It seems that lawmakers all over the United States are out on a mission – a mission to wage war against cigars. In the last post, I wrote about Baltimore banning the sale of single cigars and instead putting a minimum limit of 5 cigars per sale. Going down south, they are trying to push a similar move in Texas.

Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway of Dallas, Texas is proposing a similar measure. He originally proposed to disallow many stores to sell cigars unless the sold them in bundles of at least 5. His reasoning is that there are people in his district who are buying cigars by the piece and then removing the tobacco inside. These people would then replace the tobacco leaves with another sort of leaf – marijuana. Essentially, what Caraway is targeting is the use of drugs, and not really tobacco.

Recent developments have caused a halt in the process, however. According to The Dallas Morning News, the Deputy Mayor has been swayed a bit by tobacco lobbyists:

But when the agenda item came before the council this morning, Caraway, with the blessing of area tobacco industry lobbyists Ken Benson, began to offer an amendment, the details of which weren’t readily clear to us — or several members of the City Council.

So before any action could be taken, the council deferred the item to today’s afternoon session. Then, in the afternoon session, the council delayed the item indefinitely while staff researches legalities surrounding banning tobacco sales.

He is not far from defeated though. He vows he will take things right to President Obama if he needs to.

Originally posted on January 30, 2009 @ 8:22 am

If you are reading this blog, you are probably an avid smoker. If I am correct, let me ask you this: when did you start smoking? More so, how did you start? What enticed you to smoke?

Different people would certainly have varying answers to the questions above but I am sure that there is quite a number of adult smokers today who, in one way or another, found smoking appealing because of something they saw in the movies. Now I am not saying that Hollywood or the entertainment industry in general is to blame. However, you have to admit that they do have a great degree of influence.

Anyway, California governor and actor Arnold Schwarzenegger has voiced his strong opinion on the issue. According to The Press Association:

Cigar-loving Arnold Schwarzenegger says children need to be warned often about the dangers of smoking, but Hollywood should not feel pressured to ban cigarettes and cigars from films aimed at youngsters.

Despite research that shows big-screen scenes of tobacco use can tempt kids to light up, the Terminator star-turned California governor said film-makers needed artistic freedom, particularly in historical settings.

He scoffed at the notion that someone would play Winston Churchill without his trademark stogie in hand.

“I personally don’t believe that we should erase cigarettes in movies. I don’t believe that we should erase it when someone smokes a cigar in a movie. I think that we should remind people and kids all the time about the dangers of smoking,” the Republican governor said. “To suddenly tell actors not to smoke a cigarette in a movie when they portray a character is ludicrous. I think this is going too far.”

I agree with him. Children should be taught at home and in schools about the dangers of smoking. After all, they should not get their “education” from movies alone.

What’s your take on this?

Originally posted on July 15, 2008 @ 9:00 am