young age, especially those not going to school. Most Layaps aren’t aware of the tobacco legislation, which the National Assembly recently passed. “We heard that we can’t smoke cigarettes in dzongs, but that we never do even without a legislation,” said another.

Others, who heard of the ban on the sale of tobacco, said that they bring in the cigarettes for their own consumption. “Everybody brings in cigarettes, so there’s no point selling it,” said Wangdi, who calls himself a chain smoker.

Meanwhile, it is not tobacco that is bothering heath and local government authorities in Laya, but the number of medicines that Layaps bring in from across the northern borders. For many years, Layaps have been relying on unprescribed medicines, especially pain-killers, from Chinese Tibet. “Chinese-made medicines are more effective than the ones we get in our hispitals,” said Ugyen Dorji. “I’ve brought Crocin (Paracetamol) from China for my own consumption because it’s more effective than the Paracetamol we get from hospitals,” he said.

“I feel the Paracetamol tablet we get from tour hospital aren’t effective on me,” said 31-year-old Pego. “I’ve got used to the Chinese-made Crocin for 11 years and use it whenever I get a headache,’ she said.

Health officials have been frequently informing people not to consume unprescribed Chinese medicines, said Laya mangmi, Lhaba Tshering. “People were told not to use the medicines without consulting health officials. We even told them the hospitals wouldn’t be responsible for any complications,” said Lhaba Tshering.

Laya health assistant, Kinga Rinchen said that, although there weren’t any cases of complication, they have been warning villagers to avail medicines from them. “These medicines are strong in drugs and people will become dependent on them. It isn’t at all healthy,” said Kinga Rinchen.

By Gyem Thinley, Laya

Mayor Gavin Newsom has been known to use his cell phone a lot. He used to tweet the birth of his child but now Newsom says he wants cell phones to carry a warning label.

The former governor hopeful says he is endorsing a proposal to make San Francisco the first city in the country to require radiation labels for cell phones.

If passed, stores would have to post radiation levels next to each phone in a font at least as large as the price and they would have to inform customers about what the levels actually mean, which could prove to be a tricky requirement depending on who you believe.

A study released last week by the Danish Cancer Society found that over 30 years there is no “clear change in the long term trends in incidence of brain tumors.”

Still there are some scientists (and many of them are very active in San Francisco) who say that cell phones are slow killers.

Studies to find out just how much radiation your cell phone gives out are readily available on the web, just in case you’re curious.

Marijuana use among teenagers increased this year after previous declines, while the use of other illicit drugs like cocaine mostly declined.

According to an annual National Institute on Drug Abuse-funded survey of nearly 47,000 students, almost one-third of 12th-graders and more than one-quarter of 10th-graders reported using marijuana in 2009. Almost 12% of eighth-graders reported marijuana use, an increase from about 11% in 2008.

The survey, conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan, asked teenagers to report on the use of smoking, alcohol use and drug use, including non-medical uses of prescription painkillers and over-the-counter cold and cough products.

The report showed cigarette smoking was at the lowest point since the survey started in 1975, although the use of smokeless-tobacco products increased on some measures this year.

Daily cigarette use by 12th-graders was 11.2%, a slight drop from 11.4% in 2008, while any use during the past 30 days was 20.1%, also a slight decline from 2008. Smokeless-tobacco use during the past 30 days in 2009 was reported by 8.4% of students in 12th grade, up from 6.5% in 2008.

Researchers said one of the reasons smoking rates have declined is that the percentage of students who reported ever trying smoking has “fallen dramatically.” For example in 1996, 49% of eighth-graders reported trying cigarettes, compared with 20% this year.

Alcohol use stayed about the same last year, with more than half of 10th-graders and about two-thirds of seniors reporting alcohol use in the past year.

The survey showed past-year use of cocaine decreased to 3.4% from 4.4% in 2008 among 12th-graders, along with declines in the use of hallucinogens and methamphetamine.

The use of over-the-counter cold and cough medicines to get high, however, edged up among all age groups, with 6% of 10th-graders reporting non-medical use of the products last year.

The annual survey also found continuing high rates of prescription-drug abuse, with almost 10% of 12th-graders reporting non-medical use of the painkiller Vicodin last year, the same rate as 2008. Almost 5% of high-school seniors reported using OxyContin for a non-medical use in 2009, a slight uptick from 2008.

Researchers said 66% of teens reported obtaining the prescription drugs from a friend or relative, while 19% said they received the drugs with a doctor’s prescription, and 8% said they bought the drugs from a dealer.