Living in smugglers' paradise

Living in smugglers' paradise

Three hours from Parliament Hill via the Akwesasne Mohawk reserve, this pastoral corner of Quebec is descending into a version of northwest Pakistan, with tribal outlaws and mobsters controlling much of this remote borderland in defiance of the central authority.
If you think that is melodramatic, consider this:
On a recent visit by federal Public Safety Minister Vic Toews to listen to the fears of property owners about tobacco and drug smugglers hijacking the St. Lawrence River farming and cottage communities of southwest Quebec, the talk turned to shotguns, self-defence and possibly closing the international border crossing upriver at Cornwall altogether.

Higher taxes won't lead to contraband though,I distinctly remember politicians saying it.
If they said it it must be true.
These people must all be hallucinating.

Ban kids in smoking areas - local dad

PIA daily news in English, Tagalog, Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Ilocano, Waray, Pangalatok from around the Philippines

BAGUIO CITY,Aug. 20 (PIA) -- Children below 18 years old must not be allowed in areas designated for smokers.

Councilor Edison Bilog broached this in a proposed ordinance which declares it “unlawful for any person, owner, operator, administrator, manager or person-in-charge of operation of restaurants, eateries and other similar establishments to allow children below 18 years of age to loiter, stay or be seated at designated smoking areas within subject establishments.”

Bilog said this is one way of safeguarding the health of the youth and at the same time inculcate in them the hazards of smoking.

Interesting.
Not much else to say about that.

City Council Doesn't See the Light; Smoking Also Targeted

City Council Doesn't See the Light; Smoking Also Targeted - Laguna Beach, CA Patch

Clearly in a banning mood, the council also voted to support a resolution that would make it illegal to smoke in a 100-foot passageway downtown off Coast Highway between Toes on the Nose and theRocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. The ordinance has to come back to the council for a second reading before it can become law, which seems inevitable.

And when it does … well, good luck trying to enforce it.

The city has already abolished cancer-stick sucking on beaches, parks and sports fields (next: your own living room?), but this is a weirdly specific area. What could possibly be the problem with smoking in just that one spot?

Well the problem is apparently the homeless people who smoke there.
There are homeless people who can afford to smoke in California ?
According to the only online source I could fine which makes me sick (tobacco free kids,not linking it here they get enough press without me inadvertently adding to it) the average price in California is $5.25 per pack.
Somehow I'm sure it costs more than that.

More smokers decide to quit... but fewer succeed

More smokers decide to quit... but fewer succeed - mirror.co.uk

Figures yesterday also showed the NHS is forking out £84.3million on smoking services – £60m more than 10 years ago.

In 2010 to 2011, 788,000 people – around one in 10 users in England – were given quit dates with almost 384,000 stopping.

This compares to 227,000 getting help in 2001 to 2002 when 120,000 triumphed.

It means the success rate has dropped from 53% to 49%.

That seems like an awful large amount of money to spend on an outcome like that.
But hey why concern ourselves with that,after all we're trying to drive smoking out of existence.

Smoking quit rates have not budged, but cost of service has risen

Smoking quit rates have not budged, but cost of service has risen - News - OnMedica

The number of attempts to give up smoking using NHS services 2010/11 is more than three times as high as it was 10 years ago, show the latest set of figures from The NHS Information Centre show.

But the overall success rate has not budged in the past two years, and is lower than it was in 2001/2, while the Government is having to stump up £60 million more for the service.

The figures include information on the number of quit dates set and the number of successful quit attempts at the four week follow up for the period April 2010 to March 2011.

Mostly just stuck in here for truth.
I have nothing funny or sarcastic to say about it.

The Friday Podcast: Death Saves You Money

The Friday Podcast: Death Saves You Money : Planet Money : NPR

Activists used the study's findings against the industry — and, paradoxically, sought to undermine the study's conclusions.

On today's Planet Money, we tell the story of the study. And we look more broadly at the economics of this stuff.

Linked because even when you consider it's a year old it's still relevant. 

Proposed Smoking Ban Includes Restrictions On Sitting, Standing While Smoking Outdoors

Proposed Smoking Ban Includes Restrictions On Sitting, Standing While Smoking Outdoors | WSPA

Under the town's proposed ordinance, if you're within ten feet of a restaurant or ten feet of a public event at a stadium, ampitheater or ball park, you have to keep walking and smoking, and you cannot not stop, stand, sit or linger.

Shock and awe again.
I keep finding this shit for lack of a better term that makes the Libertarian in me want to scream.
When is enough enough?
Too upset to write anything you'll comprehend if you're unlucky enough to read this.