The Broome County Special Investigations Unit Task Force arrested two Binghamton residents Thursday in connection with marijuana trafficking in the county.
Lacey N. Fox, 20, of Floral Avenue was stopped in her vehicle on Upper Front Street in Kirkwood, where investigations discovered a package with about 7 pounds of marijuana. Investigators arrested Eric D. Bryant, 23, after executing a search warrant at his North Street home and finding a half-pound of marijuana and $1,000 in cash, police said.
Fox was charged with felony second-degree criminal possession of marijuana, arraigned in Kirkwood town court and sent to the Broome County jail. Bryant was charged with misdemeanor fourth-degree criminal possession of marijuana and released on an appearance ticket, police said.
The Broome County Special Investigations Unit Task Force is made up of members of the City of Binghamton Police Department, Broome County Sheriff Office and Village of Johnson City Police Department.
Monday, November 14, 2011
FDA cites 1,200 tobacco retailers
The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday it has issued about 1,200 warning letters to retailers in 15 states for violating federal tobacco regulations since beginning inspections under a 2009 law giving it authority to regulate the industry.
The agency’s Center for Tobacco Products, using state contractors, has conducted more than 27,500 inspections of stores selling tobacco products. It is combating underage use of tobacco products, while also seeking to reduce tobacco-related diseases, which are responsible for about 443,000 deaths a year in the U.S.
“We all recognize that almost all smokers start smoking when they are kids, and those kids have to get those tobacco products somewhere,” Dr. Lawrence Deyton, director of the Center for Tobacco Products, said in an interview with The Associated Press.
“The retail community really is on the front line of helping to prevent our kids from initiating tobacco use. ... It’s very important for every neighborhood to know that their retailers are enforcing this new law.”
Inspectors visiting retailers nationwide were looking for violations of federal laws barring the sale of cigarettes or other tobacco products to anyone under 18 years old.
There are also laws against the sale of flavored cigarettes or of cigarettes in packs that contain the words like “light,” ‘’mild,” or “low-tar.” Other laws bar retailers from selling single cigarettes, giving away free samples or promotional items like hats and T-shirts with cigarette and smokeless tobacco brands or logos.
Most of the warning letters were for retailers selling tobacco to minors, who were sent into stores to make undercover purchases. Once they receive a warning letter, retailers then have 15 days to respond on how they plan to address the violations.
After one violation, retailers can be fined for breaking tobacco laws during follow-up inspections. Retailers with a second violation within a year can be fined up to $250, with penalties growing to $10,000 for six or more violations within four years. They also can be banned from selling tobacco products.
Over the last two years, the FDA has contracted with 37 states and the District of Columbia to do retail compliance checks with at least 20 percent of stores in each state. The data released by the agency is only for the 15 states which the agency initially contracted in fiscal year 2010.
States are trained by the FDA and paid by fees charged to the tobacco companies.
How much the FDA pays states to participate varies on factors including the size of their enforcement plan and how many retail locations they have in the state. The agency says the contracts total $24 million have led to more than 265 jobs.
The FDA collected nearly $260 million in user fees from tobacco companies for fiscal 2009 and 2010 combined, and should collect $450 million this year. User fees will grow to $712 million by 2019. Fees are collected quarterly and based on each company’s share of the U.S. tobacco market.
The agency won the authority in 2009 to regulate tobacco products, including the ability to ban certain products, regulate marketing, reduce nicotine in tobacco products and block labels such “low tar” and “light.”
The agency’s Center for Tobacco Products, using state contractors, has conducted more than 27,500 inspections of stores selling tobacco products. It is combating underage use of tobacco products, while also seeking to reduce tobacco-related diseases, which are responsible for about 443,000 deaths a year in the U.S.
“We all recognize that almost all smokers start smoking when they are kids, and those kids have to get those tobacco products somewhere,” Dr. Lawrence Deyton, director of the Center for Tobacco Products, said in an interview with The Associated Press.
“The retail community really is on the front line of helping to prevent our kids from initiating tobacco use. ... It’s very important for every neighborhood to know that their retailers are enforcing this new law.”
Inspectors visiting retailers nationwide were looking for violations of federal laws barring the sale of cigarettes or other tobacco products to anyone under 18 years old.
There are also laws against the sale of flavored cigarettes or of cigarettes in packs that contain the words like “light,” ‘’mild,” or “low-tar.” Other laws bar retailers from selling single cigarettes, giving away free samples or promotional items like hats and T-shirts with cigarette and smokeless tobacco brands or logos.
Most of the warning letters were for retailers selling tobacco to minors, who were sent into stores to make undercover purchases. Once they receive a warning letter, retailers then have 15 days to respond on how they plan to address the violations.
After one violation, retailers can be fined for breaking tobacco laws during follow-up inspections. Retailers with a second violation within a year can be fined up to $250, with penalties growing to $10,000 for six or more violations within four years. They also can be banned from selling tobacco products.
Over the last two years, the FDA has contracted with 37 states and the District of Columbia to do retail compliance checks with at least 20 percent of stores in each state. The data released by the agency is only for the 15 states which the agency initially contracted in fiscal year 2010.
States are trained by the FDA and paid by fees charged to the tobacco companies.
How much the FDA pays states to participate varies on factors including the size of their enforcement plan and how many retail locations they have in the state. The agency says the contracts total $24 million have led to more than 265 jobs.
The FDA collected nearly $260 million in user fees from tobacco companies for fiscal 2009 and 2010 combined, and should collect $450 million this year. User fees will grow to $712 million by 2019. Fees are collected quarterly and based on each company’s share of the U.S. tobacco market.
The agency won the authority in 2009 to regulate tobacco products, including the ability to ban certain products, regulate marketing, reduce nicotine in tobacco products and block labels such “low tar” and “light.”
Philip Morris USA has One of Worst Market Share Losses in History
The nation’s largest cigarette maker, Philip Morris USA (a.k.a. the Marlboro Man) had a more difficult time in the third quarter, marking one of the biggest U.S. market share declines for Altria Group’s (NYSE:MO) top-selling premium brand in at least four years. Higher prices and gains from its smokeless tobacco and cigar brands helped with a nearly 4 percent increase in its quarterly profit. In anticipation of an industry wide cigarette volume decline, Phillip Morris USA plans an additional $400 million in cost savings by the end of 2013.
Altria (NYSE:MO) has introduced several new products with the Marlboro brand, often with lower promotional pricing, but the company still faces pressure in the current economy from less-expensive brands like Pall Mall from Reynolds American Inc. (NYSE:RAI) and Maverick from Lorillard Inc. (NYSE:LO). Altria (NYSE:MO) is focusing on cigarette alternatives, such as cigars, snuff and chewing tobacco, like other tobacco companies for future sales growth, because the decline in cigarette smoking is expected to continue. The company saw revenue, from its smokeless tobacco brands such as Copenhagen and Skoal and its Black and Mild cigars grow 9 percent and 21 percent, respectively. Other makers, those of Camel, Pall Mall and Natural American Spirit brand cigarettes are getting on board with alternatives saying higher prices, productivity gains and selling more of its smokeless tobacco brands that include Grizzly and Kodiak offset cigarette volume declines of 6.8 percent.
“Lorillard, the nation’s No. 3 cigarette maker, said Monday its net income fell nearly 3 percent as higher costs offset selling more cigarettes at higher prices. It sold about 3 percent more cigarettes on gains on its Newport and its low-priced Maverick brand,” according to Yahoo Finance.
Red Alert: British American Tobacco plc
Profile: British American Tobacco plc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture, distribution, and sale of tobacco products. The company offers cigars, cigarettes, smokeless snus, roll-your-own, and pipe tobacco products under the Dunhill, Kent, Lucky Strike, Pall Mall, Vogue, Viceroy, Kool, Rothmans, Peter Stuyvesant, Benson & Hedges, and State Express 555 brand names. It has operations in the Asia-Pacific, the Americas, eastern and western Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. The company was founded in Y 1902 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom. British American Tobacco plc.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Smoking bans backfiring at some hospitals
Intravenous lines freezing in the cold. Patients in wheelchairs being accidentally locked out of the hospital on winter nights. Patients smoking in their hospital beds. Pounds of discarded cigarette butts near "no-smoking on hospital property" signs.
New Canadian research has found that not only are patients and staff ignoring hospital smoke-free bans, but the policies are also creating unintended safety issues for patients.
Not enough support is being offered to the 5 million Canadians who smoke to help manage withdrawal symptoms if they suddenly need to be hospitalized, the researchers say. Smoking needs to be treated as an addiction, they argue, and not simply as a bad habit - because when it's framed as a habit healthcare providers can have a hard time understanding why anyone facing a serious health issue would continue to smoke.
The study is based on the "lived experiences" of 186 patients, staff and "key informants" - including housekeepers, security guards and groundskeepers - at two hospitals: the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton and Winnipeg's Health Sciences Centre. Data were collected over six months - December 2008 to May 2009 - that included a cold Canadian winter. Both sites had a policy banning smoking inside all buildings, entrances and all hospital grounds for three years before the study began.
Overall, the researchers found ample evidence that "non-compliance" seems to be the norm.
People were seen smoking directly under or nearby signs explicitly stipulating a smoke-free zone. Smokers, especially patients in wheelchairs or connected to equipment, were usually found near entrances or in places where they could hide while they smoked.
"Staff who had reportedly been seen smoking on hospital property included security guards, ambulance drivers, nurses and doctors," the team writes in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
Enforcement efforts, they said, were reportedly minimal.
Cleaners described picking up five to 10 pounds of discarded cigarette butts some days, because when hospitals went smoke-free, they took away the cigarette receptacles. Staff described smokers ringing their bedside bells and asking to be taken outside constantly.
In interviews, patients said they didn't feel safe going outside alone to smoke. Some worried "about getting suddenly sick while smoking outside." Some risked frostbite. Security guards described patients "pushing this IV pole all the way down the sidewalk in the snow" after being told not to smoke on hospital grounds.
There were reports of IV lines freezing and having to be restarted, or electronic equipment malfunctioning.
The researchers described patients in isolation from infections such as tuberculosis wearing a mask outside while they smoked, but then tossing their butts on the ground, making the discarded butts potential "vectors" for infection if they're collected and smoked by someone else.
One patient was locked out of one of the hospitals at night because he didn't see the sign saying the doors lock after a certain hour. The sign was at eye level; he couldn't see it from his wheelchair.
Smoke-free policies are leading to other unintended consequences, including disruptions to nursing care when patients leave the ward for a smoke and nurses have no idea when they'll return.
Comments from health-care workers included: "I have zero understanding on the drive to make a person get out of there, have that cigarette when they're obviously having pain."
Others were more compassionate: "We need to address these people, because it is a stressful time to give up your bad habit."
Although some smokers managed to abstain while in hospital, "many received minimal or no support in doing so," the researchers report.
Clean air policies are well intentioned, the researchers say. Tobacco is the leading preventable cause of disease and death. Some hospitals in the U.S. have gone so far as to ban "third-hand smoke." According to reports, a Louisiana hospital has notified employees that, starting next summer, they won't be allowed to work if their clothes smell of smoke.
Annette Schultz is the principal investigator of the new Canadian study. A nurse and former smoker, Schultz says the primary focus of hospital smoke-free policies "is to get patients to quit.
"I think there's another option, and the other option is supporting abstinence," said Schultz, an assistant professor at the University of Manitoba's faculty of nursing and a principal investigator with the Psychosocial Oncology and Cancer Nursing Research Group at St. Boniface Hospital Research Centre. "The thought of never smoking another cigarette again is really daunting."
New Canadian research has found that not only are patients and staff ignoring hospital smoke-free bans, but the policies are also creating unintended safety issues for patients.
Not enough support is being offered to the 5 million Canadians who smoke to help manage withdrawal symptoms if they suddenly need to be hospitalized, the researchers say. Smoking needs to be treated as an addiction, they argue, and not simply as a bad habit - because when it's framed as a habit healthcare providers can have a hard time understanding why anyone facing a serious health issue would continue to smoke.
The study is based on the "lived experiences" of 186 patients, staff and "key informants" - including housekeepers, security guards and groundskeepers - at two hospitals: the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton and Winnipeg's Health Sciences Centre. Data were collected over six months - December 2008 to May 2009 - that included a cold Canadian winter. Both sites had a policy banning smoking inside all buildings, entrances and all hospital grounds for three years before the study began.
Overall, the researchers found ample evidence that "non-compliance" seems to be the norm.
People were seen smoking directly under or nearby signs explicitly stipulating a smoke-free zone. Smokers, especially patients in wheelchairs or connected to equipment, were usually found near entrances or in places where they could hide while they smoked.
"Staff who had reportedly been seen smoking on hospital property included security guards, ambulance drivers, nurses and doctors," the team writes in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.
Enforcement efforts, they said, were reportedly minimal.
Cleaners described picking up five to 10 pounds of discarded cigarette butts some days, because when hospitals went smoke-free, they took away the cigarette receptacles. Staff described smokers ringing their bedside bells and asking to be taken outside constantly.
In interviews, patients said they didn't feel safe going outside alone to smoke. Some worried "about getting suddenly sick while smoking outside." Some risked frostbite. Security guards described patients "pushing this IV pole all the way down the sidewalk in the snow" after being told not to smoke on hospital grounds.
There were reports of IV lines freezing and having to be restarted, or electronic equipment malfunctioning.
The researchers described patients in isolation from infections such as tuberculosis wearing a mask outside while they smoked, but then tossing their butts on the ground, making the discarded butts potential "vectors" for infection if they're collected and smoked by someone else.
One patient was locked out of one of the hospitals at night because he didn't see the sign saying the doors lock after a certain hour. The sign was at eye level; he couldn't see it from his wheelchair.
Smoke-free policies are leading to other unintended consequences, including disruptions to nursing care when patients leave the ward for a smoke and nurses have no idea when they'll return.
Comments from health-care workers included: "I have zero understanding on the drive to make a person get out of there, have that cigarette when they're obviously having pain."
Others were more compassionate: "We need to address these people, because it is a stressful time to give up your bad habit."
Although some smokers managed to abstain while in hospital, "many received minimal or no support in doing so," the researchers report.
Clean air policies are well intentioned, the researchers say. Tobacco is the leading preventable cause of disease and death. Some hospitals in the U.S. have gone so far as to ban "third-hand smoke." According to reports, a Louisiana hospital has notified employees that, starting next summer, they won't be allowed to work if their clothes smell of smoke.
Annette Schultz is the principal investigator of the new Canadian study. A nurse and former smoker, Schultz says the primary focus of hospital smoke-free policies "is to get patients to quit.
"I think there's another option, and the other option is supporting abstinence," said Schultz, an assistant professor at the University of Manitoba's faculty of nursing and a principal investigator with the Psychosocial Oncology and Cancer Nursing Research Group at St. Boniface Hospital Research Centre. "The thought of never smoking another cigarette again is really daunting."
Peers to educate students about risks of tobacco use
Students prone to using tobacco as a stress reliever will be taught by their peers about the dangers of tobacco use under a new initiative launched by the Dubai Health Authority.
Up to 80,000 students aged between 12 and 21 years from across Dubai will be part of the peer-to-peer training programme titled “Students Working Against Tobacco” (SWAT). Logistics of the yearlong initiative are being worked out and it will be implemented in schools and colleges this month.
“Through our smoking awareness campaigns which we have conducted in 2010 and this year, we realised that there is an urgent need to create regular community awareness activities with regard to tobacco pall mall use because of the significant number of youngsters using tobacco,” said Dr Hanan Obaid, Head of Community Health Services Programmes Section at the DHA.
“They are our productive population and are at a high risk of developing diseases caused by long-term use of tobacco.”In 2010, the primary healthcare section of the DHA conducted 98 anti-smoking campaigns targeting 6,221 people across various schools, colleges, malls, government institutions as well as sports clubs.
From the data collected and analysed, Dr Obaid said there was a need to reach out to the schools in Dubai. A total of 2,457 students in government and private schools in Dubai were screened. Prevalence of tobacco use among school students in Dubai was found to be 14.6 per cent while the percentage of passive smoking among school children is 29.1.
“These are youngsters under the age of 20 using tobacco, so we can only imagine the long-term health complications that they are at a risk of developing.”
Dr Obaid said 11.2 per cent consumed cigarettes, 2.2 per cent used shisha, 1.9 per cent used the pipe, 0.8 per cent used cigar and 0.8 per cent used chewing tobacco. “We have conducted several campaigns in the past across schools in Dubai. However, we see the need to regularly reach out to children and adolescents and we plan to implement this policy in 2012,” she said.
Electronic Cigarettes Deliver As Much Nicotine As Tobacco Cigarettes
In an article published today in the European Respiratory Journal, results from a study on electronic cigarettes show users get as much nicotine from this product as smokers usually get from tobacco cigarettes.
The study, by researchers from the Universities of Geneva and Auckland, reports levels of cotinine (a product of the degradation of nicotine by the liver) in users of electronic cigarettes.
This is the first time cotinine data among electronic cigarette users in real-life conditions are published. So far, there were only laboratory data among naive users who used this product briefly before their blood was tested for nicotine. These previously published data showed that naive users obtained little or no nicotine from electronic cigarettes.
The new research published today shows instead that experienced users (all of them former smokers), in real life conditions (not in a laboratory) get a dose of nicotine similar to the dose that smokers usually get from tobacco cigarettes.
These results are important because governments in many countries are developing regulations for electronic cigarettes (currently, some countries prohibit them, others allow them with nicotine and others without nicotine). In this context, it is very important to know, for health authorities, doctors and consumers, that electronic cigarettes can deliver as much nicotine as tobacco cigarettes.
Southern University System Goes Tobacco-Free
The Southern Board of Supervisors has decided to ban tobacco at all of Southern University's campuses starting in January.
The Advocate reports the move makes Southern the first college system in Louisiana to ban all tobacco products. Nicholls State University became the first public college in Louisiana to become tobacco free at the beginning of this calendar year.
Southern University System President Ronald Mason Jr. says the new policy is about promoting healthy lifestyles and setting a quality standard for all of higher education.
Officials say the move was based on two U.S. surgeon general reports that said secondhand smoke is a Class A carcinogen that can cause cancer and there's no safe level of exposure.
The ban will affect the main Southern academic campuses in Baton Rouge, New Orleans and Shreveport, the Southern University Law Center and the Southern University Agricultural Center.
Under the new policy, smoking or the use of tobacco products will not be allowed in any buildings, administrative facilities, dormitories or on the campus grounds, including athletic fields and parking areas.
The Advocate reports the move makes Southern the first college system in Louisiana to ban all tobacco products. Nicholls State University became the first public college in Louisiana to become tobacco free at the beginning of this calendar year.
Southern University System President Ronald Mason Jr. says the new policy is about promoting healthy lifestyles and setting a quality standard for all of higher education.
Officials say the move was based on two U.S. surgeon general reports that said secondhand smoke is a Class A carcinogen that can cause cancer and there's no safe level of exposure.
The ban will affect the main Southern academic campuses in Baton Rouge, New Orleans and Shreveport, the Southern University Law Center and the Southern University Agricultural Center.
Under the new policy, smoking or the use of tobacco products will not be allowed in any buildings, administrative facilities, dormitories or on the campus grounds, including athletic fields and parking areas.
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