The poor more likely to smoke, research finds

By Alfred Lubrano PHILADELPHIA | Many people smoke after they’ve eaten. Lindell Harvey smokes because he hasn’t. “You smoke out of anxiety because you don’t have the food you need,” said Harvey, 54, who lives alone in Crum Lynne, Pa. He receives disability checks from the Navy that keep him $2,000 below the poverty line. Harvey […]

Emanuel wants 75 cents a pack cigarette tax increase

Mayor Rahm Emanuel plans to propose increasing the city cigarette tax by 75 cents to help plug a budget gap and provide more free vision care for low-income ChicagoPublic Schools students, a City Hall source said Saturday. The increase would leave Chicago with the nation’s highest total cigarette taxes. The administration expects to collect an additional […]

Affordable Care Act: Smoking sends health premiums higher

BY FRANCINE KNOWLES Staff Reporter If you light up, prepare to get burned with higher premiums when buying insurance in the new health insurance marketplaces. Under rules of the Affordable Care Act, in Illinois and most other states, insurers can charge smokers and other tobacco users as much as 50 percent more on their premiums […]

Cotton Candy and Atomic Fireball flavored electronic cigarettes are forging a new pathway to addiction, death and disease

By:  Ross P. Lanzafame, American Lung Association National Board Chair Harold Wimmer, American Lung Association National President and CEO E-cigarette use among middle school children has doubled in just one year.  Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that e-cigarette use also doubled among high school students in one year, and […]

Poll: Most Nebraska voters support increasing cigarette tax

By KEVIN O’HANLON / Lincoln Journal Star A majority of Nebraska voters favor increasing the state’s cigarette tax and using the money to provide property tax relief and smoking-cessation programs, according to a poll released Friday. “Nebraskans have made it clear they are ready for a tobacco tax increase,” said David Holmquist of the American […]