May 2012

Fort Worth’s City Council is considering a bill that would ban the hiring of smokers. A surge in bans on the hiring of smokers has led 29 states to enact laws protecting smokers, but Texas is not among them.

This is so outrageous on so many levels. Tobacco is a legal product, and as such people have the right to use it.

The Idaho Falls City Council on Tuesday heard some changes to a proposed city-wide ban on smoking in Idaho Falls bars. The newest version would affect all bars equally, so no one could have a leg-up on the competition by privately allowing smokers.<br />
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Now is the time to get involved in this decision, if you live in Idaho Falls.<br type="_moz" />

The City Council can’t seem to make up their minds who and where poeple can smoke.&nbsp; This is the latest round.<br />
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On June 5, the voters can decide whether to keep the current smoking ban or roll it back to the rules in 2003.<br />
<br type="_moz" />

<p><i>The popular smoking-cessation drug Chantix does not increase the risk of heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular problems, according to a </i><a href="/?controllerName=search&amp;action=search&amp;channel=news%2Fnation-world&amp;search=1&amp;inlineLink=1&amp;query=%22University+of+California%22"><i>University of California</i></a><i>, San Francisco study that challenges an earlier, widely circulated report that suggested the medication was&nbsp;dangerous.<br />
<br />
The new study does not address some of the other concerns around Chantix – notably, its association with psychiatric problems, including reports of people becoming depressed and even suicidal while taking the drug. Chantix prescriptions come with strong warnings, mandated by the FDA, about the possibility of psychiatric&nbsp;problems.</i><br />
<br />
That is why the drug is dangerous and naturally they didn’t add that to the study.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>

Does the government have the right to mandate what students in high school?&nbsp; Watch this<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&amp;v=76DQvBshqYM"> YouTube</a> commentary made by the students.<br type="_moz" />

Legislation is working it was through both states to change the current smoking bans in Kansas and Missouri.&nbsp; Sanity may be returning!<br type="_moz" />

Some state lawmakers are trying to burn holes in Michigan’s two-year-old <a href="http://www.annarbor.com/tag/smoking%20ban/">smoking ban</a>, which has cleared the air in public places and enjoyed public support but contributed to cash-flow problems at some bars.<br />
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Contrary to popular belief, all people did not like the smoking otherwise it wouldn’t be being debated now.&nbsp; For the sake of small business we support changes to the law to accommodate all the people not just Big Pharma.<br type="_moz" />

<p>Russia’s chief addiction doctor says smokers should stop being treated like animals. He has calling for &quot;humane&quot; areas at airports and other public places in which they can light up.</p>
<p>&shy;&ldquo;The sale of tobacco in Russia is allowed officially and the government gets an income in the form of excise duties,&rdquo; says Evgeny Bryun an expert in drug and alcohol dependency at Russia&rsquo;s Health Ministry, &quot;So the government must provide smokers with smoking areas.&quot; <br />
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<![endif]–>What a reasonable man, too bad that his sentiments are not followed in America and Europe, countries that established the word <b>liberty</b> and <b>freedom</b> centuries ago.</p>
<p><br />
&nbsp;</p>

<div><span style="FONT-FAMILY: arial,sans-serif; FONT-SIZE: 13px">Keep St. Louis Free enthusiastically supports HB 2103 as a reasonable compromise law that fulfills the original intent of the Missouri Indoor Clean Air Act to protect certain businesses from smoking regulation as &quot;areas not considered public places&quot;.&nbsp;</span></div>
<div><span style="FONT-FAMILY: arial,sans-serif; FONT-SIZE: 13px"><br />
</span></div>
<div><span style="FONT-FAMILY: arial,sans-serif; FONT-SIZE: 13px">Furthermore, HB 2103 would help level the playing field across Missouri for the bar and entertainment industry, undoing some of the harm wrought by Draconian smoking bans such as those in effect in O’Fallon and Springfield, as well as the harm done by capricious and arbitrary smoking ban exemptions, such as the 2000 square foot exemption currently in effect in St. Louis City which has put larger bars and entertainment venues at a competitive disadvantage.</span></div>
<div><a target="_blank" href="http://www.stltoday.com/suburban-journals/stcharles/news/smoking-ban-chokes-o-fallon-bar-business/article_650ddbc6-a62a-5c8b-956d-7f79544c2d40.html" title="http://www.stltoday.com/suburban-journals/stcharles/news/smoking-ban-chokes-o-fallon-bar-business/article_650ddbc6-a62a-5c8b-956d-7f79544c2d40.html">http://www.stltoday.com/suburban-journals/stcharles/news/smoking-ban-chokes-o-fallon-bar-business/article_650ddbc6-a62a-5c8b-956d-7f79544c2d40.html</a></div>

David Hockney asks: &quot;Is there a link between the decline of <a title="More from guardian.co.uk on Smoking" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/smoking">smoking</a> and the rise of <a title="More from guardian.co.uk on Obesity" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/obesity">obesity</a> and <a title="More from guardian.co.uk on Diabetes" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/diabetes">diabetes</a>?&quot; (<a title="" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/may/01/root-causes-rise-obesity-diabetes">Letters</a>, 2 May). I have been wondering this myself ever since I stopped smoking in 2009 and was diagnosed as Type 2 diabetic within four months.
<p>&nbsp;</p>