With medical marijuana now legal in nearly half the country and pot now a legal retail item in Washington and Colorado, it would make sense that the nation’s tobacco companies would be seeing the potential for making green from green. And a new report uncovers documents showing that the tobacco industry has been thinking about marijuana long before most of the people who smoke it today were even born. [More]
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Lawmakers Urge Drug Store Chains To Stop Carrying Tobacco Products
By 4.29.14
It’s been nearly three months since CVS announced it was phasing out the sale of tobacco products in its stores, and so far no other major drug store chain has followed suit. So today, a dozen members of Congress, led by Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey, called on these retailers to put an end to their part in the sale of cigarettes and other items containing tobacco. [More]
Groups Call On Walgreens To Stop “Evaluating” Cigarette Sales And Just Stop Them Already
By 2.12.14
Last week, Walgreens responded to the news that CVS would stop selling cigarettes by saying it was “evaluating its tobacco line.” That didn’t sit well with some advocacy groups who have called on the nation’s largest drugstore chain to give up its nicotine addiction. [More]
Walgreens Wants Everyone To Know It’s Continuing To Sell Cigarettes
By 2.5.14
Earlier today, CVS surprised an awful lot of people by saying it would give up $2 billion a year in cigarette sales because it’s “the right thing for us to do for our customers and our company to help people on their path to better health.” Meanwhile, Walgreens, the nation’s largest drugstore chain, apparently wants the world to know that it will keep on selling tobacco. [More]
CVS To Stop Selling Cigarettes In All Of Its Stores By October 1
By 2.5.14
Drugstore chain CVS will stop selling cigarettes and all other tobacco products in its stores this year, the retailer announced this morning. [More]
California Lawmaker Hopes To Fine Retailers Who Sell Filtered Cigarettes
By 1.27.14
What’s the next big problem with cigarettes? According to a proposed state bill in California, this time it’s not the tobacco, smoke, or carcinogens; it’s the litter. One state legislator is taking on the trash, specifically the butts, filters included, that smokers leave lying around. He’s proposing fines–but not for the smokers. [More]
Another Marlboro Man Passes Away From Smoking-Related Causes
By 1.27.14
The wife of an actor who appeared in “Marlboro man” cigarette ads and billboards has confirmed that her husband recently died at the age of 72 from respiratory failure due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), meaning he is at least the third Marlboro man to pass away from a smoking-related cause. [More]
50 Years After First Surgeon General’s Report, Smoking Still Leading Preventable Cause Of Death
By 1.17.14
Back in 1964, 42% of American adults smoked tobacco. That same year, the U.S. Surgeon General’s office issued a landmark report about the link between smoking and lung cancer. Since then, there have been 31 additional reports from various Surgeons General, each adding more insight into the health hazards of smoking. In that time, the percentage of adult smokers has been cut by more than half to 18%, but the latest report says people aren’t quitting fast enough. [More]
Offering Beer & Cigarettes As Unusual Reward For Lost Dog Brings Woman’s Pet Home
By 1.14.14
Surely passers-by are familiar with LOST fliers seeking the safe return of a beloved pet. It’s not uncommon for these posts to advertise a monetary reward for wayward dogs and cats, but one dog owner found success dangling a different kind of bait: Beer and cigarettes for the safe return of her pooch. [More]
New York City Council Votes To Raise Legal Smoking Age From 18 To 21
By 10.31.13
Any 17-year-olds in New York City ticking off the days until they come of legal age and can go out to buy cigarettes or other tobacco should probably know that the City Council just voted to move the legal age to buy tobacco products — and also e-cigarettes — from 18 to 21. Keep ticking those days off. [More]
Is Anything Being Done To Prevent Exploding E-Cigarettes?
By 10.3.13
While concerns about health effects and youth-targeted marketing have the attorneys general of 37 states asking the FDA to regulate e-cigarettes much like the agency regulates the sale of tobacco, there are numerous reports of the devices “exploding” or catching fire, which can be significantly more dangerous than simply inhaling nicotine. [More]
Can Kids Recognize Cigarette Logos Even Without Cartoon Camels Involved?
By 9.30.13
Long gone are the days of Joe Camel and his cartoon pals gamboling across cigarette ads and peering out from packages, but does that mean kids don’t recognize certain brands of smokes when they see them? Nope, says one study — even without blatant gimmicks to draw in the younger set, children can still tell cigarette logos apart from each other. [More]
DOJ Report: There Are 2 Million Cartons Of Missing Cigarettes The ATF Can’t Account For
By 9.26.13
There are apparently millions of dollars worth of cigarettes out there that the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was supposed to have in its possession, says an audit released yesterday by the Department of Justice’s Inspector General. The report says there are 2 million cartons of cigarettes just out there somewhere, worth about $127 million. [More]
40 Attorneys General Agree: E-Cigarettes Need To Be Regulated Like Tobacco
By 9.24.13 — Updated: 12.5.13
The use of electronic cigarettes is growing rapidly, not just among tobacco users seeking a smoke-free alternative, but also among those who’ve never smoked but still want to experience the effects of nicotine. Concerned about this relatively unregulated (at least compared to tobacco) market, the attorneys general of 37 states — plus AGs for Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands — have written to the FDA asking for more regulatory controls on the sale and marketing of e-cigarettes. [More]
Study: Some E-Cigarettes Contain Carcinogens Similar To Those Found In Regular Smokes
By 8.28.13 — Updated: 8.29.13
There you are, puffing away on your e-cigarette, feeling like you’re doing something good by not smoking a regular cigarette. But popular though those tobacco-less nicotine vaporizers may be, a new study finds that there could be a comparable level of carcinogens in e-cigs to their traditional cigarette brethren. [More]
Australian Smokers Think Plain Packaging Makes Tobacco Taste Worse
By 7.12.13
Plain tobacco packaging is a global movement aimed at undoing decades of ads and branding messages. Tobacco products get sold in identical plain boxes with only plain letters on the front: no logos, no pictures. Well, that’s not true: there are gruesome pictures of smoking-related illnesses. Plain packaging is now the law in Australia, and smokers don’t like it. Because they say their tobacco tastes different now. [More]
FDA Okays Two New Cigarettes Because They Are Just As Harmful As What’s Already Available
By 6.25.13
The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 gave the Food and Drug Administration the authority to regulate tobacco products. Since then, no new tobacco products have been released on the U.S. market, but that’s about to change with the FDA giving the green light to a pair of new cigarette offerings that the agency says are no better or worse for you than what’s already legally available. [More]
Starbucks Bans Smoking Within 25 Feet Of Stores
By 5.31.13
Starting tomorrow, Starbucks customers who wish to smoke will need to head out to the parking lot or down the street, as the national coffee chain is enacting a ban on smoking within 25 of its stores. [More]
