Cigarettes Tax Renewal to Governor

The Legislature is challenging Gov. Bobby Jindal’s pledge to veto the renewal of a 4-cents-a-pack Lucky Strike cigarette tax that would expire in 2012.

Senators voted 29-8 Thursday to approve HB591 by Rep. Harold Ritchie, D-Bogalusa, which House members earlier approved 70-30. A two-thirds vote (26 in the Senate, 70 in the House) is the minimum vote required for a tax bill to pass.

The Battling Tobacco Addiction

Average lifespan of a Gujarat police official is barely 60 years, reveal studies conducted by medical experts. The reasons for the phenomenon range from lifestyle with no fixed schedule to bad eating habits and use of tobacco products.

To help the middle-rung officials in the state police force quit the habit of tobacco use, an awareness campaign has been organised jointly by the city police and state tobacco control cell from Monday to Friday.

Would Legalizing Pot Be Good for the Environment?

It is well known that legalizing pot could have great economic benefits in California and elsewhere by allowing the government to tax it (like it now does on liquor and cigarettes), by ending expensive and ongoing operations to eradicate it, and by keeping millions of otherwise innocent and non-violent marijuana offenders out of already overburdened federal and state prisons. But what you might not know is that legalizing pot could also pay environmental dividends as well.

Marijuana Seized During Traffic Stop

An Illinois woman is facing felony drug charges after Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers seized 47 pounds of marijuana, valued at nearly $110,000 during a traffic stop Friday in Preble County.

Troopers stopped a 2011 Chrysler Sebring for a marked lanes violation on Interstate 70 eastbound, near milepost 7, at approximately 10:12 a.m. on April 29.

According to the patrol, the driver was found to not have a valid driver license and the renter of the vehicle was not present.

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."