D.A.R.E. America Chairman Skip Miller writes in his Jan. 28 Times Op-Ed article, “Don’t legalize marijuana,” that his organization has been successful in its efforts to reduce illegal drug use in the U.S. by educating schoolchildren. Indeed, protecting young people has long been used to justify marijuana prohibition.

But in reality, our drug laws have failed to stop marijuana use among American youth but have succeeded in punishing them with damning criminal records, loss of financial aid for college and removal from after-school activities. As a graduate of D.A.R.E., I know all too well about the shortcomings of this program and of America’s war on marijuana.

The simple truth is that prohibition doesn’t work, and regulation and education do. Most young people will tell you that marijuana is easy to buy despite nearly a century of prohibition that has cost billions of tax dollars and put thousands of people behind bars.

Anti-drug groups such as D.A.R.E. refuse to acknowledge that today’s marijuana prohibition causes the same problems as alcohol prohibition did in the 1920s. It’s no wonder, then, that D.A.R.E. has been called ineffective by the National Academy of Sciences and, in 2001, was placed under the category of “ineffective programs” by the U.S. surgeon general. The Government Accountability Office reported in 2003 that there are “no significant differences in illicit drug use between students who received D.A.R.E. . . . and students who did not.”

The fact is that legalizing, taxing and regulating substances reduces the harm caused by those drugs. A University of Florida study provided statistically overwhelming evidence that raising taxes on alcohol reduces consumption.

The Tax and Regulate initiative on California’s November ballot would levy a tax of $50 per ounce on marijuana; the money raised would help fund drug-abuse and prevention programs.

Nicotine is one of the most addictive drugs on the planet, yet thanks to aggressive taxation in many areas and education efforts, cigarette use in the U.S. has declined sharply over the last few decades. We didn’t have to arrest, incarcerate or impose prohibition to achieve those results; we merely had to tell the truth to young people about the very real harms caused by cigarette addiction while imposing taxes and age restrictions. The most recent Monitoring the Future Survey, which asks students about their drug use, shows that more 10th graders now use marijuana than cigarettes.

Legalizing and taxing marijuana won’t cure California’s chronic budget woes. But should we really be cutting from education while spending all the money it takes to enforce our failed prohibition policies? Furthermore, the Tax and Regulate initiative would not allow the use of marijuana by people under 21. I certainly don’t want more young people smoking marijuana. But some of the teens I helped as a substance-abuse counselor told me that it was easier to purchase marijuana inside their own schools than it was to buy beer or cigarettes from a convenience store. This is not what a successful policy looks like.

Many Americans are coming around to this view. Depending on the poll, either a majority or near-majority of Americans say that marijuana should be taxed and legalized. Even the American Medical Assn. has called for the federal government to review its absurd classification of marijuana as a Schedule 1 drug, which puts cannabis right alongside heroin and PCP.

D.A.R.E. can warn people all day about the harm associated with marijuana use. What it refuses to acknowledge is that these arguments only support ending prohibition. If marijuana is so dangerous, D.A.R.E. and its allies ought to support efforts to remove control over distribution from black-market drug dealers.

It’s time for D.A.R.E. to take a back seat to evidence-based drug prevention programs that don’t use scare tactics. It’s time to legalize marijuana.
By Jonathan Perri
Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times

Marlboro, Camel, Parliament, American Spirit. All these recognizable cigarette brands can currently be purchased from the Hawk Shop in the Kansas Union. Today, the Board of Regents will consider banning the sale of tobacco products on university campuses.

Although all students have the right to choose whether to smoke, the University should not be profiting from a product that is damaging to the students it is here to serve. The Regents should vote in favor of banning tobacco sales from university campuses.

Removing cigarettes from campus will not take away the right to choose whether to smoke. It will simply show that the University does not profit from a choice that is a health risk to students.

The money from the Hawk Shop goes directly back into the Union, which is an affiliate of the University. Although it is separate, some of the Union’s profits are used for student activities and go back to the University for programs such as new student orientation.

In a Kansan editorial from February 2009, David Mucci, director of KU Memorial Unions, said the profits from tobacco sales did not represent a substantial sum.

“We’re not afraid to lose the money,” said Mucci.

Losing this small amount would not hurt the University financially which lends even greater support for the ban.

In an obvious paradox, not only can students buy cigarettes on campus, they can also receive assistance to quit smoking through a Student Health Services’ program called Kan-U-Quit at Watkins Health Center. The University has recognized the problem but is still selling the product causing it.

As a leader in education and progress, the University should not benefit from or support a product that is ultimately a heath risk for students. Having tobacco products behind the counter is condoning and enabling the habit. Though the choice to smoke remains in the hands of the student, the Regents will be making the right decision in removing Kansas universities from association with tobacco sales.

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Two bills that would legalize the sale and possession of marijuana attracted a standing-room-only crowd to a Capitol hearing room Wednesday.

Most who testified, were in favor of the bills.

One bill would decriminalize possession of marijuana, the other would enable the state to sell and tax pot at state liquor stores.

Sponsors of the taxation bill said regulating the sale of marijuana could generate $150 million a year for the state.

Supporters also said decriminalization would save money in the state’s justice and prison systems.

“In these days of billion dollar deficits, we can no longer keep our heads in the sand,” said Representative Mary Lou Dickerson, D-Seattle.

State lawmakers are trying to balance a budget with a projected $2.6 billion deficit.

The Executive Director of the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs testified against the bills. Don Pierce does not believe the state would save or make any money by legalizing marijuana.

“It’s just nonsense,” said Pierce. “The biggest piece of science fiction I’ve read in the past 3 months is how much money we’d save if we decriminalize marijuana.”

No matter what happens to this legislation, voters could ahve a say on the issue this year.

A group called Sensible Washington is seeking signatures to ask voters if marijuana should be legalized.

Smoking tobacco is not like smoking marijuana. This difference is known especially by smokers from California. The one big difference is the effect that happens to the brain. While smoking tobacco products is addictive and harmful to people health, a tobacco smoker does not really feel much change in his outlook or behavior during or after smoking. That is, until they can not have any tobacco when they want it.

But unlike cigarettes, marijuana generates a euphoric feeling that is far more visible than with tobacco. It can make them feel relaxed and removed from normal feelings. These feelings are one of the big attractions of smoking more marijuana than regular cigarette.

Many people love that feeling they get when they have smoked marijuana. While some people believe that marijuana, like tobacco, is not really physically addictive in the same sensation as other stronger drugs.

For example California is a land of contradictions where cigarette smokers are followed with a lawfulness typically reinforced for terrorists, and marijuana smoking is permitted, if not completely encouraged.

Researchers think that soon California government will legalize marijuana use. Of course the “medical” marijuana has been legal here for some time, and commercialize pot growing has increased too. But today, as the state faces a budget debt, the legislature is excitedly eying the possibility of gathering considerable tax receipts from commercial marijuana sales.

Californian cigarette smokers, meanwhile, just can’t catch a smoke break. In 1998, California, the Golden State (was made the official State Nickname in 1968) became the first in the country to ban smoking in restaurants and bars. And also taxes on tobacco are very high, and the state legislature plan to raise them yet again. But in the city of Los Angeles, where the smog levels are legendary, the city council is planning on prohibiting cigarette smoking at outdoor dining areas.

At the same time marijuana smoking has been factual legalized in many California communities. For example in Santa Cruz cigarette smoking is banned within 25 feet of any public building. Cigarette smoking has even been prohibited on the main downtown street. Yet the smell of marijuana smoke is presented in all places at the same time, even on the same streets that have banned cigarettes.

However scientists concluded that chronic marijuana smoking can lead to a total host of health problems, from memory loss to lung cancer.

In general, if smokers believe that smoking tobacco or marijuana either one is physically addictive or not, they do produce physical withdrawal symptoms in a sense.

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.

Buenos Aires, – Argentina tops the list of countries that smoke the most in Latin America, consuming 1,014 cigarettes annually for every inhabitant over age 15, media reports said Sunday, citing a World Lung Foundation study.
Argentina is followed on the list by Paraguay, with annual consumption of 968 cigarettes, and Chile, with 909, while Peru has the lowest cigarette consumption in the region at 129 annually per inhabitant.

European countries, however, are the leaders in cigarette consumption, with Greece consuming 3,017 cigarettes annually for every inhabitant over age 15, followed by Slovenia, with 2,537, and Ukraine, with 2,526.

Argentina is the only Latin American country that did not sign the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control launched by the World Health Organization at the start of this decade, an agreement signed by only 16 countries around the world.

Signatories agreed to ban tobacco advertising, increase taxes on tobacco products and promote smoke-free environments.

Some 33 percent of the adult population, according to the health ministry study, smokes in Argentina, where 40,000 people die each year from smoking-related diseases.

Liquorice, sugars and even cocoa are being added to cigarettes to help smokers inhale a “lethal cocktail”, tobacco control experts say.

Bill King, from the VicHealth Centre for Tobacco Control, who has conducted extensive research into the make-up of cigarettes, said tobacco manufacturers added substances including sugars, cocoa and liquorice that made cigarettes more attractive and addictive.

“These additives make cigarettes more attractive to smokers, and that’s what’s wrong with them,” Mr King said. “They lull smokers into a false sense of security.

“They’re tricked into believing that a less harsh taste makes the cigarette less harmful for them. These additives ultimately help smokers swallow a lethal cocktail.”

Mr King helped the Cancer Council WA launch a new television advertisement today which shows a number of different smoking-related health conditions and is set to the well-known song “Sugar Sugar” by The Archies.

Make Smoking History campaign manager Susan Stewart said smokers needed to know that while the true flavour of tobacco could be masked with additives, the damage caused by smoking could not be hidden.

“In fact, many smokers are fascinated, unaware or shocked to discover cigarettes are made up of such ingredients,” said Ms Stewart.

Almost 300,000 WA adults still smoke and around 1200 Western Australians lose their lives to smoking every year. The new ad campaign aims to get smokers to quit before it’s too late.

Smokers can call the Quitline on 13 78 48 to talk to someone confidentially about quitting or enquire about the Cancer Council’s Fresh Start quit smoking course. Smokers can also talk to their local GP or pharmacist.

Make Smoking History is an initiative of the Cancer Council WA and is proudly supported by the Department of Health and Healthway.

Dude, the government lets cigarettes be legal even though they kill like thousands of people. But weed is illegal. And now, dude, cloves are illegal. Cloves! The taste proves they’re not killing you! Clove-smoking hippies are fighting back. With cloves!

See, the government outlawed flavored cigarettes, so Kretek, which makes all the cloves you smoke, is now selling clove cigars. Problem solved!

Lake Isabella, Calif., resident Terry Day, 42 years old, used to drive 240 miles round-trip to buy clove cigarettes when he lived in rural Valentine, Neb. He said he might try the cigars but was dubious about whether he would like them.

That is even farther than most heroin addicts are willing to drive. Fun fact(?) about the origin of the healing powers of cloves:

Studebacher Hoch, a resident of Kudus, Java, created kreteks in the early 1880s as a means to deliver the medicinal eugenol of cloves to the lungs, as it was thought to help asthma. It cured his chest pains and he started to market his invention to the village, but he died of lung cancer before he could mass market it.

The UAE has banned all electronic and smokeless cigarettes from being sold in the emirates. But that’s not stopping Swiss company Olig AG from promoting their new smokeless cigarettes.

On the heels of an order that no e-cigarettes be sold by retailers in the UAE, Olig AG said it has come up with a smoke-free cigarette that does not contain carcinogens that may lead to lung cancer.

The company said it has come up with a conventional cigarette that produces heat, contains tobacco and nicotine but does not give off any smoke and doesn’t require any external energy.

The company may introduce its new product around the globe.

In the UAE, meanwhile, health officials lauded the new ban on e-cigarettes and said that though they are smoke-free, the nicotine they contain is harmful.

Harare — MONOMOTAPA have received a major boost in their tough battle to turn around a Champions League campaign that has gone off the rails with a local tobacco company, Blend Value, injecting US$50 000 into their coffers ahead of their showdown against Congolese giants TP Mazembe at Rufaro tomorrow.

The cash injection by the company a new player in the local tobacco industr is meant to boost morale among the Monomotapa players and help them focus on their assignment against the former African champions.

Monoz have lost two matches on the trot and coach Rodwell Dhlakama has questioned the focus of his players on their continental mission amid the unrest torched by problems over the funding of an adventure that does not come cheap.

The Monomotapa players staged a rebellion against their leadership, shortly after their arrival from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where they were handed a 0-5 defeat by two-time African champions TP Mazembe.

That big defeat followed a 1-3 defeat at the hands of Heartlands of Nigeria. Dhlakama, whose boys now return to familiar home territory where they have turned Rufaro into their fortress and won all their Champions League games, believes his players have been distracted by the in-house turmoil.

But, just when Monomotapa were beginning to feel that they have been abandoned by the Zimbabweans, Blend Value have come along to give them a big shot in the arm and try and boost the morale of the players ahead of tomorrow’s big match.

For, despite their heavy defeats in their last two matches, Monomotapa know that if they win their three home matches in the group, it could just be enough for them to qualify for the semi-finals.

That huge task begins tomorrow with this tough task against a team that has seemingly found the going easy against Zimbabwean opposition and who, unlike Monomotapa, have no financial problems and are bankrolled by one of the wealthiest men on the continent.

Moise Katumbi Chabwe, the billionaire businessman who owns TP Mazembe, is a wealthy man who has promised his team US$250 000, to be shared among the 18 players and their officials, should they beat Monomotapa at Rufaro tomorrow.

Katumbi is also a politician, being the Governor of Katanga province in the DRC, and has interests in mining and transport.

It has always been his mission, since he took over as the owner of TP Mazembe, to turn the Congolese giants into the champions of Africa and he believes that this year, his team has its best chance.

Monomotapa is a team owned by Harare businessmen Solomon Mugavazi and Lysias Sibanda and, while they have tried their best and injected a fortune in the team, they certainly don’t have the kind of financial resources that Katumbi has.

But Mugavazi and Sibanda certainly have friends and, among the people they can call their partners, are the directors of Blend Value Tobacco, who yesterday unveiled a US$50 000 package to help Monomotapa in their hour of need.

Blend Value Tobacco are the manufacturers of the Oya! brand, which they want to dominate the domestic market, and they have already announced that this is just the start of their big partnership with Zimbabwean football.

Blend Value director Tawanda Chitapi, a prominent Harare lawyer, said his company decided to help Monomotapa because the Harare side was representing the country and needed the help of everyone in their bid to try and conquer the continent.

“We decided to help Monomotapa so that they can sort out some of the challenges that they have been facing of late,” said Chitapi.

The Harare lawyer is also a passionate football fan who has worked, mostly behind the scenes, resolving some of the wrangles that have beset the national game.

“It’s important, in our small way, to play our part in the area of social responsibility. “After reading about Monomotapa, and the challenges they were facing with regard the need to raise money for their campaign, we decided to partner Zifa and assist the team.

“We did that because Monomotapa’s match against TP Mazembe is a national game and we decided to take care of some of the expenses that come with the holding of such a big match.

“We now believe that, with our help, the players can now concentrate on giving their best and our aim is to continue sponsoring the team, depending on how things work out on the weekend.”

Monoz’ director Mugavazi attended the ceremony, at Zifa House, where Blend Value unveiled their sponsorship package.

The ceremony was also attended by Zifa chairman Wellington Nyatanga and Premier Soccer League boss Tapuwa Matangaidze whose top-flight league last week assisted Monomotapa by paying each players US$400.

That helped in ending the stand-off between the Monomotapa players and their leadership and the club, in turn, decided to lift the suspension that had been imposed on skipper Mthulisi Maphosa, goalkeeper Godfrey Mangove, defender Lucky Simango and striker Daniel Zokoto.

The four were accused of being the ringleaders in the industrial action. They have all since returned into the fold and should help Monomotapa in their quest to beat TP Mazembe at Rufaro tomorrow.

Monomotapa secretary-general David Makombe paid tribute to Blend Value for their sponsorship package. “It is a very good development in the sense that since we started participating in the Champions League, no one was coming to help and we had to source for the resources on our own and use our own funds,” said Makombe.

“It makes us concentrate on playing football and we now have confidence of where we are going and we are very grateful for the support that has been given to us.”

Club captain, the inspirational Maphosa, said his boys had faced a lot of challenges but, with friends like Blend Value, they could concentrate on their game and they had the capacity to beat Mazembe.

“We were facing a lot of problems and hopefully our problems are over,” said Maphosa. Matangaidze hailed the move by Blend Value and said this showed there was value in domestic football.

The PSL boss challenged Monomotapa to turn their campaign around and make the country and their sponsors proud with a morale-boosting win over Mazembe tomorrow.

The Zimbabwe National Soccer Supporters’ Association yesterday issued a rallying cry to the country’s football fans to come in their thousands and back the Monomotapa cause at Rufaro tomorrow.

ZNSSA security chief Fortune Bgwoni also hailed Blend Value for leading the way in helping Monomotapa in their hour of need.

“What is refreshing about Blend Value’s support is that the company has come at the right time, when Monomotapa’s campaign was being threatened by financial resources, to throw its full weight behind our champions,” said Bgwoni.

“We believe that that the fans and players should take note of these companies, which are putting their financial resources into football, and support them in whatever way they can.

“If Blend Value are the tobacco company that is sponsoring football, we believe that football should also appreciate that support with the fans choosing their products ahead of their competition which might not be playing a part in the game.

“If BancABC are the bank that is supporting football, we believe that the football community — the fans, the coaches, the players and the administrators — should also support that bank ahead of its competition when it comes to their investments.

“The same goes for Nestle Zimbabwe and that is the only way that we can safeguard our sponsors and, when we do that, teams like Monomotapa will continue to get help and they can do far better in the Champions League.

“The challenge is on Monomotapa to now put their house in order and, if they were good enough to beat Etoile du Sahel of Tunisia, then they should also be good enough to beat Mazembe and give our football a reason to smile once again.

“So let’s all go to Rufaro on Saturday, and the game starts early at 2.30pm, and support our boys –just the way they have been supported by Blend Value — and I can tell you that we can win the big match and bounce back.”


© Allafrica

A groundbreaking tobacco case flamed out last week when a jury awarded the children of a now-deceased smoker $1.5 million — $20.5 million less than a previous verdict overturned on appeal.

“The jury apparently felt that R.J. Reynolds didn’t need to be deterred,” said a disappointed Greg Leyh, an attorney for the children.

In February 2005, a Jackson County jury awarded the family of Barbara Smith $2 million in compensatory damages (which was later reduced to $500,000 because Smith was determined to be 75 percent at fault) and $20 million in punitive damages — the largest punitive award ever in a Missouri smoking case.

The verdict was against Brown & Williamson, which was later acquired by Reynolds. Brown & Williamson made Kool cigarettes, which Smith smoked for nearly 50 years. She died of a heart attack in May 2000 at the age of 73.

Brown & Williamson appealed the verdict, and the Missouri Court of Appeals in Kansas City two years ago ordered the case retried on the issue of punitive damages only. The court ruled that evidence of Brown & Williamson’s wrongful conduct was sufficient to submit to a jury.

In a lengthy opinion written by then-Judge Robert Ulrich, the court found that Brown & Williamson “had an active process of creating controversy regarding the health risks of smoking and planned to dispute every surgeon general’s report, regardless of what it was based upon.”

But because the basis for the jury’s award of punitive damages was unclear, the court sent the matter back for a new trial on that issue alone.

The case finally went to trial again late last month before the same judge, Marco Roldan, as the earlier trial. The jury was limited to deciding whether Brown & Williamson sold Kool cigarettes “with complete indifference” to or “conscious disregard” of the safety of its customers.

Independence attorney Ken McClain, the Smith family’s lead trial lawyer, told the jury that Brown & Williamson had designed cigarettes to make them addictive.

The company’s defense counsel, Jeff Furr of King & Spalding in Atlanta, countered that Brown & Williamson had sought to make its products less dangerous and didn’t know Kools were defective.

The jury two weeks ago found that Brown & Williamson knowingly sold a dangerous and defective product. It then proceeded to a second phase to determine punitive damages.

McClain asked jurors to award $110 million “to send a message.” That amount represented about a quarter of the $442 million in dividends Brown & Williamson received from its parent company last year and about the same amount Reynolds’ top five executives made in the last five years.

The jury, however, came back with $1.5 million, a fraction of what McClain sought. Leyh said that he spoke to two of the jurors after the trial and got the sense “that since Brown & Williamson doesn’t make cigarettes anymore, they didn’t feel there was a need to deter them.”

Both sides said they plan to appeal.