Stevens Point CDA properties to go smoke free in future

Stevens Point's Community Development Authority is looking to make their housing properties smoke free in the future. Director Michael Ostroski says the move is to bring the city in line with Housing and Urban Development guidelines on indoors smoking. "Housing and urban development it looking to make their housing smoke free and have been urging local groups to take the same route."

 The proposed change to the standard lease would would not force people with current leases or housing to stop smoking, and would instead affect those getting new leases with the CDA. Ostrowski says they're not aiming to cut everyone off immediately. "Current residents would be grandfathered in, but any new leases would be smoke free." The affected properties include the Highrise, the elderly and disabled housing, Edgewater Manor, Madison View Apartments and 70 other CDA owned housing locations. The CDA board has already approved the measure, and it now goes to the next regular city council meeting for approval.

Second Hand Smoke Kills 42,000 Nonsmokers Annually

Researchers at UC San Fransisco found more than 42,000 non-smokers die annually from secondhand smoke. Those who are most vulnerable to second hand smoke include newborns exposed either in the womb or after birth and adults with existing heart and lung problems. Prevention specialists define second hand smoke as the actual emissions from a lit tobacco product released from the user into the air. Second hand smoke is made up of 4,000 chemicals and of those chemicals 11 are known cancer-causing poisons.

 "With second hand smoke it will cling on you," says Tobacco Prevention Specialist Teddy Nault. "So if you are a young mother, young father and you're going back in to pick up that new baby it can be transferred to that child." Nault says there is even third hand smoking that can be just as harmful. Third hand smoking is cigarette residue that clings onto bedding, furniture and carpet. Evidence shows that children exposed to third hand smoke are at risk for chronic respiratory and ear infections. Keep in mind that pets are also affected by second hand smoke and not just our cats and dogs. Pets like fish are affected by the residue that falls into the tank after being in the air.

Increased obesity is wiping out most health benefits of less smoking

The American smoking rate is going down. The obesity rate is going up. And when it comes to women’s life expectancy, those trends have just about canceled each other out. A team of researchers with the National Bureau of Economic Research published data looking at obesity and smoking rates.

The trends are, as shown in this graph below, not exactly subtle: Both of those trends have an impact on longevity; these researchers wanted to tease out how each affected lifespan. Overall, the benefits of less smoking are outweighing the negatives of rising obesity – but only by a little bit, especially when it comes to women. The combined effect of changes in smoking and obesity is expected to produce steady improvements in male life expectancy through 2040, with a total gain of 0.92 years by that date.

On the other hand, women’s life expectancy is expected to be lower as a result of the combined changes through 2030. Thus, the pattern of reductions in the female advantage in life expectancy that has been evident since 1979 is expected to continue for another two decades, at least from these sources.

By 2040, life expectancy is anticipated to be 0.26 years higher for females as a result of these combined behavioral changes. That assumes that current trends hold, although there is some evidence that tobacco use is going up among young adults, which could change some of the calculus here.

Smoking pot too young lowers IQ

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I'm in Eighth grade and my best friends are starting to smoke weed. One is getting it from his parent's supply and they are doctors. I don't want to smoke it but they say everyone does it and our parents did, too, and there is nothing harmful about it. What do you make of their claims? — "James," Lodi Colin, 19, Los Angeles: Marijuana isn't as hardcore as meth or cocaine, but teen marijuana smokers are averaging an 8-point drop in IQ — permanently.

There is also the trade, which is dominated by Mexican drug cartels using brutality right out of the Middle Ages. Do you really want to support that? Finances? It's expensive. Illegal? Yes. I choose not to smoke marijuana. I am perfectly happy as I am. Brandon, 20, Mapleton, Maine: Pot is, sadly, the new cool thing in middle school. Yes, your parents may have experimented with pot (I know mine did). They grew up in the "freedom-peace-love" era and didn't understand the risks of starting young. I am completely against youth smoking.

If you want to get into it as an adult, that's your call. But smoking young will affect you negatively. Regarding friends, they come and go. The last time I saw my eighth-grade friends was three years ago. Worry about advancing yourself, your education and your future. I guarantee you can find friends who don't smoke weed. Katelyn, 17, Azusa: Recent research shows that while smoking pot may make you feel smarter in the present, it severely impacts your future learning abilities. Listen to your instincts! Kira, 20, Moraga: Eighth grade is way too young!

The earliest my friends started was sophomore year. I didn't try it till senior year and nobody pressured me. Personally, I don't like it, plus I get drug tested to play a college sport. Gregg, 21, Los Angeles: I was the kid getting my friends involved. I started smoking right after eighth grade. By junior year, my entire paycheck went to my drug dealer. My grades dropped, I lost friends, teachers eyeballed me. Finally, my parents forced me into a weekly rehab program and drug tested me randomly. (I was over 18; it can be done.)

Since I stopped over two years ago, I'm back! I'm more alive, active, outgoing and have better memory. The contrast gives me no desire to smoke again. It's actually a pretty boring activity. Dear James: "Keep your brain clean till at least 19." I wrote this catch-phrase based on observation. It is now backed by science. A recent long-term study shows that smoking pot before age 18 results in what may be a permanent IQ drop of eight points.

This is not small. This is a person of average intelligence dropping from 50th percentile in intelligence to 29th. For those in the study who waited until after 18 to start smoking, their IQ remained steady. (A note on Boomer parents: For those who lit up, the vast majority started after age 19 — and the pot was significantly weaker.) The adolescent brain undergoes huge changes and is vulnerable. Best practice: give it a pass. For non-users, IQ actually increases.

Banning Smoking Before Bayfest

Could Mobile's new smoking ordinance keep smokers away from Bayfest? The new law takes effect October 1st and bans smoking not only in restaurants but also in public parks and on sidewalks in the Downtown Mobile Business Improvement District. All of Bayfest is in that district. "Why you got to be on the sidewalk? You can smoke on private property when ever you get ready. Step over there where it's private.

You can smoke til you fall out," said City Councilman Fred Richardson. "If you want to commit suicide, don't take me with you." Richardson, who sponsored the ordinance, says not only can you not light up on the sidewalks and in public parks, but you also can't smoke in the streets. "It says public property. We own the streets," said Richardson. Some smokers we spoke with say if they can't light up, they're not showing up.

"Simple fact is, it won't be as pleasurable. Everybody is going to want to smoke," said Daniel Kincaid. "The whole ordinance is silly," said Bowie Cupit. "It's just absurd." "Will some citizens be inconvenienced? Probably so. Will some of them want to fire up in front of everybody. Probably so. What's the city going to do about it? I don't know?" said Richardson.

Several city leaders Local 15 News spoke with said they believe officers will be too busy with other matters to enforce the smoking ban during Bayfest. Bayfest's President declined to go on camera but said smokers will have plenty of places to light up.

FAU’s revised smoking policy tries scaring violators with possible expulsion

Corbin Rooks is smoking by the new black ash cans outside the entrance to the Innovation Village Apartments. As he chain smokes four cigarettes, he flicks them into the grass or crushes them into the sidewalk crack under his foot. Rooks, a junior business major, has no idea this is one of 20 areas he can smoke on campus without risking expulsion. As of Aug. 6, FAU’s Policies and Procedures Committee strengthened the smoking ban so students could be expelled for smoking outside designated areas. “It’s right, nonsmokers have the right to not be around smokers,” Rooks says. “As long as you give me my area, I’m good.” 

Two years ago, FAU created designated-smoking areas and banned smoking elsewhere on campus. When the new smoking policy started on Jan. 2, 2010 — the same year University of Florida went smoke-free — there was no punishment for students caught smoking outside the designated areas and no enforcement from administrators. Now it’s different. With the new smoking policy, there are a few alternatives to expulsion like warnings and suspensions. But before any of those alternatives are considered, someone must file a complaint against a student caught smoking outside a designated area (see sidebar).

Even before the new policy and possible expulsion, students and non-students alike violated the policy in front of administrators, professors and even FAU police officers without repercussions. But the smoking policies have been enforced on non-students. C.J. Phelps and Eric Johnson, the co-managers of Hookah Hut, began setting up a hookah at a table outside Einstein Bros Bagels last spring — neither one is a student. Phelps and Johnson moved their hookah 10 feet away from the table, to the smoking area between the S.E. Wimberly Library and Einstein’s after Associate Dean of Students Terry Mena took notice of them.

“We build customer relationships,” Phelps says. “It’s perfectly legal.” “A lot of FAU kids are into this,” Johnson says. “We’ve had teachers tell us they like it. We want people to have fun.” Mena then asked Phelps and Johnson how they felt, if they were students, and then threatened to call FAU police if they didn’t move, according to Phelps. Then Mena walked away without another word. “He came up to us with a bad attitude, interrupted our customer pitch,” Phelps says. “We just picked it up and walked over here.”

Mena could not be reached for comment about the incident as of press time. No FAU student has been reported, investigated, charged, expelled or punished in any way for violating the smoking policy as of press time, according to Dean of Students Corey King. “The students will go through the student code of conduct process,” King wrote in an email. Mike Thompson, a senior exercise science major who’s smoked for 17 years, thinks the revised policy is absurd.

“Expulsion for getting caught outside [a smoking area] is retarded,” Thompson says as he finishes his cigarette in the smoking area between the S.E. Wimberly Library and Einstein Bros Bagels. “I’ll write to [FAU President Mary Jane] Saunders.” Thompson also believes the faculty responsible for updating the policy should let students vote on it. When the university polled the student body in spring 2009, 1,376 voters supported limiting smokers to designated smoking zones, while 1,172 supported a smoke-free university.

Student Government Chief Justice Nicholas Scalice — a nonsmoker who sits on the Policies and Procedures Committee — favors the smoking areas, but not a smoke-free university. “That’s a fair compromise, a nice middle of the road approach,” Scalice says. Outside IVA, Corbin Rooks finishes smoking and is ready to go back to his dorm. “Where do you draw the line? Yeah we all share the same air,” Rooks says. “If you’re going to make it legal to smoke, then it should be legal anywhere.”

SECONDHAND SMOKE TAKES SERIOUS PHYSICAL AND ECONOMIC TOLL

Secondhand smoke claims 42,000 US lives annually, including nearly 900 infants, according to University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) study, taking a serious physical and economic toll on families and communities. The UCSF study, published Thursday, September 20, 2012 in the American Journal of Public Health, is the first of its kind to use a biomarker to measure secondhand cigarette smoke and its physical and economic costs.

 Secondhand smoke results in nearly 600,000 years of potential life lost annually, researchers estimate, and an average of 14.2 years per person with $6.6 billion in lost productivity (amounting to $158,000 per death). Of the 42,000 total deaths resulting from secondhand smoke, 80 percent were white, 13 percent were black, and 4 percent were Hispanic.

The vast majority of deaths were caused by ischemic heart disease. – The researchers used serum cotinine – a biomarker which detects the chemical consequences of exposure to tobacco smoke in the bloodstream – to measure exposure to secondhand smoke. This measurement reflects secondhand exposure in all settings, not just home or work, the authors wrote. Mortality was measured in two conditions for adults: lung cancer and ischemic heart disease; and four conditions for infants: sudden infant death syndrome, low birth weight, respiratory distress syndrome, and other respiratory conditions of newborns.

 “In general, fewer people are smoking and many have made lifestyle changes, but our research shows that the impacts of secondhand smoke are nonetheless very large,” said lead author Wendy Max, PhD, professor of health economics at the UCSF School of Nursing and co-director of the UCSF Institute for Health & Aging. “The availability of information on biomarker-measured exposure allows us to more accurately assess the impact of secondhand smoke exposure on health and productivity.”