Tribal members plead not guilty to contraband cigarette charges

Four people who operated a smoke shop on the Swinomish Indian Reservation that was raided for untaxed cigarettes two years ago pleaded not guilty to federal charges Monday in Seattle.

Tribal members Marvin Wilbur, 71, and his wife Joan Wilbur, 72, along with their daughters-in-law April Wilbur, 44, and Brenda Wilbur, 49, were indicted by a grand jury in U.S. District Court last month on one count of conspiracy to traffic in contraband cigarettes and five counts of trafficking in contraband cigarettes.

The four remain free pending a trial set for September. The charges carry prison terms up to five years.

The Wilbur family ran the Trading Post at March Point, near Anacortes, which was raided in May 2007. Agents seized nearly four million unstamped cigarettes and about $120,000 in cash and bank accounts. It all has been forfeited to the government.

Prosecutors allege the Trading Post took in at least $13 million in revenue from contraband cigarettes and should have paid about $11 million in tobacco taxes.

In 2003, Marvin and Joan Wilbur unsuccessfully sued to try to stop a cigarette-tax compact between the state and the tribe that requires the tribe to collect the same tobacco taxes from on-reservation smoke shops that the state would collect.

Prosecutors say the Wilburs didn't get a tribal license to sell cigarettes and didn't pay tribal tax.

More Cigarettes More Health Problems

A recent study found that smokers have more migraine attacks than non-smokers. But a research published in The Journal of Headache and Pain indicated that smoking could ameliorate migraines by reducing anxiety, one of the main factors that spark an attack.
One advantage of this study is that the sample used, 361 medicine students from the University of Salamanca, were fully informed about what a migraine was. Most surveys which studied the migraine in smokers are done in people without knowledge of the illness, but this recent study tried to found about the presence or absence of migraine and whether or not they smoked in people knowing everything about this disease.
At the end of the investigation was found that 16% of students fulfilled migraine criteria, while 20% smoked. But the percentage of smokers was higher (29%) in those who were also migraine sufferers and migraine frequency in those students who were migraine sufferers and smokers was clearly higher than in those who were non-smokers and migraine sufferers.
According to this last study, smoking is a precipitating factor of this type of headache, as the influence of active smokers is one third higher in migraine sufferers and there is a direct relationship between the number of cigarettes smoked and the frequency of migraine attacks.
At the end of the study researchers became more stressed, because they assure that the tobacco dosage play a very important role in migraine sufferers. The study results detected that the migraine sets in after five daily cigarettes.
Moreover, although the percentage of those who smoked was higher in people with migraines, they smoked less than those who did not suffer migraines. This is because they knew that if they will smoke more than five cigarettes a day, they would be more likely to have a migraine attack.
The neurologists argued that in no case should a migraine sufferer be advised to smoke thinking that it is going to improve their migraines.

Tobacco lay

Because an injunction “prohibits conduct under threat of judicial punishment, basic fairness requires that those enjoined receive explicit notice of precisely what conduct is outlawed.” Under this standard, we have held injunctions to be too vague when they enjoin all violations of a statute in the abstract without any further specification, or when they include, as a necessary descriptor of the forbidden conduct, an undefined term that the circumstances of the case do not clarify.
Indeed, we must always apply the fair notice requirement “in the light of the circumstances surrounding entry: the relief sought by the moving party, the evidence produced at the hearing on the injunction, and the mischief that the injunction seeks to prevent.”

Tobacco use

In conformity with 2002 edition of World Tobacco Atlas published by the WHO, in the region of the Caribbean Sea and Central America, every year local smokers consume from 500 to 1,200 cigarettes each. Although the smoking rates among men tend to drop in recent years, this decline is very slow-going.

Moreover, generally, more educated men from the Caribbean countries do not smoke or have quit lighting up, being aware of all the negative health consequences related to smoking. Therefore, smoking is more likely to be widespread among the non-educated lower- income men.

Smoking star

Movie showing smoking - Part II

A spokesperson for 20th Century Fox, where all four series of the X-Men movie were filmed including the latest Wolverine movie, declared that Jackman's character was showed with a cigar only two times during the movie; moreover, the cigar was not ever lit.

She stated that despite the Wolverine character smokes a cigar in nearly each edition of the comic magazine, film director decided to avoid frequent showing of smoking in the movie.

The Medical Association of America, seeking to attract Hollywood tycoons' attention, recruited a truck carrying a billboard around the studios.

"Our designers have invented a poster showing an adolescent thinking, 'Which movie studios will cause me to smoke this summer?'” said the Medical Alliance executive.

Pamela Ramirez, the communications manager for Motion Picture Association declared that they have been rather delicate with the worries of parents regarding the aim of the rating systems.

She stated the Association started giving R rating to the films two years ago, responding to the changes in mentality and health complications related to teen smoking.

"Smoking has been rated similar to the factors like nudity or violence," she added.

Anti-smoking advocates push for R rating to any movie showing smoking

The rate of smoking scenes in the movies permitted to watch by the minors has not dropped although Hollywood executives promised two years ago to avoid showing smoking scenes in the films.

According to the research completed by the American Medical Alliance scientists, showing famous actors smoking encourages adolescents to try cigarettes or other the tobacco products. Therefore the Alliance urged the Motion Picture Association to give an R rating to any film containing smoking scenes.

Dr. Thomas Jefferson from California Public Health Department cited the results of a study that found out that almost a half of all underage smokers throughout the United States might be linked to seeing smoking in movies.

"Overall, 55 percent of the top films containing smoking scenes showed within the last two years were permitted to teen audience since they have been given a G, PG or PG-13 rating," he declared.

Mathew Dow, the vice chairman of the America Motion Picture Association committee that is responsible for film ratings, cited their own numbers, basing on all the 900 movies that have been rated every year, not only the top films from Davenport's statistics.

According to the Association chairman, they have not given G ratings to any film, containing at least one smoking scene after it made a pledge two years ago.

In general, more than a half of all the films rated during the last three years contained smoking scenes, however 70 percent of such movies were rated as R movies, Dow stated. 21 percent of the films with smoking were given PG-13 rating and the rest 9 percent were given PG, he added.

In conformity with the rating system, G-rated filmed is permitted for viewing for all audiences without age restrictions, whereas a PG rating tells parents that such movie can contain some scenes which are unacceptable to see for their children. PG-13, for instance, signals that the movie contains inappropriate scenes for adolescents under 13.

No minor under 17 should be permitted to watch an R-rated film alone without a parent or tutor.

Sandi Frost, chairwoman of American Medical Alliance cited "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," as the most recent and great example of a film with free smoking advertisement. The box-office success blockbuster was given a PG-13 rating since the movie contains numerous scenes of violence.

"Hundreds of thousands of teenagers have seen the principal character in the film with a cigar between his teeth," Frost claimed. "I'm more than confident that no one would have liked that film any less in case he was not dragging."

First licensee prosecuted for flouting the smoking ban

THE NEW head of Scotland's leading anti-smoking charity has called for cigarettes to be taken off shop shelves as part of efforts to dissuade the next generation from taking up the habit.
In her first interview as chief executive of Ash Scotland, Sheila Duffy also warned plans to expand smoking cessation services were at risk because of inadequate government funding levels.
And she cautioned tobacco should not be seen as a "done and dusted" health issue following the implementation of the ban on smoking in public places.
Duffy, who took up her new post this month after the retiral of previous chief executive Maureen Moore, told the Sunday Herald one idea which should be examined is the selling of cigarettes "under the counter".
"Some countries have experimented with the idea of taking tobacco off the open shelves, so you are not just going and buying it like you would buy bread and milk," she said.
"In the longer term, I think it is something we should seriously consider because this product is so dangerous it would never be allowed to be sold openly if it came on to the market today."
The legislation on smoking in public places - which came into force in Scotland in March 2006 - has been followed by further measures aimed at curbing the nation's nicotine habit. In October last year, the legal minimum age for buying tobacco was raised from 16 to 18, bringing it into line with alcohol.
Other plans which may soon come under consideration include a licensing system for shops selling tobacco, proposed by SNP MSP Christine Grahame.
Last month the government pledged £11 million a year for smoking cessation, to allow health boards to continue services and develop new ones in settings such as workplaces and social clubs.
But Ash Scotland has raised concerns that - taking inflation into account - this level of funding will represent a reduction of nearly 6% by 2010. And, while the overall budget for tackling smoking has increased by £2.5m to £13.8m, Duffy argued it was still inadequate.
"Alcohol is receiving three times as much funding as tobacco control," she said. "We are not saying don't tackle alcohol abuse - you need to tackle alcohol - but tobacco is no less dangerous."
Her comments yesterday met with a mixed reaction from politicians and campaigners. The British Medical Association has also called for a ban on displaying cigarettes at the point of sale. A spokeswoman for BMA Scotland said the practice "normalised" cigarettes, especially when they are placed next to every day items.
"Research has found young children become more aware of tobacco brands when cigarettes are on display and they are more likely to express an interest in buying named brands," she said.
Labour's health spokeswoman, Margaret Curran, pointed out tobacco was still a major killer in Scotland and added: "It would be a disaster if the good work of encouraging thousands of Scots to quit tobacco was damaged by a lack of investment."
Mary Scanlon, health spokeswoman for the Conservatives, agreed cessation services and support were vital, but said selling cigarettes "under the counter" was a simplistic approach that would have little impact. "It is not the display of cigarettes that makes you want to buy them, it is because you are addicted to smoking," she said.
Neil Rafferty, of pro-smokers' rights group Forest, argued: "Cigarettes are a perfectly legal product and as long as they are a legal product then adults should be able to make a normal consumer choice."
He added: "It is typical anti-smoking hypocrisy. We are told in Scotland that alcohol is doing our country enormous damage, but no-one is going to suggest alcohol be hidden under the counter."
The Scottish government is due to publish a five-year smoking prevention action plan this year, which will draw on 31 recommendations made by experts in a report published in 2006.
Public health minister Shona Robison said: "Proposals for under-the-counter sales will be considered within this action plan.
"I am confident the £11m a year I announced last month for smoking cessation will allow boards to continue existing services and develop new ones."

A New Bill against Smoking in Croatia

Smoking was banned in public places in many states except Croatia. But today Croatia is set to implement a public smoking ban, including bars and restaurants.
"A six-month temporary period for bars, restaurants and the tobacco industry is expiring Today and the law restricting the use of tobacco will be fully implemented," Health Minister said.
Statistics showed that in Croatia smoke 68 percent pf the population. That’s why ministry believes that the new anti-smoking legislation will protect non-smokers and will decrease the smokers’ number.
The legislation allows a six month transitory period for bars, restaurants and the tobacco industry to conform to it.
After this period, smoking at bars will only be allowed out on terraces, while restaurants can allocate a separate room for smokers where they can’t serve food or drink in these areas.
Fines of up to 2,100 euros (2,800 dollars) for individuals and up to 21,000 euros for employers will be imposed on those violating the smoking ban.
The health ministry considered that tobacco kills 10,000 people every year while an additional 3,000 die from passive smoking in Croatia.
Croatia already had laws banning smoking in health and education facilities, and marking out separate smoking areas in other public spaces.
But these rules have often been ignored, especially in bars, restaurants and offices. Because bar and restaurant owners, in particular have protested strongly, claiming it will seriously affect their business.

More actual smokers would decide to give up the habit

That fact brings major joy to local health advocates as they state that the higher the cost of cigarettes is the fewer minors would buy them and start smoking and the more actual smokers would decide to give up the habit.

Although the aim of Illinois lawmakers is rather laudable, some opponents like Rep. Frank Mautino stated that taxes should be raised only to collect additional revenue and by no means to force people to do or not to do something.

"May be we would also tax Cheeseburgers, soda or pizza, because we think they are not healthy for Illinois residents? That is simply ridiculous,” declared Mautino.

Another thing that brings fears to the lawmakers is the expected loss of revenue, since smokers would look for options when trying to get a puff. They could either go to neighboring states or order cigarettes online, or even use illegal black market that is blossoming nowadays.

Even if smokers remain in Illinois, they would buy fewer cigarettes, admits Joseph Elfish, manager of Illinois Association of Convenience Stores and Petroleum Marketers.

Although experts predict around 15 percent drop in tobacco products sales, Illinois Association of Convenience Stores’ analysts anticipate almost 25 percent decrease. That would force owners of small shops to get out of business.

It would leave thousands people jobless and without source of livelihood. People would be especially thankful to the government for their relentless efforts to improve people’s health, when they are fired.