cigarettesone

I'm going to smoke tobacco a cigarette.

Oh yeah, I'm going to smoke it up real good. I'm going to tear off that pesky plastic wrapper, pop open the lid and get that mild rush as I rip off the silvery paper. And there they'll be. All twenty of them. My little friends.

Then I'll take one of them out and spoil the symmetry.

WHERE IS YOUR GOD NOW, LITTLE CIGARETTE PEOPLE?

Mahaha.

Yes, little cigarette people. Here is your companion IN MY MOUTH. See how I set fire to the little fellow. Watch as his embers flare and burn. Maha. Maha. Maha.

Then sanity returns as the lovely soothing cigarette ingredients kick in - you know: nicotine, benzene, windolene, Shadrak, Meshak and Abendigo. Sometimes you just wanna go where everybody knows your name.

Cigarettes.

They make you feel good. They make you forget your troubles. They ease up the tight, thick feeling at the back of your throat and saliva glands. They smell nice. They make you look cool.

They sit in your hand so easily, these cigarettes, between the first and second fingers, in your right hand, always. Although you are left-handed.

Senator Ted Deutch (D-Boca Raton) responded to this weekendТs prediction by the stateТs Revenue Estimating Conference that his cigarettes online tax legislation, SB 1840, would raise nearly $900 million in the upcoming fiscal year, noting that in the wake of FridayТs dire prognosis of FloridaТs overall budget picture it is more important than ever to expedite consideration of his bill. Deutch pointed out that in addition to potentially plugging certain holes in FloridaТs crisis-ridden healthcare budget, including the provision of a recurring source of funding for the perennially-threatened Medically Needy and Medicaid Aged and Disabled programs, his proposal also includes a significant stimulus component with thousands of clean, high-wage jobs in the research and biotech sectors that would help prime the pump of the stateТs economic recovery when it is needed most.

УWe immediately need to fix our stateТs recurring fiscal problems, and assessing cigarettes in a more sensible manner relative to their actual impact on our budget is a great place to start,Ф said Senator Deutch. He added, УMoving forward, we also should do it in such a way that revenues generated by our tax and fee policies are invested in a healthier, long-term future for Florida. My bill balances that need responsibly.Ф

Deutch repeated his assertion, shown to be accurate by the stateТs own economists, that a dollar increase in the stateТs cigarette tax, the 6th lowest in the nation at a mere 33.9-cents per pack, would significantly narrow the gap in what the state collects annually from tobacco users ($430 million) versus what Florida spends on tobacco-related illnesses through the Medicaid program ($1.3 billion). He also lamented the fact that all Florida households, including the roughly 80 percent without a single tobacco user, are saddled with an annual tax burden of $586 to cover the stateТs smoking-related Medicaid tab, an increasingly tough pill to swallow in an economy in which many families are struggling just to put food on the table.

It was only a matter of time. With a single pack of Cigarettes selling for $8.00 a pack and a carton for over $80.00, people unwilling to pay the new tobacco tax are stealing to support their nicotine addiction.

Lafayette Police are investigating the recent theft of several cartons of cigarettes that were taken from two local convenience stores.

One of the cases involves the M&M grocery store at the corner of South College and Johnston Street.

Just to show you how desperate the thieves are, the other convenience store they hit is located right across the street from State Police Troop I headquarters.

The smoking bandits stole several cartons of smokes from Chiassons Corner Mart.

New smoking-cessation products have also come on the market, from the very low-tech, like the free cheap cigarettes Counter, to flashy high-tech, like the Ruyan E-Cigarette.

As the name implies, the Cigarette Counter is a small device that helps you count how many cigarettes you’ve smoked. It clips to the top of your cigarettes, which requires you purchase a hard pack. You keep track of how many free cigarettes online you’ve smoked via simple add and subtract buttons, which, the company claims, helps smokers break through the unconscious habit of grabbing a smoke.

From China comes the Ruyan E-Cigarette, an electronic nicotine inhaler designed to mimic the smoking experience, complete with exhaled vapor. Nicotine vaporizing cartridges are snapped into the device, and are available in four different nicotine doses, from 0 mg to 16 mg. Ruyan also sells e-pipes and e-cigars.

Do these products work, or are they gimmicks?

Thomas Glynn, American Cancer Society director of cancer science and trends, says people are very curious about high-tech devices, but he’s concerned that there is no data yet to back up their use.

“I don’t see anything in [these newer approaches] that I’d say is a magic bullet,” he says. “Unfortunately, one real challenge we have in helping people to stop is getting them to accept that quitting is hard work.”

There’s also a risk, Glynn says, that people will try high-tech methods and, if they don’t work, “might throw their hands up and say, ‘I can’t stop.’ And we’ll lose an opportunity for someone who can quit.”

Glen Morgan, a clinical psychologist and program director at the Tobacco Control Research Branch of the National Cancer Institute, concurs.

“If I’m not familiar with a product or heard of studies supporting its use, I wouldn’t recommend it to anybody any more than, say, chewing peach pits if you have cancer,” he says.

But Morgan adds that the “John Wayne approach” to quitting—using will power alone—doesn’t work. “If you stop and think about anything you’ve ever accomplished, will power just wasn’t enough,” he says. “You need to have a plan and practice and try and be prepared and know that it’s not going to be an easy course and you’re going to slip.”

In two weeks, taxes on a pack of Cigarettes will jump more than 250 percent. Some smokers are outraged over this increase, while others say the tax could be another motivating factor to help them kick the habit.

This tobacco act doesn't go into effect until April 1, but smokers and users are already noticing the hike at the register. Retailers and wholesalers are bumping up their prices to help offset this new tax just weeks before it becomes official.

Raymond Monk is fuming over the cost of cigarettes. That's because newly passed legislation has tobacco prices on the rise.

"These same three packs cost me nine dollars last week. Now they cost me twelve." says Monk.

But the 62 cent per pack tax hike doesn't stop at users. Manufacturers and smoke shop owners like Jim Boeving will still have to pay a one-time floor tax on all tobacco merchandise in the store on April 1.

"It seems rather biased that they go right to tobacco as the golden goose." says Boeving.

Even though the new regulation doesn't go into effect until April Fool's Day, retailers say the tax is no joke.

"Looks good on paper today, but the reality is, it probably will not work." says Boeving.

And smokers agree.

"It's from the low income people like us that they're getting the money from." says smoker Zane Brayall, III

Dave Rzieske, another smoker, adds, "They're relying on us taxpayers on smoking to child health care."

Boeving says it's too early to tell if the new tax will have any effect on sales, but Monk says it is already burning a hole in his wallet.

He says, "Probably make me quit. I can't afford them."

Lawmakers passed this tax to help fund children's health insurance. Smokers say they don't mind a tax for kids. They just believe this tax is unjustified and they are targeting tobacco.

This tax will also effect more than buy cigarettes. Chewing tobacco will go up 31 cents per pound and pipe tobacco will go up about 1.73 per pound.

But, where smoke shop owners will really get hit is with roll your own tobacco. It's currently taxed at $1.09 per pound. However, starting April 1, it will be taxed nearly $24 per pound.