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- Category: February 2021
SMOKING is one of the biggest causes of death and illness in the UK every year.
The habit can lead to health complications but new research has suggested it might also have a negative impact on your relationships. A study of over 2,000 smokers found that half of them would hide their habit from their loved ones.
The research, conducted by LloydsPharmacy, found that 43 per cent of those who keep it under wraps have used walking the dog as an excuse to have a cigarette, while 54 per cent would say they’re just nipping to the shops.
Another 40 per cent offer to take the bins out for a secret ciggie, and two thirds have blamed a friend for smelling of smoke.
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- Category: February 2021
We have all heard about the risks of smoking, it is directly linked to 16 types of cancer.
When you smoke a cigarette, over 7000 chemicals enter your body and 69 carcinogens.
However, smoking is highly addictive, and quitting can be a real challenge for anyone.
Understanding the effects quitting can have on your body are a great way to encourage you to stop. When you smoke, the nicotine can cause your pulse and blood pressure to rise.
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- Category: February 2021
The Jharkhand cabinet on Thursday approved a proposal to completely ban hookah bars in the state. As per the decision, those flouting rules may face a prison sentence or a fine of Rs 1 lakh.
The cabinet has also approved a decision to make the sale and purchase of tobacco products like cigarettes at public places illegal. Anyone found breaking the rules will be fined Rs 1,000. [...]
A decision to increase the minimum age for buying tobacco products in the state has also been increased from 18 to 21. It may be noted that those below the age of 21 will not be allowed to purchase any tobacco products.
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- Category: February 2021
In patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), passive vape exposure from e-cigarettes has been shown to be potentially harmful by exerting acute small inflammatory responses in the lungs and blood, as well as throat irritation. [...] The researchers sought to explore the local and systemic effects of short-term passive vape exposure among individuals with mild or moderate COPD. A randomized, controlled, double-blind, crossover study on the topic was conducted in Denmark. All of the participants were subjected to 2 exposure sessions. [...]
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- Category: February 2021
In 1942, the American political scientist Quincy Wright published a lengthy book about how to organise the world beyond endless wars. [...] He was one of the first major voices to call for what would later be known as the “war on drugs”. As early as 1924, Wright argued that the use of drugs “for purposes other than medicinal or scientific” is an “evil”. While working as an adviser to the state department, Wright advocated for the US to lead a global assault against drugs.
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- Category: February 2021
New research shows nearly half of smokers who try to quit manage to last only a week or less before taking up smoking again. It found that 85 per cent of smokers had tried to quit smoking in the past with 25 per cent having tried to quit two times and 15 per cent trying three times.
The most common reason smokers gave for being unable to quit was a lack of willpower with 52 per cent saying they didn't have the motivation.
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- Category: February 2021
Will the new Biden administration choose science over politics? The commandment to “believe science” has become a rallying cry, one echoed by Joe Biden during his presidential campaign when he promised to “choose science over fiction.” If that is true, his new administration should embrace tobacco harm -reduction, a public health strategy that, instead of the abstinence-only-approach, seeks to reduce the death and disease caused by combustible cigarettes by allowing smokers access to lower-risk alternatives.
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- Category: February 2021
Addiction is a complex chronic brain condition that is characterized by substance abuse or repetitive engagement in preblematic behaviors, such as gambling, which then continues despite causing harm to yourself or others.
It involves interactions between the brain, genes, and environmental factors. Common treatment approaches include behavioral therapies and medications. Different treatment options are recommended depending on the specific addiction, and in many cases, a combination of approaches is advised.
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- Category: February 2021
There were mixed views over the future regulation and supply of NRT products during debate in the Senate this week.
While most supported the current regime of prescription-only supply e-cigarettes, One Nation called for the products to become Pharmacy-only medications, while coalition senators argued for pharmacy-only liquid nicotine.
During a session of often-heated debate, Senators voted to support a cross-party motion on the marketing and sale of e-cigarettes.
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- Category: February 2021
[...] BAT has told regulators around the world that its new products, including heated tobacco and oral nicotine, are for current adult smokers. But as these sponsorships make clear, it has launched an aggressive £1bn marketing campaign that leans heavily on social media, concerts and sporting events, which could have the effect of encouraging young people to pick up a potentially deadly tobacco habit that still kills 8 million people a year, notwithstanding long-established rules aimed at preventing this.
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- Category: February 2021
The Vermont Senate has revived legislation that would ban the sale of flavored vaping and tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes.
The ban was floated last year as a way to prevent youth usage of nicotine products, but the proposal was sidelined after the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
Sen. Ginny Lyons, D-Chittenden, chair of the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare, said in an interview this week that she’d like the Senate to pass the bill, S.24, “as quickly as possible.” She said use of nicotine products by young people has increased during the Covid-19 pandemic.
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- Category: February 2021
One in five Minnesota high school students are using e-cigarettes, according to a new survey from the state health department—a statistic public health officials say shows youth vaping remains a serious challenge for the state.
The 2020 Minnesota Youth Tobacco Survey also shows 70% of high school and middle school students who use e-cigarettes are reporting signs of nicotine dependence, according to a news release.
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- Category: February 2021
Morocco plans to allow the farming, export and domestic sale of cannabis for medical and industrial use, the government said on Thursday, a move it hopes will help impoverished farmers in the Rif mountains amid a growing legal global market for the drug. [...] The bill, which the cabinet is expected to approve next week, aims to improve farmers’ incomes, protect them from drug traffickers who now control the trade in cannabis and gain access to the booming legal international market for the drug.
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- Category: February 2021
A public consultation on the recently announced flavour ban which was originally meant to close on the 19th of January, had been extended to the 2nd of February. The Government website stated that this extension was granted “due to popular demand.”
In line with this, a press release by the World Vapers’ Alliance (WVA) had pointed out that this consultation had gathered the largest number of responses ever collected in a health-related public consultation in the country. More importantly, the vast majority of the responses, at 98.54% opposed the ban, equating to 746 responses out of the total 757 submissions recorded on the official website until now.
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- Category: February 2021
The Advocates Voice covers issues in Asia Pacific (and the world) relative to Consumers and Tobacco Harm Reduction.
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- Category: February 2021
Because smoking cigarettes may raise the risk of complications from COVID-19, people have quit smoking in record numbers throughout the past year. A recent poll from University College London shows that over 1 million people in the U.K. alone have quit smoking in 2020 — and a full 40 percent have named concerns over COVID-19 as their reason why.
When people decide to quit tobacco, many will turn to vapes or e-cigarettes to get the nicotine fix that they crave. [...] “The true answer is that it's too early for us to know whether vaping is less unhealthy than smoking,” says Renea Jablonski, a board-certified pulmonologist [...]
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- Category: February 2021
Analysis into wastewater around the country in 2020 reveals an estimated 11.1 tonnes of methamphetamine was consumed in Australia as well as 5.6 tonnes of cocaine, 2.6 tonnes of MDMA and one tonne of heroin.
The 12th report of the National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program [...] estimated $8.9bn was spent on the four drugs, 78 per cent of which, or $6.96bn, was spent on methamphetamine through analysing samples from 56 plants across the country. Alcohol and nicotine remain the most consumed drug, but methamphetamine is the illicit drug with the highest rate of consumption. However, overall rates were down compared with the year before.
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- Category: February 2021
Recent changes (covered here) to the Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act (the “PACT Act”) by the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (the “Appropriations Act”), a COVID-19 relief bill signed into law on December 27, 2020, will bar the US Postal Service (USPS) from delivering hemp vapor products directly to consumers [...]
In the aftermath of the Appropriations Act, both UPS and FedEx have announced they will no longer ship vapor products for home delivery. [...] “UPS will not transport vaping products to, from, or within the United States due to the increased complexity to ship those products.” [...]
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- Category: February 2021
Children who are exposed to tobacco smoke have a greater chance of having high blood pressure, a new study has found.
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- Category: February 2021
After years of false starts and failed attempts, Gov. Philip D. Murphy on Monday signed into law three bills that effectively permit and regulate the use of recreational marijuana in New Jersey, making it the most populous state in the Northeast to fully legalize the drug.
New Jersey is now one of 14 states to legalize the recreational use of cannabis for adults 21 and older, while also easing several penalties for underage possession and allowing for the creation of a regulated market that could provide a welcomed boost to the state’s economy as it recovers from the pandemic.