LINWOOD BARCLAY Jan. 31, 2005. 07:36 AM

It has been a very busy month at the Ralph Klein Research Institute, that scientific body that works round-the-clock to provide Alberta's premier with the latest data on a variety of vitally important issues.

No political leader wants to go out there, making speeches, facing impudent questions from the press, without being well versed in the facts. Every mayor, premier or prime minister should have his own scientific laboratory, staffed with world-renowned scientists toiling away in an endless quest for the truth. But few have one to match Ralph Klein's.

Just recently, in fact, the RKRI, as it is known in the scientific community, made news nation-wide when it unearthed new details about mad cow disease and smoking bans, and passed them on to the premier.

"I've been told you would have to eat 10 billion meals of brains, spinal cords, ganglia, eyeballs and tonsils to get the disease," Klein told the Montreal Board of Trade with regard to mad cow. Many of the people in attendance found it hard to imagine eating 10 billion meals, period, in a lifetime. An 80-year-old person, to consume 10 billion meals, would have to eat 34,246 meals a day, which is a lot, although you'd certainly never feel the need to snack.

A leading researcher at the RKRI explains: "For a while, there, we weren't sure whether it was 10 billion meals, or 10 trillion meals, and it was hard to check, because Roy, from the institute's mailroom, couldn't remember which bowling partner told him this, so we flipped a coin."

And it was the institute's diligence that turned up information (again, passed on to the premier), that smoking bans do nothing to discourage people from smoking.

"Well," said the same researcher, "it wasn't `information' per se, but more like a feeling, which was shared by many of us here at the institute who smoke, and don't like to be told what to do."

This comment goes to the heart of the Ralph Klein Research Institute's methodology. "We don't like to brag," said another scientist, "but we have one of the largest water coolers in the country, and so a lot of people can hang out around it. If someone here says he heard from somebody else that something or other has been found out, well, that's good enough for us."

A few other recent findings by the RKRI that'll be coming down the pipe soon:

-The 10-second rule is legit: It's actually true that, if you drop something on the floor, and pick it up within 10 seconds, you can eat it. "I mean, honestly," an institute scientist said, "when's the last time you saw the headline, `Ate something off floor, man dies.' Not lately, I'll bet."

-You can't even SEE car exhaust: Except for maybe when it's really cold out, and even then, once it gets a few feet away from the car, it's totally invisible! And THAT's supposed to be hurting the ozone layer?

-Men who drive hybrid cars are light in the loafers: Real men consume fossil fuel. And lots of it.

-The choking doberman: Okay, you're not going to believe this, but it happened to a friend of a friend of one of the researchers. This woman goes home and finds her dog choking, drops him off at the vet's, and goes home. Soon as she gets there, the phone's ringing, and it's the vet, and he says: "Get out of the house!" Seems he found three human fingers in the dog's throat, and figuring they might belong to a burglar who was still in the house, he phoned to warn the woman. And sure enough, when the police were called, they found a wounded guy hiding in the closet, and that man was Elvis Presley.

When you hear Ralph Klein tell this story, try to act surprised.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=971358637177&c=Article&cid=1107126608902

Families that may have prospered for generations now verging on financial ruin because of policies

Tobacco growers' folly Editorial, Jan. 20.

It is disappointing — but not surprising — that the Star does not support fair treatment for tobacco farmers who are facing the brunt of anti-tobacco policies.

 Whether it is high tobacco taxes, smoking bans or any number of other measures designed to dampen tobacco use, farmers are the collateral damage. Governments across this land continue to rake in more than $8 billion each year from tobacco taxes, but farmers are going broke.

 The World Health Organization has proclaimed in its Framework Convention on Tobacco Control that tobacco farmers whose livelihoods have been negatively impacted by anti-tobacco policies should be compensated. Canada is the international champion for this framework and should abide by its principles — something the federal government put forward when it announced assistance last May and the Dalton McGuinty government accepted in promising as-yet undelivered assistance.

 The Star has fallen into the decades-old trap put forward by people who know little of agriculture. "Just grow something else," you say. Where would these products be sold? If you picked up the phone and spoke with almost any fruit or vegetable grower (the most likely complementary crops), you would find out that their markets are saturated. If you spoke to an agronomist, you would find out that sandy tobacco soils cannot support a wide variety of other crops. And tobacco farms are saddled with debt that was used to buy equipment that is not transferable to other crops. If there is no help to exit the industry, our farms — and communities — will collapse.

 Families that may have prospered for generations are now verging on financial ruin because of the negative effect of government policies. We simply ask that government be part of a long-term strategy for our farmers and help those who are forced to exit the business escape financial ruin.

Fred Neukamm, Chair, The Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers' Marketing Board, Tillsonburg

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1106607011649&call_pageid=

968332189003&col=968350116895&DPL=IvsNDS%2f7ChAX&tacodalogin=yes

Tobacco growers deserve fairnes sJan. 26, 2005.

As a kid growing up in the '50s, it seemed that every adult smoked. During the '60s, the lucky ones among us were able to get late-summer work picking tobacco. Smoking was government sanctioned, an integral part of our lifestyle, and the growers were a mainstay of the agricultural economy.

While the moves to end tobacco use make sense, fairness demands that we provide the tobacco growers with a decent buyout. We were all in this together. After their years of working the land — in the fashion we, as a society, requested — they should be entitled to retire their growing operations via reasonable settlement and not simply be starved out of business.

Val Patrick, Hamilton, Ont.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=971358637177&c=Article&cid=1106693413597

Frank Matys: Orillia Today February 1/05

Take it outside.

That is the message public-health officials are sending to parents who continue to put their children at risk by smoking in the home or car.

"It is amazing we are still having this discussion 20 years later, when we clearly know what the outcomes are," Dr. Gary Smith, Chief of Pediatrics at Soldiers' Memorial Hospital said yesterday.

The local physician was on hand to help launch a pilot project aimed at ridding Orillia-area homes of cigarette smoke, by educating parents on the dangers associated with puffing indoors. Children exposed to smoke in the home are more prone to ear infections, colds and other problems, Dr. Susan Surry, one of Simcoe County's associate medical officers of health, told reporters.

"Parents wouldn't use paint with lead in it, but they will smoke in the house," added Kimberley Downey, co-ordinator of the hospital's regional pediatric asthma clinic.

The project is a joint effort involving Soldiers' Memorial Hospital and the Simcoe County District Health Unit.

Smoke-Free Homes and Asthma encourages families to talk about second-hand smoke, and to take measures to ensure their homes are smoke-free.

Brochures offering tips to that end are being distributed around the city, while fliers focusing on the hazards associated with second-hand smoke are available through local pharmacies and doctors' offices. "Parents want the best for their children, especially their health, so we want to give them the information and tools they need to take smoking outside," said Surry.

Province wide, second-hand smoke is said to be responsible for 20 per cent of all tonsillectomies, 14 per cent of tube insertions in ears, 13 per cent of physician visits for coughs, and seven per cent of ear infections.

Asthma, cited as the leading cause of missed school days and hospitalization among children, is also linked to second-hand smoke, according to the health unit.

And, while parents of children receiving treatment at the local asthma clinic are offered free cessation counseling to help kick the highly addictive habit, "precious few take us up on it," Downey said. "We can see significant improvement in a child's health when a parent ideally stops smoking, or at the very least stops smoking in the home, the car and anywhere in the presence of their child," added Smith.

Orillia was chosen to host the pilot project because of the relatively large number of households with children under the age of two, where smoking still occurs. Studies show that children raised in a home with a smoker are more likely to become smokers themselves.

MORE THAN 300 SIGN PETITION CALLING FOR U.S.-STYLE BUYOUT

Monte Sonnenberg - SIMCOE REFORMER Friday January 28, 2005

The Simcoe Reformer — Nearly half the tobacco growers in Ontario are prepared to exit the industry immediately.
A petition calling for a U.S.-style buyout of tobacco growers has quickly attracted more than 300 signatures. This is nearly half the 800 growers left in the tobacco belt.
Frank Schonberger of Langton is among those promoting the petition. Yesterday, he said growers have heard enough empty promises from government. They are also fed up with the ongoing vilification of their industry.
“We don’t care where the money comes from,” Schonberger said. “We’re all ready to exit the industry if they compensate us justly. And if the trade wants an industry here, let them show it. They haven’t done that for the last few years. It’s almost become a forum for abuse of tobacco farmers, between government and taxation, government legislation, the demonization of the industry. Farmers are very frustrated. No one wants us to produce tobacco anymore according to these policies.”
Matters came to a head recently when growers learned the Ontario Flue-Cured Tobacco Growers Marketing Board was preparing to allot a $121 million government compensation fund by way of a “sealed reverse auction.”
Under this system, growers wanting to exit the industry would signal, by sealed tender, how much they were prepared to accept for their quota. Those quoting the lowest amount per pound would have first call on the fund. The marketing board was working out details of the procedure when hundreds of growers protested at the board’s head office in Tillsonburg three weeks ago.
Growers are opposed because they feel the process pits farmer against farmer. As well, a reverse auction favours growers who are well off. Those with the lowest debt can afford to take less for their quota.
Instead of a reverse auction, growers want compensation along the lines of that granted to tobacco farmers in the United States last year. There, state and federal officials agreed to a $10 U.S. per pound buyout. The local petition calls on Ottawa and Queen’s Park to “support an immediate pursuit of a total quota buyout exit program at U.S. levels within a specific wind-down timeframe.”
The U.S. buyout was on the agenda yesterday of a meeting of the Tobacco Advisory Committee in Toronto. Committee members include representatives of government, the tobacco marketing board, tobacco multinationals and assorted leaf buyers. TAC meetings are held to set the price for the coming crop year.
Linda Lietaer, spokesperson for the tobacco board, said by phone that it is premature to talk about a U.S.-style buyout in Ontario. She noted that three experts from the U.S. were in Toronto yesterday to speak to TAC members about how the American program works.
“That is part of our meeting today,” Lietaer said. “We’re trying to get a better feel of what that buy-out means. We need to be totally clear before we consider it.”
In a recent letter to tobacco producers and government officials, petition promoter John VanDaele of Courtland said “Many producers feel the proposed funding is grossly inadequate to assist the growing number of producers that wish to exit the industry.”
Schonberger agrees. He said much has changed since the federal government offered $71 million and Queen’s Park $50 million. Substantially more will be needed, Schonberger said, to ensure a fair and orderly wind-down of the tobacco belt.

http://simcoereformer.ca/story.php?id=140063

Saskatchewan News Network; Regina Leader-Post Friday, January 28, 2005

REGINA (SNN) -- Nearly a month into Saskatchewan's smoking ban, the province's health minister is pleased to see the vast majority of businesses are complying with the new law, but admitted there have been few trouble spots.

"There are some areas where we've had some challenges," said John Nilson. "I know the public health inspectors working in each of the regional health authorities have gone with progressive enforcement which includes going around and visiting businesses, telling them how it affects their place and when there are real concerns, they've been issuing some tickets."

Nilson said the department hasn't had to worry about missing the businesses who aren't complying since many members of the public have readily reported them.

"We get lots of calls from people who are concerned when they go to an establishment that isn't complying," he said. "I know that some establishments have had their own customers say to them, 'Look we're not going to come here anymore if you don't comply with this because we really appreciate a smoke-free environment.' "

The provincewide ban came into effect Jan. 1, but health officials offered a 60-day educational period for businesses to learn all the rules involved and prepare themselves for the change. While most have forced customers to butt out, others have used this period as a way to allow their customers to continue smoking and others have said they have no plans to comply.

Nilson said throughout the second half of the grace period inspectors will carry on with progressive enforcement.

http://www.canada.com/saskatoon/starphoenix/news/local/story.html?id=e6588e43-e1dd-4bd6-a423-3737cf097bcc

By JASON BOTCHFORD, TORONTO SUN Wed, January 26, 2005

FAST AND furious tax increases on cigarettes are reviving the thriving and lucrative black market to its 1992 zenith, warn tobacco industry insiders. "It's out of control," said Dave Bryans, who represents 6,000 retailers as executive director of the Ontario Convenience Store Association. "We have had three tax increases in 14 months now and that forces consumers to find other channels. We anticipate, unless we work together and change something, the black market will continue to be out of control and we'll be back to where it was at its peak."

Smokers in Ontario had to cough up $1.25 more per carton of cigarettes beginning last week.

The Liberals have raised provincial tobacco taxes by $6.25 since they were elected in October 2003, translating into $300 million more per year in provincial revenue.

In 1992 about 35% of cigarettes in Ontario were sold without Canadian taxes.

The result of increasing taxes again is a ballooning illegal underground market that relies on native reserves to funnel cheap cigarettes into the local market, Bryans said.

Imperial Tobacco spokesman Christina Dona said a new illegal industry has even spawned counterfeit, or copycat cigarettes. These smokes are produced in China at between $2-$5 a carton.

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/TorontoSun/News/2005/01/26/910593-sun.html

By gail johnson  Publish Date: 27-Jan-2005

Dr. Ray Baker. Mark Mushet photo

He argues tobacco and marijuana are the toughest drugs to kick

Richmond doctor Ray Baker is best known for his work in addiction medicine. He designed the first such program at UBC's medical school--but his knowledge is not all academic.

Eleven years ago Baker founded HealthQuest Occupational Health Corporation, which treats people with substance-use disorders. Its clients include Air Canada, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of B.C., the Washington State Bar Association, and Corrections Services Canada. However, Baker--who, since starting his clinic in 1993, has spoken at hundreds of conferences across North America and testified in British Columbia Supreme Court on the medical, neurobiological, psychological, and pharmacological effects of nicotine and mood- and mind-altering substances--also knows all about addiction first hand.

As a med student at the University of Western Ontario and during his first decade as a family and emergency-room doctor in rural B.C., Baker was hooked on tobacco, marijuana, and alcohol. Although he thrived on the demands of a busy practice and the chaos of the ER, he was increasingly exhausted and his marriage was in trouble. But he didn't think he had a problem.

"I was driven, compulsive, conscientious," Baker says in a sunny-morning interview over coffee. "People see addicts as a certain type. I was addicted as a 17-year-old. I supplied half my class at med school with pot I grew on my farm....The interesting thing--and this is not atypical--is that with the shame and guilt, I felt worse and worse about my behaviour, so I would achieve more and more. I was class valedictorian in medical school....For many professionals with addiction, their attention, their performance is just fine; if anything, it's superior.

"I was doing a damn good job," he adds of his work in Logan Lake. "I knew there was a problem when I walked out the back door of my clinic in 1984 with 10 people waiting for me. I was burned out, but I didn't know what was wrong."

It was only after a counsellor recommended he go to a treatment centre that Baker realized he was addicted. That's when he became passionate about learning more about the condition and helping others. With their relentlessly seductive effects, Baker says tobacco and marijuana are among the hardest drugs to quit smoking, as anyone who picked those as their New Year's resolutions knows.

In the past 10 years, Baker has treated more than 5,000 people with substance-use disorders, some addicted to heroin, others to cocaine, and still others to tobacco.

"The worst is nicotine," he asserts. "The reward for a dose of nicotine is powerfully reinforced. The release of the pleasure hormone dopamine is very sharp and very quick.

"If you're injecting heroin, you might shoot up four times a day and have four spikes--from euphoria to discomfort to withdrawal. With crack, you might do it 10 to 20 times a day. If you smoke 20 cigarettes a day, and every time you inhale you get a dose, that could be as many as 200 per day. And it's the same with any substance that's smoked."

Granted, pot has value when used medicinally, and there are those who argue that marijuana--whose primary psychoactive ingredient is the chemical THC, or delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol--isn't addictive. But even casual smokers of pot or tobacco face health consequences.

MATTHEW, A 33-YEAR-OLD local carpenter, doesn't smoke cigarettes but will have a joint or two almost every night after work. (Despite the fact that B.C. has a large population of marijuana smokers, not a single user contacted by the Straight--except high-profile pot advocate Marc Emery--was willing to have his or her full name published.) Matthew, who's been using pot regularly since his early 20s, is reluctant to say he's addicted, comparing his love of home-grown marijuana to another's appreciation of a fine Cabernet. "Being in Vancouver, not smoking pot would be like living in France and not drinking the wine," he says in a phone interview. Smoking pot helps him relax and have peaceful sleeps, he says, but he admits he worries about the long-term health effects.

"Obviously being in that state provides some kind of comfort, or else I wouldn't keep going back," Matthew says. "But smoking anything, even in moderation--I don't care if it's organic or not--over a long period of time does concern me. I feel good when I'm not smoking, no question. I have more energy; I'm more on the ball. It does slow you down a bit; the high-grade stuff dulls the mind. You get a residual hangover."

Emery, who heads the B.C. Marijuana Party and says he consumes about four grams of pot a day via joints or a bong, stresses that he has no health concerns whatsoever.

"I haven't seen any negative ramifications, and I've been smoking for 26 years," Emery says in a phone interview. "When doctors say, falsely, that THC leads to cancer, there is no empirical evidence.

"The only downside," he adds, "is that if I smoke late at night, it makes me hungry, so I can't get to sleep very readily."

According to the Canadian Health Network, however, smoking marijuana can lead to chronic coughing and lung infections. The May 15, 1997, issue of Annals of Internal Medicine reported that marijuana contains about 480 substances, including tar and other chemicals and irritants; some say the carcinogens in marijuana are stronger than those in tobacco, while others argue the opposite. The health network says that people who smoke pot and tobacco may develop lung, neck, and head cancers at a younger age than those who smoke cigarettes only. The independent Washington, DC-based Institute of Medicine of the National Academies states that even medical marijuana should not be smoked on a long-term basis (more than six months) because of potential lung damage, cancer risk, and poor pregnancy outcomes.

The Canadian Health Network also states that regular pot use in adolescence may have a detrimental effect on brain development, especially in the area that provides the ability to concentrate. The Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse claims that the use of cannabis may bring about the onset of schizophrenia in some people with a predisposition. Regular use may impair male fertility; scientists from the University of Buffalo School of Medicine in New York presented research at the 2003 annual meeting of the American Society of Reproductive Medicine showing that the sperm of pot smokers travel in fewer numbers than those of nonusers.

Although the so-called gateway effect--which has it that marijuana use (particularly in adolescence) leads to the consumption of other, harder drugs--is hotly contested, even by groups like the Institute of Medicine, it's one theory that Baker believes in. "Show me an adult with a cocaine habit and I'll show you someone who was 84 times as likely to have abused marijuana," he says. "Does everyone who smokes marijuana in adolescence go on to use cocaine? No, of course not, just as not everyone who goes in the water drowns. But with increased exposure and usage, the prevalence of substance dependence goes up.

"If people develop an addiction, they generally don't stay with marijuana," Baker adds. "They might go back to alcohol or add pills or they'll chip away at marijuana then replace it with something else, like gambling, the Internet, sex, shopping. It's like changing seats on the Titanic."

Other potential health consequences come from the toxins some marijuana growers use to eliminate pests and prevent plants from rotting. According to Marijuana-Seeds.Net, fungicide is frequently used to combat mould, while the best way to get rid of spider mites, which are the most common plague in marijuana cultivation, is with insecticides. "Always stop using pesticides a few weeks before harvest, otherwise, you'll be smoking some of the poison later," the site says. To this possibility, many smokers are oblivious.

By contrast, the harmful additives and carcinogens in cigarettes are well-known. They include formaldehyde, hydrogen cyanide, carbon monoxide, ammonia, nitrogen oxides, and benzene. The Canadian Cancer Society states that more than 47,000 Canadians, including 5,600 people in B.C., die each year as a result of tobacco-related illnesses such as lung, throat, and oral cancer, stroke, heart disease, and emphysema.

Matt Pinch, who works as a promoter in the music industry, started smoking when he was 14; by 16 he was up to two or three packs a week. Now 29, he stopped smoking, for the third time, last August. He says daily tasks like writing or driving are among the triggers that make him want to reach for a smoke.

"I would say that from that very first cigarette, nicotine had a hold on me," Pinch says in a phone interview. "Not a single day goes by that I don't have a physical craving.

"In my early 20s, I started to look at mortality a little differently," he adds. "I started to see I could die from this. And the government raising taxes really helped me. I was up to three-and-a-half, four packs a week; at eight bucks a pack... Then there's coughing up phlegm and all the stuff that comes out of your chest.

"When you wake up and realize that this thing, this stick, is controlling your life, that's wrong."

Pinch is quick to emphasize that his opinions on quitting smoking are just that: opinions. He says he hates it when nonsmokers force their views on other people. And there's no question that smoking is a politically charged subject.

Victoria was the first city in Canada to pass aggressive antismoking laws, as local writer Barbara McLintock describes in her new book, Smoke-Free: How One City Successfully Banned Smoking in all Indoor Public Places (Granville Island Publishing, $19.95). Now, the Canadian Cancer Society's B.C. and Yukon branch is urging the Liberal government to implement a provincewide ban on smoking in public areas--a move that Alberta Premier Ralph Klein flat-out refuses to consider in his province.

Last September, the Canadian Tobacco Manufacturers' Council funded an on-line smokers' association called mychoice.ca. The group claims that adult smokers are tired of social stigmatization, never mind increasing taxes.

Tobacco giant Philip Morris, which sells cigarettes in more than 160 countries, has developed a youth-prevention program. "Because of the serious health effects of our products, we believe we must stop children from smoking," the company's Web site says. But most manufacturers' selling tactics are focused squarely on young people. Girls are especially vulnerable because so many use smoking to lose or maintain weight. Camel has even introduced flavoured cigarettes, like Winter MochaMint and Warm Winter Toffee.

BAKER DESCRIBES ADDICTION as a brain disease, an "invisible disability" that has biological, psychological, and social components. Making matters more challenging is that people with substance-use disorders often have other conditions, like chronic pain, depression, or sleep disturbances. "These are all fixable," Baker says. "You just have to find what pieces of the puzzle are missing for each individual."

A common myth about people who can't quit their drug of choice is that they are noncompliers with personality problems, Baker says. Contributing to his own addiction was never having learned how to resolve conflict or express or experience emotions like fear and anger.

"People who develop addictions aren't good at comforting themselves," he explains. "At the treatment centre, I learned a lot from other people. Show me someone with addiction and I'll show you someone who doesn't know how to set boundaries."

A study conducted by the Bethesda, Maryland-based National Institute on Drug Abuse and published in the February 2004 issue of Cognitive Brain Research found that people prone to anger and aggression may be predisposed to develop a nicotine addiction and to express more of the mood consequences involved in quitting than those with more relaxed, happy personalities. Genes could also play a role. Headed by California Institute of Technology scholar Andrew Tapper, a study published in Science last November found that a mutation in a particular nicotinic-acetylcholine receptor in the brain lowered the threshold of nicotine dependence in mice.

When it comes to cigarettes, there are all kinds of approaches to quitting, from hypnotherapy to acupuncture. Newer local initiatives include the Canadian Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender/Transsexual Mass Media Tobacco Reduction Campaign, which is operated by the West Coast Gay Men's Health Project and Vancouver Coastal Health and which targets 19- to 35-year-olds. On May 3, the Knowledge Network will launch Kick Butt, its own reality series that will follow five smokers in their attempts to quit.

Baker maintains that the more a patient likes and trusts his doctor, the better his adherence to treatment will be. Clearly, part of what sets him apart from health professionals who have never experienced addiction themselves or who have little patience for those who struggle with it is empathy.

"I was very annoyed at my medical training," Baker says. "No one had explained the neurobiological aspect of addiction, the cognitive distortions, treatment, what one has to do to recover, relapse prevention."

According to Baker, chances of recovery are best when treatment combines pharmacological approaches (like the nicotine patch, gum, or bupropion), psychotherapy, and social and family support. Quitting cold turkey has the lowest success rate.

However, determination also plays a crucial role. "Ninety percent of people quit using willpower," Baker says. He encourages those wanting to stop to do a "costbenefits analysis" of smoking versus not smoking. "Until the costs outweigh the benefits, they won't do it." He adds that when it comes to giving up nicotine, the first two weeks are the toughest.

"The brain is going to resist brutally. Your IQ temporarily drops; you're irritable; it interferes with judgment and thinking."

But simple steps will take cravings away, like taking a deep breath; chewing on "low-cal, crunchy things"; keeping something in your mouth, like a piece of a cinnamon stick; or having a drink of cold water. Exercise helps too, because it releases endorphins.

"You'll feel terrible, but it's only temporary," Baker says of cravings. "Within 24 hours of quitting, your cardiovascular [-disease] risk decreases." Within 72 hours, lung capacity increases; within two weeks to three months, circulation improves and lung function increases; and within six months, coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue, and shortness of breath improve.

Baker says giving up marijuana can be more complicated, given the commonly held notions that the substance is neither harmful nor addictive.

"An adult who continues smoking marijuana is saying, 'My drug is so important to me that I will risk my job, my reputation, my ability to leave the country, my relationship with my wife and family.' That level of compulsion requires more extensive help, but treatment is essentially identical."

For tobacco and marijuana smokers, Baker encourages going to 12-step programs and support groups. He'd like to see family doctors play a more active role in helping patients quit and offering follow-up visits. And he advises smokers to follow this acronym: CARESS, which involves developing coping skills, including learning to set boundaries; being accountable (especially to others, so tell friends and coworkers about your plan to quit); taking responsibility (instead of denying you have a problem or blaming others for it); education; social support; and spirituality.

And this is coming from someone who's been there.

http://www.straight.com/content.cfm?id=7680

      Smoke law aside, Russian composer enjoying his visit
       Morley Walker Tuesday, February 1st, 2005
      MUSIC is a subject of great passion for Russia's Leonid  Desyatnikov.
      But there's an urgent topic that gets the distinguished guest composer at the Centara Corp. International New Music Festival hot under the collar.
      Winnipeg's draconian no-smoking laws.
      "This is supposed to be a democracy," Desyatnikov said over an espresso, but minus his customary cigarette, yesterday morning in the Fairmont Hotel.
      "Smokers are a minority. Democracies respect minorities. This is a contradiction. It is not politically correct."
      Other than having to puff outside, the St. Petersburg-based artist is having a fine time at the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra's signature event, which runs through Friday at the Centennial Concert Hall.
      He is always happy to hang out with Andrey Boreyko, the WSO's  music director. The pair have been friends since their music conservatory days 30 years ago in what was then Leningrad.
      "He was a handsome teenager -- and talented," said Desyatnikov, 49. "I'm very impressed with what he has done."
      Boreyko commissioned Desyatnikov's choral symphony Rite of Winter  1949 for his previous orchestra in Jena, Germany, in 1999. He conducted
it again at the NMF's opening concert Saturday. 
      Boreyko was also the original conductor in Switzerland in 2000 for Desyatnikov's 40-minute concerto The Russian Seasons, which the WSO will perform in the second half of tomorrow night's NMF program. Concertmaster Gwen Hoebig and Russian soprano Yana Ivanilova, another Boreyko  favourite, are the featured soloists.
      In Friday's closing NMF concert, the WSO will perform a shorter Desyatnikov piece, Sunset, which he originally wrote as a score for a 1987 film. It was Boreyko, again, who suggested his friend rework it for  orchestral use.
      "I'm grateful for all he has done for my music," he says. "He's wonderful."
      Which isn't to say that Desyatnikov is without other admirers.  The Latvian violinist Gidon Kremer and his string ensemble Kremerata  Baltica have played several of his works, which are noted for their melody  and accessibility. He enjoys a busy career as a composer of film  soundtracks in Russia, and he has written several operas.
      His latest, Rosenthal's Kids, opens March 23 in Moscow at the famed Bolshoi Theatre. The librettist is the controversial avant-garde writer Vladimir Sorokin, whose previous novel, Blue Fat, incited a notorious witchhunt in Russia in 2002 over its supposed pornographic content.
      This trip marks Desyatnikov's third to North America. In 1997, he travelled with Kremer to several American cities, as well as Vancouver, as the transcriptionist of an Astor Piazzolla opera.
      Two years later, he returned to the U.S. as a juror for the Cleveland Piano Competition.
      The oldest son of three children, Desyatnikov was born in Kharkov in Ukraine to Jewish parents who did not practise their religion. His musical ear was detected early, though his parents were not musicians, and by age eight he was studying piano. Two years later, he was already writing his own music.
      "I knew very early that I would be a composer," says Desyatnikov,  who is single and without children. "Being a performer and being a composer are different things, and I can't understand what it takes to be a  performer."
      A self-described agoraphobic, Desyatnikov says he spends most of  his time holed up in his St. Petersburg flat, painstakingly writing  music. Consequently, the turbulent political and economic climate of the post-Communist era is not the main theme of his work, which quotes numerous eras of European composition.
      "In Canada, perhaps life is a little boring," he says. "If you like extreme tourism, you should come to Russia and live for a while.  It's very interesting."

www.winnipegfreepress.com

RICHARD GRAY Jan 30/05

SCHOOLCHILDREN will receive free nicotine patches in a controversial bid to reduce Scotland’s appalling level of underage smoking.
Children as young as 14 will be targeted under the £180,000 Lottery-funded scheme, the first of its kind north of the Border.
The project - to be piloted in Lanarkshire - will train school pupils to counsel their friends off cigarettes and to recommend whether the smokers need nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) to help them quit.
Adult anti-smoking coordinators will then decide whether to put the youngsters on courses of nicotine patches, gum or tablets. Teenage smokers from schools and youth centres in Lanarkshire will be targeted when it starts later this year.
"Smoking is one of the primary killers in Lanarkshire, accounting for about 46% of all cancer deaths," said Tom Bryce, general manager of Airdrie Local Health Care Co-operative, which is organising the project.
"The areas we are focusing upon are particularly deprived and so there are high numbers of young people who smoke.
"Despite the many problems they face, a lot of them can be very responsible about giving up smoking when given help.
"Nicotine Replacement Therapy will be prescribed, but at the heart of the project will be other teenagers helping the youngsters through their addiction."
The two-year project has been funded by a £180,000 grant from the Lottery’s National Opportunities Fund and health board officials are working with high schools and youth clubs in Airdrie, Hamilton, Coatbridge and East Kilbride to set up the scheme.
But some parents’ groups and experts fear adolescents may not be responsible enough to use powerful NRT drugs sensibly.
They fear many will continue to smoke while using nicotine patches, risking dangerously high doses of the addictive drug.
The sale and supply of nicotine replacement drugs such as patches are currently restricted to people over the age of 18 but doctors can prescribe the treatment to younger teenagers.
But Professor Ian Stolerman, a nicotine expert from the Institute of Psychiatry at Kings College London, warned the effects of using NRT on children is still widely unknown.
No evaluated trials of NRT have been carried out by pharmaceutical firms to test their safety or effectiveness on young people. "Laboratory studies suggest nicotine replacement therapy poses a much greater risk for children than for adults," Stolerman said.
"Children are much more susceptible to become dependent upon nicotine, so great care is needed in prescribing nicotine treatments to young people."
Heather Gordon, project manager for Parents Network Scotland, said: "This is a good idea provided there is a way of making sure the children don’t put on the patches and smoke at the same time."
Professor Barry Jones, an addiction expert at Glasgow University, also warned it is difficult to determine the effect of NRT on helping people quit.
He said: "The actual effects of NRT on children are largely unknown and are still subject to a lot of debate."
Officials in charge of the Lanarkshire project insist teenagers given NRT will be stringently monitored. If they are found to be having cigarettes on the sly, the treatment will be stopped.

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=114312005

31 January 2005 16:46

The Offaly County Coroner has expressed concern that evidence has not emerged at an inquest today to explain who gave a 78-year-old man matches or a lighter before his clothes went on fire in a private nursing home.

Roderick Quinn, of Ballydaly, Ferbane in Co Offaly, died from shock after receiving severe burns at the Gallen Priory Nursing Home in Ferbane in July of last year.

At an inquest in Tullamore today his niece said that, although her uncle smoked and was receiving cigarettes from the nurses in the home, she presumed that he was given assistance to light the cigarettes by the staff and was supervised in the smoking room.

Coroner Brian Mahon said that the practice of giving a lighter or matches to a patient in these circumstances was one that should not happen.

He heard Mr Quinn - known to the staff as 'Roadey' - had a bad shake in his hand but was an independent man who smoked three or four cigarettes every day.

On the morning of 12 July last year nursing staff found Mr Quinn 'on fire' in the smoking room. He suffered burns to 50% of his body and died the next day in Tullamore General Hospital.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2005/0131/quinnr.html

*for ban damage.  If he was with others, and not in "smoking room" the staff could have helped him.

Three passengers threw a 24-year-old man out of a running train on December 26, 2004, after he protested against their smoking in the compartment.

Amaresh Panda, who was travelling from Delhi in the Purushottam Express, had asked the three to stop smoking as it inconvenienced the other passengers. When the train left Bokaro railway station in Jharkhand at night, the men pushed Amaresh out of the train, his family said.

Amaresh, who suffered serious injuries, was spotted near the tracks the next morning by two men. They got him admitted to the Bokaro Steel General Hospital.

His family later shifted him to a nursing home in Bhubaneswar.

A case has been registered with the railway police at Bokaro.

http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/jan/31train.htm

Mon Jan 31, 2005 09:52 AM ET

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Cigarette smoking is more harmful to women than to men, cutting more than a decade off female smokers' life expectancy but much less for their male peers, Dutch government research suggested Monday.

Statistics agency CBS said a comparison of the numbers of Dutch who died of lung cancer in 2003 and smoking trends showed the habit cut a Dutch woman's life expectancy by 11 years, versus three for a man.

"Women who died from lung cancer were younger than men who died from the same cause. This means the harmful effects of smoking are more serious for women than for men," it said, but did not suggest a reason for the difference.

Cigarette smoking is believed to be one of the main causes of lung cancer as well as other cancers and lung diseases.

The CBS said a rise in lung cancer among Dutch women since the 1970s correlated with an increase in smoking by women.

On average, female lung cancer sufferers died at age 70 versus an average life expectancy for Dutch women of 81.

Male lung cancer sufferers lived to an age of 73 on average, compared with an average expectancy of 76 years for Dutch men.

The CBS said life expectancy for men in the Netherlands has increased by about five years since the 1970s as they have smoked less.

"The fall in cases of lung cancer among men can be attributed to their smoking habits," it said.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=7485838

Senate bill 43, section 269 is supported by the National Rifle Association (NRA) and actually eases some of the bans on gun ownership that federal law imposes in cases of misdemeanor domestic violence, Apa pointed out.
"We've been getting a lot of grief from gun owners of South Dakota," Apa told more than 35 people gathered at Deadwood City Hall for the meeting.
He went on to say that state senators and representatives are getting cards and calls from those who incorrectly believe that SB43, Sec. 269, would take gun rights away.
The cards sent to legislators opposing the criminal code revisions are pre-printed, Apa said, and they are being distributed by what he termed as "the Lautenberg-sloggers" or those intensely opposed to any state backing of federal Lautenberg provisions. The federal law the South Dakota legislation would address is known as the Lautenberg 1996 Domestic Violence Offender Gun Ban, and it still carries the name of its primary sponsor U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J. The NRA continues its work to overturn the federal legislation which it terms "a horrid federal law" largely due to the lifetime ban on firearm ownership for those convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence.
In the meantime, the state criminal code revision addressed in SB43, Sec. 269, would allow bans on gun ownership imposed by the federal law to be lifted due to the state's restoration of gun ownership rights. Apa read a comparison of the two laws to illustrate his point. Under the Lautenberg law, the ban on gun ownership would be a lifetime ban following a domestic violence misdemeanor. Under SB43, Sec. 269, the same conviction would bring a one year ban on gun ownership. Violating the Lautenberg law is a felony; violating the rules in Sec. 269 would be a misdemeanor.
Rep. Tom Hills, R-Spearfish, also told Saturday's audience that he has heard from concerned gun owners. In a letter Hills is sending in reply to those concerns, the freshman legislator writes, "SB43, Sec. 269, provides relief from this harsh penalty (under Lautenberg) by proposing a one-year ban under South Dakota law. According to our attorney general's office, in practice, the Department of Justice defers to state law under their authority to recognize 'Restoration of Civil Rights' done at the state level."
Apa cautioned those considering donations to the group opposing the legislation as a limitation of gun rights to remember that though the group may be listed on the state lobbyists' list, it does not have 501-C3 non-profit status and because of this the group is not obligated to spend contributions for any certain purpose.
Rep. Chuck Turbiville, R-Deadwood, agreed that the gun bill has been a topic of much discussion, and went on to discuss the work he is doing in the two committees on which he serves. On the transportation and taxation committees, Turbiville said he keeps his eyes open for issues germane to Lawrence County and the district. He also discussed the proposed ban on smoking in workplaces and that there was a tremendous amount of opposition to that ban.
Hills said he voted for the amendment to the smoking ban in large part because he thought of how much he enjoys taking his 12-year-old grandson out to eat and he does not support smoking in restaurants. The amendment failed. The bill was tabled.
Turbiville mentioned that he thought the intent of the bill had been to prevent restaurants from purchasing malt liquor licenses in order to allow smoking in their establishments. Both representatives acknowledged that due to strong opposition to the smoking ban, the bill isn't likely to survive.
Audience member and Lead-Deadwood schools CEO Dr. Mitch Chapel commented that he is in favor of an expanded smoking ban. Chapel shared that his wife suffers from asthma and that makes it nearly impossible for them to go into casinos and enjoy "playing a few nickels" because the smoke is so bad. "I'm really in favor of it," Chapel told the legislators about the ban.
Turbiville also reported on SB61, which gives the South Dakota Science and Technology Authority limited authority to claim eminent domain for subsurface ownership rights for development of an underground lab in Lead. Apa added that those subsurface ownership rights would be strictly for scientific endeavors and that mining is prohibited under the legislation.
Hills and Turbiville mentioned that they were impressed with the amount of work that legislators do in Pierre and the caliber of those working on behalf of the citizens of South Dakota.

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1300&dept_id=156923&newsid=13858589&PAG=461&rfi=9

ByJason Mohr - IR Staff Writer - 1/31/05

At the Legislature, you don't always look folks in the eye. You read their nametag. During once- or twice-weekly trips to the Capitol, I've also run into folks whose names I already know: City of Helena and Lewis and Clark County officials and staff. (Mayor Jim Smith is there, too, but he says he's concentrating on his lobbying job.)

What's got local officials' attention?
For one, a Helena-to-Great Falls bike and pedestrian trail, using the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad route.
Although there are complaints of a $23 million "corporate giveaway" and possible environmental cleanup costs, the "Corridor of Discovery" could be quite a tourist boon, especially in the Wolf Creek-Craig area.
Clean Indoor Air ordinance defenders had smoke blown in their face last session, when legislators overrode Helena's popularly approved smoking ban.

This time around, the city lost a shot at patching up the ban, when the House of Representatives rejected jury trials for civil infractions. (City Judge Myron Pitch snuffed out the ordinance two years ago over this.)
Although legislators may again get in the middle, it's up to three judges to resolve "economic takings" and enforcement issues.
Though not necessarily an advocate, Helena City Manager Tim Burton thinks cities should be able to consider a local option sales tax. One bill allows a 4 percent tax with a public vote.
Sen. Dave Lewis, R-Helena, proposes to allow the formation of a tax increment financing (TIF) district to help pay for new Interstate 15 interchanges. Like the downtown Helena TIF, taxes from new development are set aside for specific improvements. Local officials say it would help bridge funding gaps that bog down projects. (They might need it; a Custer Avenue exit could cost $30 million.)
But some lawmakers are wary, saying a TIF district takes from schools and favors one development over another.
Growth bills aren't front-page drama, but legislation could paint the future of development here.
Among a volley of ideas, city officials favor proposed "quality growth areas," a Smart Growth concept designating likely areas of urban expansion. Impact fees — controversial in Gallatin County and some say applied under another name here — are again on the table.
-- Legislators are employees in need of job supervision, says Joel Blackwell, author of the grassroots lobbying handbook, "Personal Political Power."
Here's some tips for would-be power brokers:
1. You can have significant influence.
2. "Call the ones you can vote for." Or send a fax.
3. "What politicians want from you is to understand what your problem is and what you need to solve it...Be able to explain who will be hurt or helped."
4. "They won't back a losing issue and they can't build the consensus. That's your job."
5. "Once you've communicated, don't quit...follow up politely, respectfully and relentlessly until you get an answer. That means about once a week."
6. "Never show anger or try to threaten."
He can't promise you'll win. "But I can promise you will lose if you do nothing," Blackwell says. He's on the Web at www.JoelBlackwell.com.
-- This week, Great Falls plays host to President George W. Bush.
Security will be corset-like for No. 43. Compare that to John F. Kennedy's 1960 campaign visit to Helena.
A 1988 IR special recalled the details.
Local Democratic Party heavyweight Joe Reber wrote how he hosted the Massachusetts senator at his Floweree Street home, where 500 people crammed the front yard and 100 more waited in the street. Reber's daughters "were infatuated."
Kennedy later hitched a ride in Helena businessman Walter Marshall's "vintage red, white and blue station wagon." Marshall's accompanying cats and dogs "licked the senator's neck all the way to the airport."
"On the Record" appears on Mondays. Lob comments, criticism or kudos to city-county reporter Jason Mohr at 447-4075 or jason.mohr@helenair.com.

http://www.helenair.com/articles/2005/01/31/helena/a09013105_02.txt

By W. DALE NELSON
Star-Tribune correspondent

LARAMIE -- Voters challenging a public vote in favor of a smoking control ordinance will be allowed to make their case in court that there were election irregularities that might have affected the outcome, 2nd District Judge Jeffrey Donnell ruled Wednesday.
Donnell, who has set a non-jury trial in the case for May 18-20, granted in part and denied in part a motion filed by the city to dismiss the legal challenge filed by eight voters. The ordinance is scheduled to go into effect April 6.
"Wonderful," said Sherri Derenzis, one of the eight challengers. "This means we still have a chance to make our case."
City Attorney Peggy Trent said she was "very, v