Health officials look to extend smoking ban around county buildings

Cowlitz County officials plan to make the entire health department campus — including the parking lot — smoke free this year and are considering eventually extending that to all county buildings.
Smoking is already banned inside county buildings by a state law that also prohibits smoking within 25 feet of entrances or windows. The new ban, which still must be formally approved by county commissioners in January, would mean smoking is now off-limits anywhere on the health department property.
Health officials said it's the right thing to do given their mandate to improve the county's overall health.
"Part of our job is to walk our talk, whether that comes to exercising more or going tobacco-free," said Carlos Carreon, the county's director of health and human services. St. John Medical Center, for example, also has a tobacco-free campus.
Smoking in particular plagues Cowlitz County, which has much higher smoking rates for both adults and teens than state averages. Pathways 2020, a coalition dedicated to improving the county's quality of life, earlier this year gave the county an "F" grade for the number of pregnant smokers and "D" grades for the number of adult smokers and asthma rates.
Health officials polled employees about the change and also talked with other counties, including Mason and Pierce, who have similar bans either at their health department or for their entire county. Local employees overwhelmingly supported the ban in the poll.
Officials plan to post signs about the new policy including asking drivers to extinguish any cigarettes before getting out of their cars. A picnic table on the property also will be off limit to smokers. They also will enforce the policy as "gently" as possible and officials plan to work with human resources "because we realize tobacco is an addiction," Carreon said.
The ban discussed last week deals only with the health and human services property at 1952 9th Ave., in Longview. But, health officials said they hope to eventually expand the measure to all county buildings.
"The long-term goal is to maybe expand it county-wide," Carreon said.
Commissioner Axel Swanson said it's worth investigating, though he cautioned there may be more details that need to be worked out.
"We'll see how it works out (at the health department) but I'd definitely support looking at it countywide," Swanson said.
Commissioner Kathleen Johnson, for example, wondered if such a ban would extend to the cab of a county-owned truck. She also took exception to a line in the proposed health department policy that said employees breaking the policy face discipline including possible termination. Johnson wondered if that would pass muster with the county's unions if the ban was eventually extended to other buildings.
"I support the idea of the health department being a jumping off point, but if we're going to extend this across the board there may be other issues," Johnson said.
Carreon said the health department union representative was involved in drafting the health department's policy. He'll run it by the county's legal and personnel teams, though, to double check.

Altria spent nearly $2.7 million in 3rd quarter lobbying on health care, cigarette trafficking

Altria Client Services Inc., on behalf of the nation’s biggest cigarette maker, spent nearly $2.7 million in the third quarter to lobby the federal government on legislation involving health care issues and cigarette trafficking, according to a recent disclosure form.
Altria also lobbied on legislation involving taxes, and a climate bill to create clean energy jobs and reduce greenhouse gases in the July-September period, according to the report filed Oct. 20 with the House clerk’s office.
Richmond, Va.-based Altria Group Inc. owns Marlboro maker Philip Morris USA and UST Inc., the U.S. leader in smokeless tobacco with brands such as Copenhagen and Skoal.

5 million: Yearly tobacco deaths

Tobacco smoking kills at least 5 million people around the planet every year -- 600,000 of them from breathing secondhand smoke -- the World Health Organization reported last week. The death toll could rise to 8 million per year by 2030, mostly in low-income, low-education, developing countries, the U.N. agency said.
This is a terrible waste of human lives, stemming from a drug addiction that brings no benefit, only a plague of illnesses.
Nearly 170 nations ratified the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2003, pledging to protect their populations from the worst preventable health menace, but results have been paltry, especially in the poor Third World.Education and prosperity are the best cures for nicotine addiction. "Smoking levels naturally drop off -- as they have in Western countries -- when populations become richer and better-educated," a report noted.
Sadly, rural West Virginia has America's worst rate of deadly cigarette use, a new U.S. study found last month. With lower income and learning levels, mountain folk are prime victims of the curse that causes cancer, heart disease, emphysema and other ills.
The U.S. report, by the Centers for Disease Control, pointed out that "41.3 percent of persons with a GED certificate smoked cigarettes, compared to 5.7 percent of persons with a graduate degree. . . . Smoking rates among low-income adults enrolled in Medicaid programs are much higher than the general population (33 percent to 19 percent)."
State Sen. Dan Foster, D-Kanawha -- a physician -- wants to add $1 per pack to West Virginia's cigarette tax for a double-benefit: to raise $100 million state revenue and save teenagers from getting hooked on nicotine. Bravo. We hope he draws solid support in the Legislature.
As for adults, each smoker ultimately faces a solitary challenge. It's up to the individual puffer to decide whether to go through the agonizing struggle to break free from one of the strongest addictions. It takes courage and willpower, but we hope more West Virginians bravely make the effort.

$2K in cigarettes stolen from store

Have you seen a Marlboro man?
Police are investigating a burglary at the Pine Tree General Store on Route 1 this week involving the theft of more than 30 cartons of cigarettes.
Police were called to the store at 9:47 p.m. Monday, on a report that the front door had been smashed in and someone was inside the store.
When police arrived, they did not find anyone inside the store. They asked for a state police K9 unit, which followed a track north on Route 1; the dog subsequently lost the scent.
It was later determined that 34 cartons of cigarettes — most of them Marlboros — were stolen, with a total value of $2,190.
No cash was taken from the register nor did other items appear to have been stolen.

Officers seize cigarettes in market raid

THOUSANDS of illicit cigarettes have been seized by customs officials from peddlers at Bathgate Market.
The West Lothian market was targeted during a four-day blitz by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) officials last week, which found almost 92,000 cigarettes being sold at premises throughout the central belt.
Five kilograms of rolling tobacco and 2,000 cigarettes were seized in a BMW car at Bathgate Market as part of operation Dog Wood Prize.
The revenue loss to crooks from the four-day operation is estimated to be £21,554.
HMRC officers were supported by British Transport Police and Lothian & Borders and Strathclyde forces during the raids.
A police spokeswoman said: "The proceeds from this kind of sale are more than likely going to fund serious and organised crime."

Ky. ranks low in anti-smoking spending

A report by anti-smoking groups is ranking Kentucky 40th among states in the amount of money spent to persuade people to quit or never start smoking.
The report says Kentucky spends $3.9 million a year on tobacco prevention and cessation programs, the Lexington Herald-Leader reports. The report says that total is far below the amount recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Kentucky ranked 41st last year. The slight bump is due to an increase in federal funding for Kentucky cessation programs.
The report was released recently by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the American Lung Association, the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

Indiana has nation's 2nd highest smoking rate

Indiana has the second highest smoking rate in the nation, with more than one in four Hoosier adults lighting up last year, according to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Indiana, which has no statewide smoking ban, was sixth-worst in the nation in 2007. Though the national rate of cigarette smokers decreased by about 1 percent between 2006 and 2007, Indiana and Illinois each saw increases last year. Indiana's rates are higher than Illinois, which has smoking bans in place and has the 13th-highest state smoking rate.
"There's less harassment of smokers in Indiana than there is in other states," said Samuel Flint, interim dean of Indiana University Northwest's School of Public and Environmental Affairs. "Indiana has more of a tradition of personal freedoms than public safety. That is what is competing."
One way to reduce smoking in Indiana could be a state law prohibiting smoking indoors.
"If smoking gets to be more expensive and there are fewer places to do it, it pushes the marginal smoker to quitting," Flint said.
State Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary, told The Times he plans to introduce a statewide public smoking ban proposal when the General Assembly convenes in January.
The House approved a smoking ban last session, but the measure died in the Senate. That proposal would have banned smoking in restaurants and most workplaces, but it was amended to exempt most bars, tobacco shops, private clubs and casinos.
Brown said his new proposal will exempt casinos from the beginning in hopes of getting it passed.
"They were the strongest opposers last year. They paid everyone out in the hall to track that for them to make sure nothing went in," Brown said, describing the lobbying tactics.
In the GOP-led Senate, anti-smoking proponents refused to support a smoking ban with so many exemptions, while other senators were concerned about the effects of a smoking ban on Hoosier businesses.
"Studies have shown a business going smoke-free will not lose any revenue or customers as a result of that," Brown said. "But that's the hue and cry here, that we don't want to negatively impact a business."
But for Round The Clock restaurant in Schererville, customers were not happy when management discussed making the location smoke-free, said George Guirgus. He is the manager of the Highland location that already has gone smoke-free. The Schererville location kept its smoking and nonsmoking sections.
"Fifty percent of our customers there smoke," said Giurgus, 42. "We do not like to upset our customers, so we don't want to change (that) location to smoke-free before the government changes it. If the state changed it, we agree with it."
The transition from smoking to nonsmoking went smoothly this month for Aurelio's Pizza in Schererville. Owner David Scheidt, 36, said he lost some business from smokers but also attracted more nonsmokers.
"It's pretty much evened out," Scheidt said. "I think in the long run it will serve us better."
Scheidt said if the state does not pass a smoking ban, cities and towns are going to enact their own bans such as Crown Point did last year. He said he banned smoking in the restaurant because it's a family dining spot.
"When you have a section where people are smoking 10 feet from an infant, it was pretty much a no-brainer for us," he said.
But some smokers, including 31-year-old Doug Domberg, say the government should think twice before banning smoking.
"To tell me I can't smoke in any public place is wrong," said Domberg, who manages CDO Tobacco in Highland. "(Nonsmokers) can have their section, but they can't take away all my sections."
Domberg said the store, which serves about 200 customers each day, opened a smoking lounge last year to offer smokers a place to enjoy cigars and cigarettes indoors.
"A lot of people always complain about having to go outside to smoke," Domberg said. "You already have restaurants who say you can't smoke there. (Smokers) can't smoke unless they're at their house, and even then their wives will still give them crap."
The lounge offers wireless Internet service, couches, a refrigerator and television. Domberg deemed it the "coffeehouse of cigars."
If the state were to ban smoking in public places, Domberg said he would put up a "members only" sign.
"To have that luxury -- especially with cigar smokers -- they'll have no problem paying something small so they can sit and smoke their cigar in peace and not get hassled," Domberg said, describing how many patrons bring coffee or sandwiches to the lounge.
The lounge has a filter that sucks in smoky air and releases clean air, and Domberg said it makes the store air cleaner than unfiltered air in a nonsmoking area.
With or without air filters, Domberg said he has not had any smoke-related health problems in the more than 13 years he has smoked.
"Fast food is going to kill you faster than smoking will," he said.
Scientific reports on the adverse health effects of secondhand smoke gave states the authority to ban smoking, Flint, the IUN dean said, especially when concerning people who work at smoking establishments.
"Those are the folks who are victimized by allowing smoking in enclosed places," Flint said. "Employees don't have the luxury of choice."
Staff writer Dan Carden contributed to this report.
Indiana Smoking Statistics
26.1 percent of Hoosier adults smoked last year
24.1 percent of Hoosier adults smoked in 2007
55.7 percent of Hoosier smokers had on average 15 to 25 cigarettes a day in 2000
Indiana has no statewide ban on smoking, leaving that decision to local government.