You may have heard in the news recently that people trying to quit smoking may actually be increasing their risk for heart problems – if they’re taking Chantix, that is. Chantix is a popular smoking cessation drug made by Pfizer. It works by blocking nicotine receptors in the brain so that smoking becomes less satisfying. Like many other drugs, Chantix has a list of serious side effects, including depression and suicidal thoughts.

Most of these are well-known and documented; the Chantix box carries an FDA label warning of the possible psychological effects. However there is a newly discovered side effect: increased risk of heart attacks.
In a recent study by the Canadian Medical Association, using Chantix was associated with a 72 percent higher risk of heart attacks, congestive heart failure, irregular heartbeats, and other cardiovascular problems compared to those taking a placebo. Unlike past studies that showed Chantix increases these risks only in people who already had heart problems, the new study shows the risks increase even for healthy people with no history of heart disease.
For anyone who is trying to quit smoking with Chantix or knows someone else using Chantix, this new evidence is very alarming. The decision to quit smoking is usually made in an effort to improve overall health and decrease risks of cardiovascular diseases, not increase risks. If this study is accurate, Chantix is causing the very problems smokers are trying to prevent.
Pfizer disagrees with the study, and is standing behind Chantix. The company says the difference in cardiovascular events is less than one quarter of one percent, not 72 percent as cited in the CMA study. Pfizer plans to do further research and re-evaluate the safety of the drug along with the FDA. It is possible the FDA could require a Chantix warning label informing people of cardiovascular risks, even for those without cardiovascular disease. Chantix may also face new lawsuits as a result of the CMA study.
Chantix has been prescribed to more than 7 million smokers in the US. The drug accounted for about 1 percent of Pfizer’s sales in 2010.

Multnomah County Commissioner Deborah Kafoury, once the top Democrat in the state House of Representatives, was buttonholing her buddies in Salem this week, trying to persuade lawmakers at February’s special session to end the ban on city and county tobacco taxes.

“One of the reasons I ran for office was to get Multnomah County on sound financial footing,” Kafoury says. “We are still in financial trouble despite the recent passage of the tax measures.”

Kafoury and other county commissioners say they lack the same money-raising avenues the city of Portland has, so they’re turning to the Legislature to allow more local taxes.

County commissioners figure they could raise $8 million a year by levying a local 25-cent tax on a pack of cigarettes, Kafoury says. That would dissuade more teens from buying cigarettes, she says, and help the county meet surging demand for health care and other social services during the recession.

A similar proposal passed the House in 2009, and she’s confident it could pass again this month. But the vote in the Senate “is going to be close,” Kafoury says.
By Steve Law
The Gresham Outlook, Feb 2, 2010

Sen. Laurie Monnes Anderson, D-Gresham, introduced the proposal, Senate Bill 1042, at Multnomah County’s behest. Rep. Nick Kahl, D-Gresham, also sponsored the bill.

Considering the poor economy and last week’s approval of two state-wide tax measures, “This may be difficult to pass,” Monnes Anderson said.

But her interest in preventing teens from smoking drove her to back the bill. “It has been proven that when you increase the cost of cigarettes, the young people are the ones that don’t buy them,” she said.

Kahl said the bill also gives governments a chance to create new ways to pay the “significant” price of social services and health care, all while preserving local control.

“In Rockwood, where I grew up, these dollars are desperately needed,” he said, adding that the bill would allow Gresham – in fact any city or county – to enact its own cigarette tax if the city wanted to. “Local governments should have local control to deal with their own issues. This gives them an opportunity to do that.”

Convenience stores, such as Plaid Pantry, oppose the bill, fearing it will cause customers to shop in another county for their cigarettes and other products.

“You’re penalizing retailers because they’re located in one jurisdiction,” says Richard Kosesan, a Salem lobbyist for the convenience-store trade group.

He also warns that state cigarette taxes, which help pay for health care for the poor, could drop as they did after the Legislature banned indoor smoking at bars.

Sen. Rick Metsger, D-Welches, concurs, and opposes the bill.

The cigarette tax is “maxed out” as a source of revenue, Metsger says, after Congress added a 62-cent tax on a pack of cigarettes last year to pay for children’s health coverage. That made the federal cigarette tax $1.01 per pack, on top of Oregon’s state tax of $1.18 a pack.

“You tax it more, you’re just going to get less,” Metsger says. “New Jersey is the prime example of that.”

Metsger also predicts money-raising measures are a non-starter during the February session, coming on the heels of two major tax increases ratified by voters.

“Anything that has three letters that start with a ‘t’ and end with an ‘x’ is not going to be on the table this February,” he says. “I think everybody’s ready for a hiatus on this topic.”

But Portland Democrats are fairly influential in the Legislature these days, and the party has a comfortable majority in both chambers. SB 1042 doesn’t raise a dime; it allows cities and counties to charge their own cigarette taxes. As a result, the bill only needs a simple majority, not the three-fifths majority required for tax increases.

Rep. Phil Barnhart, D-Eugene, who leads the House revenue committee, says there are disadvantages to having different cigarette taxes in different communities of the state because it distorts sales.

But he says schools and local governments have been short of funds since voters sharply reduced property taxes in 1990 and then capped the growth of property values for tax-assessment purposes in 1996.

Many Oregon counties also face a crippling loss of federal funds allocated to timber-dependent communities.

SB 1042 has the support of the Oregon League of Cities and the Association of Oregon Counties.

There are plenty of precedents around the country. Kafoury says about 450 other cities and counties outside Oregon have their own cigarette taxes.

Voters opposed to measures 66 and 67 are likely to fume if Multnomah County enacts a local cigarette tax on top of those sizable state tax increases.

Kafoury fears the opposite reaction if the county makes more cuts this year, right after more than 70 percent of county voters approved both tax increases.

“Multnomah County voters are going to be confused,” she says.

Smoking taxes

Oregon: $1.18 (22nd-highest among the states)

Washington: $2.025 (5th-highest)

California: 87 cents

Idaho: 57 cents

Those come on top of the federal tax of $1.01

New York City, at $5.26 a pack, has the nation’s highest cigarette taxes, combining city, state and national taxes.

Legislature will look at other bills during session

In addition to backing a bill that would end a ban on city and county tobacco taxes, Sen. Laurie Monnes Anderson and Rep. Nick Kahl, both Gresham-based Democrats, also are introducing other bills during the February special session.

• SB 1003 – Sponsored by Monnes Anderson, this bill would help small businesses maintain health insurance benefits for employees. In order to get better rates, some companies pool together to create association health plans. Such plans require that 95 percent of employees stay in the plan, but as more companies reduce positions to part-time, fewer employees can afford to take part. The bill would allow companies to apply for a waiver to the 95-percent retention rate.

• HB 3615 – Sponsored by Kahl, this bill would apply the Unfair Trade Practices Act to banks and insurance companies, which are now exempt in Oregon. The bill provides consumer protection against banks and insurance companies that misrepresent themselves, resulting in damages to consumers, and allows the state attorney general to sue banks and insurance companies that don’t adhere to the law.

Legislators are also expected to focus on extending unemployment benefits for thousands of out-of-work Oregonians, as well as creating a constitutional amendment that would change how often the Legislature meets.

It now meets in general session every other year but often meets in special sessions during the interim. Some legislators want to meet annually as most states do.

Oregon’s business energy tax credit, also known as BETC or Besty, also could be changed. Critics say the credits cost taxpayers too much.

This issue could have repercussion for Gresham, which is trying to woo solar companies and other green industries to the area, said Rep. Greg Matthews, D-Gresham.

By Mara Stine

The Executive Director of Vision for Alternative Development (VALD), Issah Ali, has said that if government is committed to fighting hard drugs in the country then it must vigorously tackle the tobacco threat since it is the “gateway” to the use of hard drugs.
Issah Ali of the NGO believes the more people use tobacco, the more they are likely to graduate into the use of Marijuana and hard drugs like cocaine and heroin.

Speaking at a Public Forum put together by VALD, Issah Ali therefore appealed to government to ensure the passage into law of the Tobacco Control Bill, which has been pending for some time now. “We are humbly urging the Minister of Health Designate to ensure government presents the Tobacco Control Bill to Parliament by the end of this month – November 2009.”
In reaction to a question on what stage the bill has reached, Ben Botwe of the ministry who represented the minister at the forum said the final draft is almost done and that it will soon be laid before parliament.

At his vetting recently, the minister designate, Hon. Benjamin Kumbour, was made to say that he had given up on smoking himself and so it is hoped that he will work diligently to ensure the passage of the law.
Some have wondered why Ghana still does not have a Tobacco Control law even as she was one of the first countries to ratify the UN Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) which is the first global health treaty aimed at protecting present and future generations from the dangers of tobacco.

An insider source told this writer that the issues are more “complicated” than they seem on the surface. The lobbying power of tobacco companies, the source said, cannot be underestimated and that individuals within the corridors of power have their bread buttered from the industry. Governments? around the world are also reluctant to stop cashing in on tobacco trade; a cost benefit analysis is the last thing they would consider when they are looking for immediate cash to spend.

Indeed, according to Issah Ali, the tobacco industry has no right to interfere with Public Health issues of countries and that British America Tobacco (BAT) must “stop deceiving governments with secret letters and weak arguments, to interfere with public health policies, knowing that what they are doing contravenes international laws.” The reference here is article 5(3) of the FCTC.
Advocates of tobacco control have been worried about its weakening impact on human health and economic productivity as it is the leading cause of preventable deaths worldwide. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), close to 5 million people die annually as a result of tobacco use and that someone dies every 6.5 seconds from tobacco use. It also reduces life expectancy by 20 to 25 years.

If the trend continues unchecked, tobacco use, it is projected, would kill 6 million people in 2010, more than HIV, Malaria and TB combined, and over 10 million smokers and passive smokers by 2030 with 70% in developing countries including Ghana.
Tobacco is said to be a poisonous social drug used for non medicinal purposes, leading to physical, mental damage and other social problems.

The drug, according to experts, contains over 40 chemicals which cause cancer in various organs of the body. Dr. Promise E. Sefogah of Doctors for Right to Health said at the forum that the effects of these chemicals could lead to several other health complications including impotency and infertility.

Dr. Sefogah said high exposures to second hand smoke suggest the need for strong and effective smoke free policies in Ghana. “There is an urgent need to for the creation of the social and legal climate here in Ghana where tobacoo becomes less desirable, less acceptable and less accessible.”

In line with this, he called for higher taxes on tobacco products since it has been proven to “induce quitting, prevent relapse, reduce consumption and prevent initiation.”