New smoking ban

[AlohaKine]

Re: New smoking ban

Two recent studies -

1) Smoking ban in Pueblo, CO, leads to drop in hospitalizations for heart-attack; report here.

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Heart attack rates went up in California after the 1998 ban. They also went up in Hawaii in 2007. This is actually a common tactic for the professional anti-smoking lobby and their allies to cherry pick data from small communities in a biased attempt to pass legislation.

[Menehune Man]

Re: New smoking ban

No matter what, smoking ain't healthy.

I enjoy cigarettes off and on... lately on.
So just try to be considerate of others.
That's me hanging out at the downwind end of the lanai.
Still seems to be no lack of conversation though. HaHa!

[AlohaKine]

Re: New smoking ban

Oh, wow! Now our legislature wants to ban people that smoke from Waikiki beach. I'm sure our Japanese visitors will be thrilled by this one. Good thing our economy and tourism industry is so robust right now that we can easily absorb the hit. This isn't just a smoker issue anymore, a bad economy hurts everybody.

You know what smokers, if this goes through it WILL be ALL beaches and parks next year. Let's contact each other and fight this thing.

[escondido100]

Re: New smoking ban

they must have gotten the idea from hawaii county. it is illegal to smoke on the beach here.

[douglas]

Re: New smoking ban

Oh, wow! Now our legislature wants to ban people that smoke from Waikiki beach. I'm sure our Japanese visitors will be thrilled by this one. Good thing our economy and tourism industry is so robust right now that we can easily absorb the hit. This isn't just a smoker issue anymore, a bad economy hurts everybody.

You know what smokers, if this goes through it WILL be ALL beaches and parks next year. Let's contact each other and fight this thing.

Looks like the bill to ban smoking on Waikiki Beach sailed through the House Health Committee. I guess Representative Tom Brower not really a friend of those pro-smoking fokes, since it was his bill. I also see that they've opened some of the tax bills, including the cigarette taxs. I hear that there are plans to at least double the current cigarette tax. I also hear that Senate President Hanabuse and House Speaker Caliin Say are in full agreement. With the new federal cigarette tax being passed, I would suspect that a pack is going to cost over $12.00.

[AlohaKine]

Re: New smoking ban

Looks like the bill to ban smoking on Waikiki Beach sailed through the House Health Committee. I guess Representative Tom Brower not really a friend of those pro-smoking fokes, since it was his bill. I also see that they've opened some of the tax bills, including the cigarette taxs. I hear that there are plans to at least double the current cigarette tax. I also hear that Senate President Hanabuse and House Speaker Caliin Say are in full agreement. With the new federal cigarette tax being passed, I would suspect that a pack is going to cost over $12.00.

Are you sure about the cig. tax? The bills seem to claim that it would be cigars and raw tobacco which would be doubled. One thing is for sure, the leadership of the democratic party sure HATES their constituents that smoke. It would seem that any smoker aware of what these guys are pulling and votes for them is out of their mind.

[AlohaKine]

Re: New smoking ban

they must have gotten the idea from hawaii county. it is illegal to smoke on the beach here.

The law there is also a joke. No one has gotten fined and cigarette litter abounds. I've even heard of some people on the Big Island going out of their way to do a little extra littering as payback.

[Amati]

Re: New smoking ban

The law there is also a joke. No one has gotten fined and cigarette litter abounds. I've even heard of some people on the Big Island going out of their way to do a little extra littering as payback.

"Payback" to who? To other beachgoers? To the kids playing on the beach? What kind of idiot would think extra littering is "payback" for a law?

[Leo Lakio]

Re: New smoking ban

Oh, wow! Now our legislature wants to ban people that smoke from Waikiki beach. I'm sure our Japanese visitors will be thrilled by this one. Good thing our economy and tourism industry is so robust right now that we can easily absorb the hit. This isn't just a smoker issue anymore, a bad economy hurts everybody.

At last, some brilliant thinking. Why stop with smoking? The economy is bad, and Hawai`i thrives on tourism - time to eliminate other pesky laws that keep malihini away while protecting kama`aina!

Just one example - that whole "driving on the right" thing, what's up with that? I'm sure that the Japanese visitors, along with the Australians, the British and many other nationalities are thrilled with that one! Come on now - let people do whatever they want in the privacy of their own (or rented) vehicles.

Cause we all know it's stupid restrictions of personal liberty like that that are responsible for tourists staying away in droves; it has nothing to do with economic hardship around the world at present. I'm so glad to see that AlohaKine is being so altruistic in this case. He's truly concerned about how smoking bans and restrictions affect visitors to the Islands - we can see that it has nothing to do with his personal needs. You're a hero, AK, a real piece of work!

[matapule]

Re: New smoking ban

Now, now Leo, play nice or we have to send you to time out.

But using Alohakine's logic, I wonder how many more tourists would come to Hawai'i because it did have a smoking in public ban? Or maybe Alohakine thinks everyone in Austrailia and Japan smokes and thinks it is a terrific concept.

[douglas]

Re: New smoking ban

Apparently, things may not bold well for those pro-smokers. Seems that there may be some major tobacco tax increases on, chewing tobacco, cigars, and cigarettes. Tomorrow there will be a hearing in the House Finance Committee to raise the Hawaii cigarette tax by 60 cents per pack starting July 1, 2009. Add the recent Federal cigarette tax of 62 cents per pack, looks like smoking just got little more expensive.

A very big mahalo to all them 200,000 smokers who are going underwrite our state deficit.

[Amati]

Re: New smoking ban

A very big mahalo to all them 200,000 smokers who are going underwrite our state deficit.

Hopefully the state pulls in more in tax money on cigarettes than it costs my family's pocketbook to support smokers' bad health. According to MSN, "each American household spends $630 a year in federal and state taxes due to smoking".
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com...OfSmoking.aspx

I object to having money taken out of my family's budget to support someone elses smoking. Let them smoke all they want in their own corner somewhere, but keep MY money out it.

Baby needs new shoes. $630 would buy lots of shoes. Just think of what we could do for Auntie Lynn's slippah drive with a donation of $630 per household!

[Frankie's Market]

Re: New smoking ban

Just one example - that whole "driving on the right" thing, what's up with that? I'm sure that the Japanese visitors, along with the Australians, the British and many other nationalities are thrilled with that one! Come on now - let people do whatever they want in the privacy of their own (or rented) vehicles.

Cause we all know it's stupid restrictions of personal liberty like that that are responsible for tourists staying away in droves; it has nothing to do with economic hardship around the world at present. I'm so glad to see that AlohaKine is being so altruistic in this case. He's truly concerned about how smoking bans and restrictions affect visitors to the Islands - we can see that it has nothing to do with his personal needs. You're a hero, AK, a real piece of work!

It's obviously a rationalization, Leo. Anybody who even possesses an iota of knowledge regarding the relevant factors behind the drop in Japanese visitors to Hawaii don't need sarcasm to recognize caca, when they read it.

I will say that in the case of tourists from Australia and Canada, the smoking bans here are totally irrelevant in their decision to come to Hawaii or not, seeing as how both those countries have anti-smoking regulations that are, in many ways, stricter at home than what exists in Hawaii and the rest of the US.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...s_in_Australia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...s#.C2.A0Canada

[AlohaKine]

Re: New smoking ban

Apparently, things may not bold well for those pro-smokers. Seems that there may be some major tobacco tax increases on, chewing tobacco, cigars, and cigarettes. Tomorrow there will be a hearing in the House Finance Committee to raise the Hawaii cigarette tax by 60 cents per pack starting July 1, 2009. Add the recent Federal cigarette tax of 62 cents per pack, looks like smoking just got little more expensive.

A very big mahalo to all them 200,000 smokers who are going underwrite our state deficit.

Or in the end the State may actually suffer. Insane taxes lead to a black market and smuggling. Also it is almost impossible to stop "P2P" or person to person transfers from folks you know on the mainland.

Also people that are hawking cheap cigs normally don't check for an ID.

[AlohaKine]

Re: New smoking ban

All new smoking ban bills and bills to raise fines for bans have now failed this year with the exception of the prison ban bill, which is now A USELESS WASTE OF LEGISLATIVE TIME because the prison system has already banned smoking inside the prison buildings.