Menthol Smokes Banned, African-American Smokers

For African-Americans it’s a particularly harder feat. It’s hard to stop smoking. A study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that while 59 percent of Black smokers tried to quit, only 3.3 percent actually succeeded — the lowest success rate among all races and ethnicities. Those low rates may be explained by the fact that more than 80 percent of African-Americans smokers smoke menthols [PDF] — a minty tasting form of cigarettes that are harder to quit. Also, Big Tobacco spends millions on advertising these types of cigarettes specifically to our community.

Cigarettes Tax Hike, Cambodian Young Smokers

Ayda Yurekli, an academic from the World Health Organization, told a conference in the capital yesterday that: "Increasing tobacco retail tax would deter smokers and increase government revenue," and that "Cambodia has a huge young population, and the government has to prevent them becoming smokers. There is a lot of room to increase government revenue by raising taxes.” A packet of Cambodian produced ARA cigarettes costs around one third of a US dollar. Government tax on cigarettes in Cambodia is currently 10%. Neighbouring Laos taxes smokers 15%, Thailand 85% and Vietnam 65%.

Cheapest Cigarettes in Korea

An average pack of cigarettes costs less in Korea than in any of the other 22 OECD nations surveyed, and almost six times cheaper than in Ireland, the most expensive nation for smokers, according to a report released Monday by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Korea's smoking rate, on the other hand, was the second-highest among the OECD nations at over 44 percent. Greece was the only country with a higher rate of around 46 percent.

Smoking Ban, Greenbrier County Smoke-Free Law

At midnight on Saturday night it will be illegal to smoke in all public and private places of employment and in any business offering goods or services to the public in Greenbrier County. Many bars in Greenbrier County are attractive to customers simply because they are allowed to smoke inside. And they are worried if they lose their clientele, they'll lose their business too.