Tobacco War News - June 17
Since our last tobacco war update:
A resolution signed by representatives of 22 of Oklahoma’s 39 Indian Nations and tribes called on Governor Brad Henry to scrap the current tobacco compacts between the tribes and the state and return to the rates of previous compacts. Under the old compacts the tribes paid 25 percent of the tax rate applied to no-tribal tobacco sellers. Prior to the compact busting tobacco tax increase the tribes paid 6 cents per pack as opposed to the 23.5 cents per pack of no-tribal sellers. Under the new tax rate, 25 percent would amount to 26 cents per-pack. The state is wanting the trial shops to pay a variety of tax rates ranging from a low of 6 cents to a high of 88 cents per-pack while non-tribal tobacco retailers pay $1.03 per-pack.
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Attorney General Drew Edmondson filed suit against three foreign tobacco companies for refusing to pay Edmondson’s ‘blackmail’ for not being part of the $2 billion dollar ’settlement’ between Oklahoma and major tobacco companies back in 1998. The companies sued by Edmondson are Prime Mover, a Filipino manufacturer that produces cigarettes under the brand names Desert Sun, Melbourne and Unify; Tabacalera Honnington of Paraguay, which makes Parker cigarettes; and Tabacalera Nazionale of Paraguay, maker of Infinity cigarettes.
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At a symposium on sovereignty at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahma City, state senator Cal Hobson stated:
It is critically important that we have … a fair, level, honest and open system involving all 40 sovereign entities in Oklahoma — the 39 tribes and the state of Oklahoma.
Hobson went on to encourage Governor Henry to include one or two legislators in negotiations and talks involving tobacco compacts with tribal leaders, pointing out that some tribes will no longer talk to state Treasurer Scott Meacham, Henry’s designated negotiator.
State Rep. Joe Dorman encouraged the Governor to appoint an advisory committee. Dorman stated:
I would like to see legislators that are aware of the process be brought in as advisers to the governor. We were elected by the people just like the governor, and I think we have a broader perspective.
Contacted later, a spokesman said the governor is open to suggestions to improve the compacting process. Evidently the Governor is not ‘that open’ as he has not acted on either suggestion.
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The Oklahoma Tax Commission issued a press release reminding smokers that purchasing cigarettes on-line and not paying taxes on them is illegal. The Tax Commission claims that to date it has sent out more than 1,800 letters to taxpayers seeking $287,830 in back taxes and has collected $168,671.
Federal law requires that all on-line tobacco vendors provide monthly reports to the states of all tobacco products sold and shipped to the state’s residents. Of course no such requirement exists on international vendors. However persons contemplating ordering from over-seas on-line vendors should check customs regulations to determine the legalities of purchases
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Officials from Tulsa-area hospitals and medical clinics announced their campuses will become smoke and tobacco free Nov. 16.
The hospitals joining in this move are:
Cancer Treatment Centers, Claremore Regional Hospital, Continuous Care Center of Tulsa, Hillcrest Medical Center, Hillcrest Specialty Hospital, Jane Phillips Medical Center, Bartlesville, Laureate Psychiatric Clinic and Hospital, Parkside Hospital, St. Francis Hospital, St. Francis - Broken Arrow, St. Francis Heart Hospital, St. John Medical Center, St. John - Owasso, St. John - Sapulpa, SouthCrest Hospital, Tulsa Regional Medical Center and Tulsa Spine Hospital.
The clinics joining in the move are:
Cancer Care Associates, Eastern Oklahoma Ear, Nose and Throat, Health South Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation, Oklahoma Heart Institute, Oklahoma Physical Therapy, Utica Park Clinic, Urologic Specialists of Oklahoma, and Warren Clinic - Tulsa.
The announced smoking prohibitions cover patients, employees and visitors. The announcement also indicated that campuses will post signs about the new policy, and a hospital spokeswoman said people will be given cards about the new policy when they come onto the campuses. Enforcement details were not released.
Reese Jackson, president of the Tulsa Hospital Council, says:
“If people want to smoke or chew, they will have to physically leave the premises.”
Jackson did not indicate what if anything would be done about tobacco users congregating on the public sidewalk in front of the various hospitals and clinics. Since the sidewalk is not part of the campuses there’s little if anything that could be done other than clean up the resulting mess, hopefully on a daily basis. Likewise Jackson did not detail what if anything the hospitals planned to do about patients pushing their IV trees out the door and onto the sidewalk while their hospital gowns flap in the breeze. As usual, the devil will likely be in the details…
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Some Oklahoma health officials have their knickers in a knot over the increasing number of hookah bars opening across the Oklahoma City metro area, many in close proximity to colleges and universities.
For those unaware, hookah is a fruit-flavored tobacco smoked through an octopus-like water pipe equipped with multiple tubes. Some health officials argue that smoking hookah is more harmful than smoking cigarettes. For example, the World Health Organization (WHO) claims hookah smokers can inhale the equivalent of 100 cigarettes of smoke in a single session.
In a 2005 advisory note about water pipes, WHO said cigarette smokers take about eight to 12 puffs of a cigarette over a 5 to 7-minute period, while hookah smokers take in 50 to 200 puffs over a 20 to 80-minute period_ and the hookah smokers inhale a vastly greater amount of smoke per puff.
In Oklahoma, hookah bars are outside the recently enacted regulation of ‘the smoking police’ at the State Health Department. Odds are that the anti-smoking zealots will attempt to remedy that oversight during the next legislative session in February, 2007.
June 22nd, 2009 at 2:24 pm
I think the people in the US have the whole hookah smoking blown out of proportion. They dont even have their facts straight on the different degrees a cigarette burns versus a hookah, which is why cigarettes have tar and hookahs dont.
Hookah Bar