It’s been about a month since the Montana Clear Indoor Act took effect in bars, casinos and restaurants across the Treasure State. According to a Billings gaming distributor, gambling revenues are down 16% to 18% across the state. On October 1st, the Reno Club in Billings joined hundreds of others businesses in going smoke-free. Now that the smoke has cleared, businesses are taking a hard look at the bottom line. “My gambling is down about 20% and that could be recession, it could be the weather, it could be just about anything,” Reno Club owner John Blair said. Blair has bee ... Jump to full article >>

Realtors use a phrase to describe their key to success: location, location, location. Similarly, your doctor will offer a three-dose prescription for COPD relief: quit smoking, quit smoking, quit smoking. While a small number of cases of COPD Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease can be attributed to a rare genetic enzyme deficiency, the majority of the 16 million Americans suffering breath-restricting COPD can directly link their condition to tobacco use. Smoking damages your lungs irreversibly. But for people with moderate symptoms of COPD, there have been some recent advances in medication ... Jump to full article >>

North Carolina Governor Bev Perduce announced the launch of a new website devoted to help implement North Carolina’s new law that requires restaurants, bars and lodging establishments that serve food and drink to go smoke-free as of January 2, 2010. The website, http://www.SmokeFree.NC.gov, offers business owners and customers information on the new law, hazards of secondhand smoke, and resources to help those smokers who may want to quit smoking. It has downloadable fact sheets, no-smoking signs and other tools dedicated to make the transition to smoke-free air an easy one. “This change i ... Jump to full article >>

When Laura Buchta started to smoke cigarettes this past March, she didn’t think she would get addicted. She said she was only dabbling. “Then I was really frustrated with life, after an argument with my ex,” Buchta said. Buchta, a graduate student in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, said before then, she was smoking with friends socially. “And now I enjoy it. One of these days I know I’ll quit.” According to a USA Today article in 2007, 31 percent of college students smoke, compared to 25 percent of people in the country who smoke. “I ... Jump to full article >>

Some people quit smoking to save money or to improve their health. William Peloubet is trying to quit because it’s now banned in the condominium complex where he lives. “We’re trying,” said Peloubet, 39, who lives in his mother’s condominium on Old Colony Way with his girlfriend. “It’s time to quit anyway.” Old Colony is the first Cape condominium association known to ban smoking in the private apartment-like units that people call home, real estate and condo experts said in January when the proposed ban first made the news. Owners’ votes, ... Jump to full article >>

MURRAY, Ky. – The Housing Authority of Murray is having its own version of a smoke-out. The agency has instituted a new smoke-free policy at all of its housing units, starting Sept. 1. The policy means residents will not be allowed to smoke inside their homes. Instead, they’ll have to light up in the yard. WPSD-TV in Paducah reported that Housing Authority Executive Director Faye Dodd said the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has pushed smoke-free public housing across the country. Walter Wyatt, a smoker for 62 years, said the government agency shouldn’t tell ... Jump to full article >>

The Fourth National Anti-Smoking Campaign was launched here on Monday. The campaign was formally inaugurated by Prince Mish’al Bin Majed, Governor of Jeddah, in Crown Plaza Hotel. The campaign will officially start its activities Tuesday by having an anti-smoking symposium wherein professors, consultants, experts and representatives from government’s anti-smoking programs will participate. According to Dr. Abdurraheem Qari, the symposium president, this year’s campaign will concentrate on the doctors’ role in encouraging the smokers to quit the deadly habit. The campaig ... Jump to full article >>