Smokers Rights News - Smoking Lobby Forum for Smokers Rights and Smoking Bans
24
JUN

NYC Smokers Protest Demonstration

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SMOKE TALK





Come join us for a few hours as we peacefully walk to bars and restaurants in your neighborhood handing out free matches and flyers. We talk about such burning issues as New York’s smoking ban and what the National Organization of Smokers plans to do about it.





In addition to joining with NYCCLASH in it’s valiant opposition to the ferocious anti-tobacco lobbyists in Albany, smokers may also join with the New York State Restaurant Association in their courageous lawsuit against the NYC Dept. of Health & Mental Hygiene for blitzing them with increased violations and fines in order to raise cash for new computer systems that actually work. NYC restaurants are the finest and cleanest eating establishments in the world and could probably teach the Dept. of Health and Mental Hygiene a thing or two about keeping track of deceased consumers and those with dubious credibility or other psycho-spiritual problems.





Medical Mike’s Dept of Health and Mental Cleanliness has obviously gone berserk as witness their spreading of medical myths, falsehoods and lies about that large number of New Yorkers whose bodies still remain unidentified, may never be found or have simply disappeared as a result of inhaling too much second-hand smoke.





The National Organization of Smokers is in the process of creating a Civilian Review Board over the policies and practices of both the Mayor and the NYCDH&MH. We also intend to file a federal class action lawsuit against NYC for gross medical malpractice on behalf of all U.S. smokers who may choose to believe that they have been viciously slandered, maliciously libeled and infamously defamed by the spurious and unprovable medical reports that thousands of unknown, un-named, missing and unaccounted-for New Yorkers may be presumed dead as a direct result of smoker’s exhalations.





We are currently meeting for peaceful smokewalks every Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30 on the corner of 6th Avenue and 56th Street, right next to De La Concha’s aromatic tobacco shop. All pro-Americans are welcome to join us any day and to exercise their civil rights as we casually banter and saunter along to the best bars and restaurants in the neighborhood. Light up the night with a good cigar or cigarette. Smoke your peace pipe. Strike a match for freedom. There are 45 million smokers in America. Let’s walk a mile together and sue the political bastards. We’ll win.





Copyright June, 2003. All Rights Reserved





John Crawford





www.natl-org-of-smokers.com


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20
JUN

Judge asked to halt ban for online tobacco sales

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Associated Press - Friday, June 20, 2003





BUFFALO -- A judge reserved decision Thursday on whether to halt the state's newly enforced ban on Internet cigarette sales after lawyers for several online retailers argued it was unconstitutional.





The Online Tobacco Retailers Association, or OLTRA, along with a Seneca Indian retailer, two out-of-state online sellers and two disabled consumers, asked U.S. District Judge William Skretny for a temporary restraining order while their legal challenge makes its way through the court.





The group ultimately wants the ban thrown out. "This is a constitutional issue. The state has overextended their authority," said attorney Margaret Murphy, who argued the ban harms interstate commerce.





Although the statute prohibiting the direct shipment of cigarettes to New York consumers was passed as public health law, Murphy argued the true purpose was to raise revenue by forcing sellers not subject to state tax rules -- such as sovereign Indian nations -- out of the market.





"They're trying to funnel it so their taxes are going to be collected," Murphy said.





Assistant Attorney General Stephen Gawlik maintained the statute's purpose was to keep cigarettes out of the hands of children.





"The primary purpose is public health," he said. "The fact that it has an indirect effect on taxes is immaterial."





As long as the law treats both in-state and out-of-state sellers equally, he said, it is legal.





Representing Gov. George Pataki, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and Health Commissioner Antonio Novello, Gawlik pointed to a February ruling by a federal appeals court in New York City upholding the ban.





The court, overturning a lower court decision, ruled the law did not discriminate against interstate commerce.





"The court of appeals has already made this decision," Gawlik said. "It's our position that there's nothing here to argue."





The state Legislature adopted the ban on Internet cigarette sales after the state in 2000 increased the cigarette excise tax from 56 cents per pack to what was then a nation-high $1.11 per pack.





The increase was followed by a loss of tobacco business at New York stores to Indian reservations and the Internet. In 2002, the cigarette excise tax was raised to $1.50.





The statute originally was to take effect Nov. 14, 2000, but was held up by legal challenges. The state began enforcing it Wednesday.








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18
JUN

Anti-smoking bill dies quiet death in House

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Pawtucket Times - June 18, 2003


Smokers can legally enjoy a cigarette after a restaurant meal or with a cocktail in their favorite bar for another year at least.


A Senate-passed bill that would have banned smoking in virtually all workplaces -- including restaurants and bars -- will not make it out of a House committee this session, a spokesman for Speaker Bill Murphy said Tuesday.


"The bill is effectively dead for this session," press secretary Larry Berman said.


Murphy is concerned about the impact a smoking ban could have on revenue at the state's two gambling halls, Lincoln Park and Newport Grand Jai Alai, where there are rooms that allow players to puff while they push the buttons on video lottery terminals (VLTs). The Speaker, Berman said, "would like to get studies on what happened in other states. This is the state's third-largest revenue stream. If it impacted other states, it might impact Rhode Island. He'd like to see it come back in January with legislation that is studied a little more."


Berman said a study commission will be formed to examine the issue once the House of Representatives adjourns for the year. It will be made up of House members, he added, but how many and who has not been determined.


The bill's prime sponsor in the House, Rep. Elizabeth Dennigan of Pawtucket and East Providence, conceded that it is "probably correct" that the ban she has proposed for several years running will fail once again this year. But she held out a grain of hope that Murphy would consider a compromise that would have exempted the VLT facilities from the ban.


"That way," she said, "we would have a pretty comprehensive ban instead of no ban at all."


But Berman said Murphy prefers to go ahead with the study commission.


Dennigan acknowledged that Delaware, a state with roughly the same population of Rhode Island which has VLTs but no casinos, "did have a decrease" in revenue after a smoking ban went into effect.


But, she noted, the 30 percent decrease experienced in the first three months dropped to a 10 percent decrease after six months. Dennigan said she is waiting for the one-year statistics to see whether the decrease eventually leveled off.


"It's an important public health issue," Dennigan said. "That should be the utmost factor."


The most recent data on the effects of second-hand smoke, Dennigan claims, shows that "it is even more deadly than we thought. Even with intermittent exposure, it hurts every organ in the body."


In the General Assembly, forming a study commission is widely recognized as a way to kill or delay legislation while, in Dennigan's words, "placating the sponsor of the bill.


"I don't think it helps us," Dennigan said when asked if a study commission is preferable to the outright defeat of the bill. "I don't think a study commission sitting around with the hospitality industry is going to be that beneficial."


If the smoking ban is dead, Dennigan said, "it will be back next year. Strange things happen in the last couple of weeks, so we're keeping our hopes up. But if not, we will be back."


Sen. Susan Sosnowski of South Kingstown, who saw her version of the bill pass the Senate 25-7, said she too still holds out hope that the House will reconsider the issue.


"I don't think a study commission is the way to go," Sosnowski said, noting that even if the bill passed, it would not be effective until March 2004.

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