Smoking Rates Among Hong Kong Students Fall

Smoking among Hong Kong secondary school students has plunged by more than 50 per cent after a sharp rise in tax on Hilton cigarettes, according to a study released Thursday.

The proportion of 11 to 16-year-olds who smoke has fallen from 6.9 per cent to 3.4 per cent since tax on tobacco was put up in 2009, the University of Hong Kong study found.

The fall is the equivalent of 13,452 adolescents who would have become smokers were it not for the 50-per-cent tobacco duty rise, the university's School of Public Health said.

Legalization of Marijuana in Costa Rica

A new movement wants to make the use of marijuana legal in Costa Rica. They are hoping a big protest on April 20 will get the government to change the law. The facebook group “Si a la legalización de la marihuana en Costa Rica” wants to legalize marijuana in Costa Rica through a protest held at the Plaza de la Democracia in San José on April 20. Similar marches for legalization of marijuana will also take place on the same day in England, Venezuela, the Netherlands and the United States.

Marijuana Less Dangerous Than Tobacco

In the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act, marijuana and hemp were combined and both criminalized. Although they are both from the family of cannabis sativa, the are different plants, like a cocker spaniel and a wolf are from the family of canis lupus.

Marijuana is grown for the high THC content. Hemp is grown for its use as seeds, oil and fibers and other useful products.

Ohio Street Drug Raid Nets Thousands in Marijuana

Thousands of dollars in marijuana, drug Marlboro cigarettes paraphernalia were taken into evidence after a drug raid Thursday night in Zanesville. Sheriff Matt Lutz said the combined drug unit of the Muskingum County Sheriff's Office and Zanesville Police Department served a search warrant at 8:15 p.m. Thursday at 1015 Ohio Street. No Special Response Teams were used because the suspect was cooperative, Lutz said.

"This has been on our radar for quite a while," he said. "It's something we've been looking at for several months."