Director of Corrections Howard Skolnik told the Nevada Indian Commission Wednesday he will make an exception to the prison system’s new tobacco ban for American Indian religious ceremonies. Those ceremonies, which conclude with participants smoking a ceremonial pipe, will be allowed to have the limited amount of tobacco needed to share the pipe. Skolnik said he is aware that will cause some inmates to suddenly develop an interest in sweat lodge ceremonies just to get access to tobacco. He banned tobacco products from the prison system, for inmates and staff, effective July 1. “You& ... Jump to full article >>

The images that frightened and impressed smokers in Health Canada focus groups came out of a promise Journal photographer Greg Southam made to anti-smoking crusader Barb Tarbox, a promise that wasn’t easy for Southam to keep. On Oct. 29,2002, when Tarbox first spoke to Edmonton schoolchildren about the cigarette addiction that was about to end her life, Southam was assigned to photograph the talk. After the speech, Southam suggested to Tarbox that he continue to photograph her as she gave school speeches. His plan was to document the health impact of her addiction by taking pictures of h ... Jump to full article >>

In most western countries the Marlboro Man rode off wheezing into the sunset years ago, but in Indonesia he’s riding high into a new dawn. The country’s massive population and lax laws still offer a bonanza to big tobacco. The Marlboro Man is alive and well, adorning bill boards around Indonesia. David Stanford of the Indonesia Consumers Foundation says “from the tobacco company’s perspective Indonesia is a paradise”. It’s estimated that more than 80 million Indonesians smoke. Many favour clove cigarettes known as kreteks. They are immensely popular among l ... Jump to full article >>

The Leelanau County Board of Commissioners this week ratified its narrow decision of last week to enact a new “Clean Indoor Air Regulation” that bans smoking in public and private work sites throughout the county – but not without debating the issue again for nearly an hour. A sticking point was a one-word change in the regulation proposed by District No. 6 commissioner David G. Marshall, who insisted that officials “must” rather than “may” produce an informational brochure explaining provisions of the new regulation to employers and employees. The hea ... Jump to full article >>

The dangers of tobacco smoking are well documented, its effects seen in cancer wards around the world. Those who continue to fill their lungs with noxious gases and dangerous chemicals are nicotine addicts, plain and simple. Unlike other dangerous addictions, the use of nicotine remains socially acceptable, its users catered to. And thanks to these smokers, those of us who don’t smoke nevertheless endure , colouring our lungs from pink to tar-stained. Authorities in Sharjah are now offering Dh10,000 to smokers to kick their filthy and dangerous habit. While the measure should be applaude ... Jump to full article >>

Bernie Madoff had little to lose by confessing to masterminding the world’s biggest Ponzi scheme — he’s dying of cancer, sources told The Post. Madoff, who is serving 150 years at a North Carolina federal lockup after pleading guilty to swindling more than $65 billion, has been telling fellow inmates he does not have much longer to live. “He’s been taking about 20 pills a day for his cancer,” said one inmate. “He talks about it all the time. He’s not doing very well.” There’s been much speculation as to why Madoff took the entire fall ... Jump to full article >>

SAN JOSE DE LAS LAJAS, Cuba- Cuban rum maestro Jose Navarro’s taste buds sing when he sips Havana Club, the sweet spirit distilled in this farming town south of the capital. “It has to be Cuban,” said Navarro, the oldest of the island’s nine certified rum experts. “Havana Club can’t exist anywhere else.” But another Havana Club does exist, one made by Bermuda-based rum giant Bacardi Ltd. A variety of Cohiba cigars, once rolled exclusively for Fidel Castro, is produced by Swedish Match North America of Virginia, and a Miami firm offers its own version o ... Jump to full article >>

As of today, Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem is doubling the area where people can smoke on the casino floor. Sands officials announced this morning that they have increased the designated smoking areas from 25 percent to nearly 50 percent of the gaming floor, as allowed by the Pennsylvania Clean Air Act of 2008. Under the act, which bans smoking in most public places, casinos were permitted to have smoking on 25 percent of the casino floor, but could increase that to 50 percent if the casino could show that machines in the smoking section were busier than those in the non-smoking section. Today ... Jump to full article >>

CITY HITS CIGAR SHOP’S COFFEE AS ‘FOOD’ Put down that coffee, and come out with your hands up! The owner of a Financial District tobacco shop was amazed to learn he was violating the law by offering his customers a free cup of joe while they legally puffed away on his cigars. Vince Nastri III, the third-generation owner of Barclay Rex — where bankers, City Hall staffers, lawyers and detectives smoke while sitting in plush leather chairs or browsing in the walk-in humidor — complained that the city is “trying to take away my livelihood over a cop of coffee.&# ... Jump to full article >>