Gas station robber demands cash, cigarettes, cigars

A masked man with a handgun robbed a gas station convenience store near Wilmington, stealing cash from the till and grabbing cigarettes and cigars, state police said today.
The robbery happened at about 9:50 p.m. Sunday at a BP Shore Stop in the 3500 block of Miller Road, said state police spokesman Cpl. Jeff Whitmarsh.The man entered the store, displayed a black handgun and demanded money from the till, he said.
After the clerk complied, the man took several packs of Newport cigarettes and some cigars before fleeing on foot, he said.
The robber was described as about 6 feet tall, with an average build, and was wearing a mask, a black baseball cap, a dark-colored long-sleeved shirt with a collar and light-colored horizontal stripes, dark-colored pants (possibly green), white sneakers and white gloves.
Police released surveillance images of the man.

€1.5m seizure of Dublin-bound cigarettes in Spain

A shipment of contraband cigarettes worth €1.5m, which was believed to be headed for Ireland, has been seized in Spain.
Nine hundred cases of cigarettes were found hidden in a container which arrived at the Basque port of Bilbao from south-east Asia. Spanish authorities believe they were destined for Dublin.
Detectives are now hunting for those behind the smuggling attempt.

Cigarette Kingpins: Indian smoke shops are feeling the heat

NEW YORK (AP) – After doing time for possession and an accidental killing, crack dealer Rodney Morrison decided he was finished with drugs. He threw himself a “retirement” party in 1993 and got into a new line of work: tax-free cigarettes.
It was a business operating in a gray area of the law, and the riches were enormous.
Within a decade, the smoke shop Morrison opened on Long Island’s little Poospatuck Indian Reservation had become one of the state’s biggest dealers in untaxed cigarettes. Other drug dealers soon took note and followed him into the business.
By 2007, one in every seven packs sold in New York state came from either Morrison’s shop or three others on the reservation, all four managed by people with a history of drug dealing, The Associated Press found in a review of court and business records.
Those four stores sold 9.9 million cartons of cigarettes that year, or enough to supply every smoker in New York City with a pack a day for 31/2 months.
Now, it may all be going up in smoke for the cigarette kingpins of the Poospatuck reservation.
Dismayed by the lost tax revenue, New York City has waged a legal battle that could put shops like Morrison’s out of business. This month, Poospatuck stores may have to begin collecting taxes for the first time because of a federal judge’s ruling that untaxed sales to non-Indians are illegal.
Morrison, 42, is in deeper trouble. He could get up to 30 years in prison when he is sentenced Sept. 25 in a case in which federal prosecutors set out to blame him for a murder but wound up convicting him of illegally trafficking in cigarettes.
Other states have also struggled with the sale of untaxed cigarettes at reservation smoke shops, and federal prosecutors have filed smuggling charges in recent years against a few dealers in Idaho and Washington. But the cigarette trade on New York’s reservations dwarfs the business in other states, with 304 million packs sold in 2007 alone.
The Poospatuck case is being watched closely. If the court decisions are applied to all reservation smoke shops statewide, they could doom a $6 billion-a-year business in Indian tobacco that now accounts for a third of New York’s cigarette sales.
The Poospatuck reservation covers just 55 acres at the edge of a suburban neighborhood in the town of Mastic, about 60 miles from New York City. Fewer than 300 people live there. The centuries-old preserve of the Unkechaug tribe has long been impoverished, with many residents living in trailers.
It has about a dozen smoke shops in all, for one major reason: Indian sovereignty.
Because the state doesn’t collect sales taxes on Indian land, cigarettes bought there can cost less than half of what they do in New York City, which has the nation’s highest tobacco taxes. In the city, a carton of Marlboros costs about $95, including $42.50 in state and local taxes.
As a result, “buttleggers” – operating, investigators say, with the assistance of some store owners – buy large quantities of cigarettes on the reservation and resell them in the city at a big markup. Some of those packs wind up on the shelves of convenience stores and bodegas. Others are sold on the street by “$5 men.”
“There’s no difference between the cigarette business and the drug business. It’s the same type of individuals involved,” said Kyron Hodges, a former drug dealer from Brooklyn who joined legions of street hustlers transporting tax-free cigarettes from the Poospatuck reservation to the city. “I took all of my street knowledge and applied it to cigarettes.”
Technically, New York law allows reservation merchants to sell tax-free tobacco only to members of the tribe for their personal consumption. And in recent years, police have arrested at least 220 people leaving the Poospatuck reservation with loads of cigarettes.
But until now, the rule has never been enforced against the smoke shops themselves, despite the loss of more than $700 million a year in state and local tax revenue. Since the mid-1990s, New York governors fearful of stirring up tribal unrest have instructed state tax officials to leave the smoke shops alone.
And so, as state authorities looked the other way, Morrison’s business boomed, grossing $172 million in one 41/2-year period, according to bank records. He bought homes, land and businesses throughout the U.S. and Latin America, stashed $30 million in foreign banks and collected $1.7 million worth of luxury watches.
Morrison’s lawyer, Billy Murphy, said his client’s transformation from drug dealer to entrepreneur should be viewed as a success story.
When Morrison was 20, he killed a 6-year-old boy while blasting off shotgun rounds in a friend’s yard. He pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide and was sentenced to probation. Later, he got a year in jail for drug possession.
“Rodney decided to give it up and go legit,” Murphy said. “He retired from the drug business and went into the cigarette business because he thought it was legal.”
Prosecutors, though, said Morrison didn’t change his methods. He kept a gun in his office. He talked tough. And when a wave of violence swept the reservation, people began pointing fingers.
The car of one smoke shop owner was firebombed. Another shop owner was beaten and robbed. Armed men burst into a tribal council meeting and threatened the chief’s life. Then, in 2003, a former Morrison employee with a rival cigarette business, 23-year-old Sherwin Henry, was shot to death on a Brooklyn rooftop.
After the incident at the tribal council meeting, Morrison seemed pleased people were afraid of him, an employee later told prosecutors. “Every now and then you have to bite people,” he said, according to the worker.
Meanwhile, Morrison held himself out as a respectable businessman, joining the local Chamber of Commerce.
Morrison wasn’t the only person on the reservation with a checkered past.
His estranged half-brother, Shawn, began managing The Golden Feather smoke shop after finishing a seven-year prison term in 2004 for drug dealing. The Smoking Arrow Smoke Shop was managed for a time by a former member of Morrison’s drug crew. And Monique’s Smoke Shop was run by a man who served six months for drug dealing in the 1990s.
None of the men are Indian, but all of them are married or connected romantically to Indian women, and that entitled them to run businesses on the reservation.
During hearings over a lawsuit brought by New York City, a former smuggler and an undercover state tax investigator testified that many of the Poospatuck stores welcomed illicit business.
Some were lookouts, watching for police patrols. Others split large orders into smaller transactions to hide big deals. There were tales of late-night meetings in parking lots where cash was exchanged for garbage bags filled with cigarettes.
Morrison was arrested in 2004 and indicted on federal racketeering charges accusing him of Henry’s murder and a string of other violent crimes. Prosecutors said he paid $15,000 to have Henry killed because he was stealing customers away.
At trial, Morrison’s lawyer argued that most of the charges were concocted by jealous competitors. The jury acquitted Morrison last year on most counts, including the murder, but found him guilty of racketeering for selling untaxed cigarettes to non-Indians.
The verdict came as a shock to scores of reservation smoke shops across the state engaged in a nearly identical business.
Morrison’s lawyers have appealed his conviction, saying the state’s policy was “so hopelessly confused ... it is impossible for a citizen to know the law.”
In denying Morrison bail last week, U.S. District Judge Denis R. Hurley, who will sentence the cigarette dealer, called him “a cunning individual with dangerous proclivities” and said that, despite the verdict, he believed Morrison had “set up the scenario” that resulted in Henry’s murder.
Since the trial, state courts have continued to send conflicting messages about the smoke shops’ legal obligations. As recently as July, a state appeals court threw out a case against a Cayuga Nation store in western New York, saying it could not be prosecuted for selling untaxed cigarettes.
Things could come to a head in the next few weeks. In her Aug. 25 ruling in the city’s lawsuit, U.S. District Judge Carol Bagley Amon ordered the Poospatuck stores to start collecting taxes on sales to non-Indians in 30 days.
Shawn Morrison recently decided to close. Rodney Morrison’s store is still in business, but like the others is in limbo. Philip Morris, the maker of Marlboros, ordered wholesalers last year to stop selling its products to shops on the Poospatuck reservation because of the smuggling.
The Unkechaug chief, Harry Wallace, blames a few “dirty dealers” for ruining the business.
“The unscrupulous guys come in, and all they care about is building their own personal fortune and then engaging in quasi-legal activity,” Wallace said. “All of a sudden, we are all criminals. We are getting blamed for someone else’s actions.”

Cigarette sales on Six Nations tied to issue of sovereignty

I love the smell of a fresh-lit cigarette. The ascending smoke randomly curling through the air was common. One after another marked the hours of my days. Twenty-five years ago, people were allowed to smoke in the hospital. It wasn't like it is today. Now we identify smokers by their huddling presence at doorways to public buildings. I remember when the cost of an entire pack was below $2. Today, it's five times that amount. Smoking was a habit I would eventually give up.
Mostly store merchants at Six Nations of the Grand River sold cigarettes in the 1980s. They were given a quota that dictated how many cartons a retail outlet was allowed to purchase for resale. It wasn't anything like it is today. As many as 200 smoke shops are now estimated to litter the landscape of the reserve. A few years ago, a map of the reserve used as a tool for tourism had smoke shop locations marked on it as if they were a tourist attraction. All that was needed was the replica of a giant cigarette in Veterans Park, smoke rising from it rivalled only by the Camel billboard in Times Square.
The situation begs the question, "How do they all make any money?" I've talked to a few people who either run or own smoke shops and the answer is, "They don't." That is not unless they sell inventory in large quantity. But not all of them can afford to purchase the inventory to do high volume business.
Some businesses can afford to deal in high volume business. The cigarettes manufactured at Six Nations by Grand River Enterprises do have taxes paid on them by the manufacturer to the Canadian government, as much as $120 million a year, according to one figure. This business is the largest employer at Six Nations and willingly pays taxes to the Canadian government, even though the business is located on Six Nations of the Grand River territory. Today, some of the owners of Grand River Enterprises are indicted in the United States for trafficking in contraband cigarettes.
Last fall, there was some attempt by the elected band council and the confederacy council to organize the smoke shop merchants by introducing regulations but it proved to be a monumental task after having the industry go unchecked and unregulated for so long. Not only has the cigarette industry grown in correlation with government taxation on the product but it is also mired in the issue of sovereignty, which makes it defendable. But for those who don't agree with the changing landscape of the reserve, how far does the obligation go to defend the cigarette industry in the name of sovereignty?
It's one of those issues where you may not agree with it in principle but it's part of a bigger issue that is a vital part of a culture of a people. Sovereignty to Six Nations is like clean air to humanity: it's not given up willingly and must be defended.
When the RCMP came calling at Six Nations almost two years ago to see what could be done about the selling of "illegal" cigarettes, the elected council told them that there were no such thing as "illegal" cigarettes being sold at Six Nations and it was their job to monitor Canadians to make sure they paid the taxes on products. Two years later, that is exactly what police are doing as they stop people and confiscate the cigarettes they have purchased on the reserve as they leave the tax free zone. That raises other questions: Can they stop everybody and confiscate their cigarettes? And can they monitor every exit leading out of Six Nations continually? The short answer is: no.
So, what's the solution? The government could lower taxes on cigarettes but that would be taking away their own revenue stream. They could pour more money into education, which could encourage more people to quit smoking and lower the demand part of the supply and demand chain. They could increase the penalties for non-native people not paying taxes on cigarettes purchased on a reserve. However, none of these possible solutions is guaranteed to decrease cigarette customers coming to Six Nations to purchase product.
I don't agree with the economic development at Six Nations in terms of the cigarette industry. I hoped the economy could be run by some product other than one that causes disease and death to so many people who use it.
Allan M. Brandt in his book, The Cigarette Century, cites projections "that in the course of the twenty-first century, one billion people across the globe will die of tobacco-related diseases." The other aspect of taking the sacredness of a medicine and selling it in another form for personal financial gain conflicts with the Great Law, the values and principles upon which Haudenosaunee society is based.
There are those people who also believe that the cigarette industry is inextricably linked to the increase in crime in the community.There are those who say that not all cigarette outlets are 100% native-owned and people are being used for their rights. There is a definite need for research to be done in this area in order to capture a clear picture of what is happening at Six Nations in terms of crime.
I grew up on the reserve. I lived at my grandparents' home at Sour Springs corner where the door was left unlocked the majority of the time. It wasn't like it is today. I only need to bring up the topic of crime and my ears are filled with stories about "gun-toting seniors" and "crack orphans." The social problems that result from an unsafe community are becoming more difficult to ignore. Community meetings where crime and safety are the only topics for discussion are happening now.
Yes, the cigarette industry has given the community a stream of revenue but in a very unbalanced way. To say the entire community has benefited would be an untrue statement. It has made some people multimillionaires. It has changed the reserve in a most drastic way. It has polarized the economic field of a small community. It has raised questions regarding links to crime. It has strained family relationships and it has branded the Reserve with an image that has overshadowed more positive ones.
The cigarette industry is the dark part of the issue of sovereignty. Having said that, I must defend sovereignty because to not defend it invites abolishment. I may not agree with what is sold but I must defend the right to sell it.
L. M. VanEvery is a journalist from Six Nations of the Grand River who wishes everyone would quit smoking.

MPP introduces bill to cut tobacco taxes

Haldimand-Norfolk MPP Toby Barrett has submitted a private member's bill before the Ontario legislature on its first day back from the summer break, which calls for a dramatic reduction in the tax on cigarettes and cigars to fight the contraband trade.
His bill, which passed first reading Monday and will be up for second reading on Sept. 24, would replace the current Ontario Tobacco Tax with a new one that lowers the rate by 33% to 8.23 cents per cigarette from 13 cents per cigarette, and to 37.7% on a cigar from the present 56.6%.
His bill also calls for the change to be done in conjunction with the federal government's tax policies.
"We must lower the taxes on those products legally to match the prices of the contraband trade, which carries on activities that allow cigarettes to be sold without paying proper taxes," Barrett said in a telephone interview after first reading.
"What I am proposing is to do what we did in 1994 when contraband got out of control due to taxes that were too high. The situation changed as soon as taxes were lowered to a more acceptable level."
Because the bill is one of the first out of the starting gate in the fall sitting and will be up for second reading in less than two weeks, Barrett acknowledged that MPPs in all parties know little about its purpose.
So he has prepared a sales job to lobby them on the necessity to use a change in tax policy to attack a contraband trade that now accounts for more than 50% of cigarettes on the street and robbed Ottawa and the provinces of an estimated $2.5 billion in 2008 alone.
Barrett will explain his bill before the Progressive Conservative caucus today.
His office has also prepared an package with background information on his bill to be distributed to every MPP in all three political parties.

How To Dissuade Your Children From Smoking Cigarettes

Have you ever looked in the mirror and wondered who was looking back at you? As you all know we age every day, but when you smoke cigarettes this aging process starts to speed up. Young people usually start smoking because they think it makes them look older or cooler. They do not know that doing this will certainly make them look older than they actually are, eventually anyway. These cigarettes will not only make them look older sooner, it will also bring them closer to death sooner as well. This is a fact that they often overlook at the time they start smoking. They might end up with one or more of the cancers that come from smoking early in their lives. We have so many people in hospitals with these cancers that they might never have gotten if they had never started smoking cigarettes.

Young kids do not realize the pity that older smokers feel for them when they see them smoking. Older smokers realize the pitfalls of smoking that the young smokers have not had to deal with yet. You should try to make your child understand that smoking cigarettes is not the right thing for them to do. If you need to scare them a little, you could take them to a hospital where there are cancer patients dying that smoked. Let them talk to the patients to find out what cancers they have and the medicines that they are on trying to fix their problems. Let these patients talk to your child alone as they might be able to get through to them better if you are not in the room.

You might be surprised to find out their ages when asked. Most of them might not look their age because their bodies have aged so much. These people might look many years older than they really are because of the smoking. Have them talk to as many people in the hospital as they can. If you both have a strong stomach you might even take them down to the morgue and let them talk to the people that do this job. These professionals might be able to show your child the cancers and what they do in terms of their bodies. This in itself might keep this child from even starting.

If you find that your child has already been smoking, then get them to talk it over with you so that maybe you can with the help of these professionals get them to quit. If you get to them quickly enough, you can get them to quit easier. Sooner or later reality sets in with any smoker and they will sometime or another have a desire to quit even if they never do. Preventing someone from ever starting to smoke is the key to them never becoming addicted. Parents have to be very vigilant when it comes to keeping their children away from cigarettes. If you smoke cigarettes in front of your children, you might as well be lighting one up and handing it to them because chances are very good that they will smoke eventually and then how are you going to feel?

Thousands of cigarettes seized in Londonderry

Thirty locations on both sides of the River Foyle were visited by officers from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) supported by the PSNI in operations that targeted the
sale of illicit cigarettes. During the raids seizures amounted to 48,181 cigarettes,
kilos of hand rolling tobacco as well as counterfeit DVD's, CD's and football jersey's.
As part of an ongoing programme of visits to businesses across Northern Ireland (HMRC) officers involved in the Londonderry raids used new hand-held scanning equipment to quickly identify counterfeit non UK-duty paid tobacco products. The scanner detects covert security markings on the packaging, invisible to the naked eye, and gives an instant indication of counterfeit or smuggled tobacco.
Brian Dixon, Specialist Investigations, HMRC said: "The unregulated sale of illegal cigarettes and tobacco is not a victimless or harmless crime, and encourages otherwise honest people to trade with criminals. The gangs behind this form of criminality are motivated solely by greed and personal gain. Their lavish lifestyles cost the taxpayer around £3 billion per year in unpaid duty.
"We are tackling tobacco fraud at all points of the supply chain, from smuggling and storage through to sale, and we are now using new technology to quickly identify the illegal and counterfeit products.
"We will continue to work with our partner agencies, the PSNI and the Organised Crime Task Force, to combat this crime but we are also keen to work closely with local people. We would encourage anyone who knows of someone selling cheap or duty free cigarettes and tobacco to contact our hotline on 0800 59 5000."
Investigations into the origins of the seized products are ongoing.

Tobacco shop will fight charges

Tobacco Haven isn’t a cigarette manufacturer despite claims by the state, says the attorney for the small tobacco shop in Brookline facing an unusual legal action against its use of roll-your-own cigarette machines.
Acting Attorney General Orville “Bud” Fitch filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the tobacco shop in Merrimack County Superior Court, alleging that the operation sidesteps the federal settlement between tobacco manufacturers and the state.
The company has a pair of 4-foot tall “roll your own” machines in its store. Customers buy one of three types of loose tobacco and paper tubes with filters, then use the machines to turn them into cigarettes at about half the cost of name-brand cigarettes.
Jeffrey Burd, of Cincinnati, one of several lawyers who will represent Tobacco Haven in court, said this business doesn’t make Tobacco Haven a manufacturer.
“Tobacco Haven rents its machine to customers. They can buy or rent,” said Burd. He contrasted the shop’s operation with a hypothetical cigarette manufacturer in North Carolina that can produce several hundred cigarettes in seconds, while it takes minutes to roll the same number at a tobacco shop.
Burd will make his case in Merrimack County Superior Court at 11 a.m. Oct. 13, when the state brings its case against the tobacco shop.
The state filed the suit this week, about three weeks after contacting the tobacco shop’s owner, Joseph Correia Jr., asking if the business was manufacturing cigarettes.
Burd said he responded with a four-page letter that explained why Tobacco Haven is not a cigarette manufacturer.
Under two state laws, the Non-Participating Manufacturers Act and the Directory Act, tobacco manufacturers must make payments to the state based on the number of cigarettes they sell.
Burd argues that stores all over the country are operating similar machines that allow customers to make their own cigarettes at a significant savings, without paying the federal tobacco settlement taxes levied on manufacturers.
The in-store rolling machines are larger and faster than the ones consumers buy for home use, Burd said.
And local residents as well as ones from neighbor Massachusetts are flocking to the store.
“Roll-your-own cigarettes has gone through the roof,” said Keith Spano, manager at Castro’s Backroom in Nashua. “It’s an extremely cheap way to do it. I heard there’s a line out the door at (Tobacco Haven) with people that just wait from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, everywhere.”
Tobacco Haven’s big draw appears to be the price. A carton-worth, or 200 machine-rolled cigarettes cost $25.99. Cartons of many name-brand cigarettes cost more than $40.
Peter Labrecque drove from Nashua for exactly that reason. He said a carton of his old brand of cigarettes cost about $42.
“It’s more a matter of what I can afford right now,” he said. He said there’s not much of a difference between the store’s machines and rolling his own cigarettes at home, except convenience.
“Would it be different if I rolled them in my own home? Why would that be any different?” he said.
Mary Kavanaugh drove about 20 minutes from Lunenburg, Mass., because her old brand of cigarettes cost more than $60 per carton.
“I think it’s a great thing to help out the people. We just can’t afford all these new taxes on everything,” she said.
At Smokin’ Deals in Nashua, customers have a choice among five different tabletop models of take-home cigarette machines and eight handheld versions ranging from $25 to $63, according to manager Cindy Demanche.
“We’re overselling machines, tobacco, tubes and rolling papers,” Demanche said. “Every time the taxes go up, more and more people are looking for them. They’re fed up with all these tax increases.”
Depending on the model, it can take five to 15 minutes to roll out a pack of 20 cigarettes at home, she said.
“I’ve heard about (Tobacco Haven) from some of my customers, Demanche said. “They think it’s the coolest thing ever that they can do it in a store and not take it home.”
But others don’t seem to think so and the state wants Correia to halt his make-your-own cigarettes procedure until the apparently unprecedented matter is cleared up.
Burd and New Hampshire officials both say they believe the Brookline case is the first of its kind in the nation.
Sales of personal cigarette-rolling machines in the U.S. skyrocketed about 10 years ago, following the national tobacco settlement that required manufacturers to pay millions of dollars to states for healthcare for Medicaid patients suffering from tobacco-related illnesses.
Americans have been rolling their own cigarettes for decades, although the rise in sales of the machines 10 years ago was the first since the Great Depression, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Federal and state taxes on cigarettes have continued to climb over the past decade.
New Hampshire has collected roughly $50 million in tobacco-settlement money. Little of it has gone for health care. Instead, it has been placed in the general fund.
The future of this fund was a major concern of the state in filing the lawsuit, Assistant Attorney General David Rienzo said Tuesday.
Failing to take action against small cigarette manufacturers, he said, could lead to complaints and legal action against New Hampshire from the large companies that pay the bulk of the settlement money.

New ‘fire-safe’ cigarettes drawing smokers’ ire

THIBODAUX — Starting today, self-extinguishing cigarettes are what local smokers should find in their packs.The so-called fire-safe cigarettes, indicated by the letters “FSC,” have bands of paper several layers thick surrounding the tobacco, making it more likely to go out if it’s not actively being smoked. The goal is to prevent fires and deaths associated with lit cigarettes.
Starting today, vendors must buy and sell fire-safe cigarettes in Louisiana. Eighteen states already require the special cigarettes. Louisiana and 13 others will join the list this year.
The change has some smokers upset.
Nick Richard, 58, of Thibodaux, says he must relight his Marlboro Ultra Lights up to three times per cigarette.
“If you put it down for more than a minute it goes out,” Richard said. “It’s just a huge pain.”
Mark Tortorich, owner of the Tobacco Outlet Discount in Thibodaux, said some of his customers are unhappy at the change.
“Customers have been complaining,” Tortorich said. “Some people say it tastes different, others don’t like having to relight it. I tell customers to call their cigarette manufacturers.”
Manufacturers say the change won’t affect cigarettes’ taste or appearance.
“There are no additional chemicals,” said Frank Lester, a spokesman for tobacco company R.J. Reynolds said. “The difference is the paper bands.”
Lester and David Sutton, a spokesman for tobacco compnay Philip Morris, say smokers must still be careful.
“It’s important to point out to consumers that anything that burns, if handled carelessly, will still burn,” Sutton said. “Nothing that burns is fire safe.”
Manufacturers who sell cigarettes in violation of the new standard could be fined up to $100 per pack. Subsequent violations could result in higher fines.
Stores are allowed to sell any remaining stocks of non-fire-safe cigarettes purchased prior to today.
Chad Mire, Thibodaux’s assistant fire chief, said the new cigarettes should help reduce fires caused by unattended cigarettes.
“It’s a great thing,” Mire said. “Anything that can benefit fighting or preventing fires is a good thing.”
Richard, however, says he remains unhappy with the change, especially given the recent tax increases on his smokes.
“I’m very upset by this,” he said.

Find A Reason To Quit Smoking Cigarettes And Reclaim Your Life

There are many millions of people in the world that smoke cigarettes everyday of their lives. Everyone knows that there are many ailments that come from smoking cigarettes and one of the biggest killers is cancer. No one wants to go to the doctor and hear him say that they have cancer in their lungs, liver, intestines, pancreas, or any of the many other places it can be in your body. This disease kills hundreds of thousands of people each year and the numbers are not going down enough to really notice.

Cancer is something that no smoker wants to think about. Most all of them can tell you that they know it is damaging their lungs and they are even running the risk of getting lung cancer, but they still continue to smoking cigarettes or other tobacco products. It seems as people get caught up in their everyday life and stay so busy, they do not stop to think about what they could be giving up by continuing to smoke. The ones that have been smoking for many years and are middle aged, probably have kids or maybe even grandchildren. A big priority in the lives of most people is family, especially your children and their children.

There are all kinds of reasons that you could come up with to help you quit smoking and the biggest one should be yourself and your health. How can you claim to love others so much when you are choosing to kill yourself slowly and will not likely be with them for as long as you could. Continuing to smoke cigarettes will do damage to the body that not even the strongest of willed people can not over come later in life. Nobody wants their kids or even grandchildren to see them looking old and sick, but the truth is that the carbon monoxide that they have breathed all of their life has robbed them of their youthful appearance. This is a deadly chemical that a smoker has been inhaling into their lungs for many years.

Not only will cigarettes rob you of your youthful look, you will find that eventually you are going to realize the amount of money that you have lost over the last many years of supporting this habit.
So, if you are still smoking cigarettes, talk to your doctor about the possibilities of getting on a program or anything you can do that will get you off of cigarettes. If just looking at your family can not make you quit, just imagine not being able to ever look at them again because you had to die too soon.

FDA warns of e-cigarette risks

The Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers about potential health risks associated with electronic cigarettes.

Also known as "e-cigarettes," electronic cigarettes are battery-operated devices designed to look like and be used in the same manner as conventional cigarettes.

Sold online and in many shopping malls, the devices generally contain cartridges filled with nicotine, flavor and other chemicals. They turn nicotine, which is highly addictive, and other chemicals into a vapor that is inhaled by the user.

The FDA said it is concerned that e-cigarettes can increase nicotine addiction among young people and may lead kids to try other tobacco products, including conventional cigarettes. In addition, the products may contain ingredients that are known to be toxic to humans because clinical studies about the safety of these products for their intended use have not been submitted to the FDA.

Of particular concern, the FDA said, is that e-cigarettes are sold without any legal age restrictions and are available in different flavors such as chocolate, strawberry and mint, which may appeal to young people.

In addition, the devices do not contain any health warnings comparable to FDA-approved nicotine replacement products or conventional cigarettes.

Consumers may report serious problems with e-cigarettes to the FDA through the MedWatch program, online or at 800-FDA-1088.