Obama Signs Anti-Smoking Bill Into Law

In keeping up with his progressive health care reform policies, President Obama today signed a bill that puts tobacco under the authority of the Food and Drug Administration. With the new bill, the FDA will be able to monitor, regulate, and mandate lower nicotine levels in cigarettes and other tobacco products.

"Each day, 1,000 young people under the age of 18 become new regular, daily smokers, and almost 90 percent of all smokers began at or before their 18th birthday," Mr. Obama said before signing the legislation. "I know; I was one of these teenagers. And so I know how difficult it can be to break this habit when it's been with you for a long time."

"Kids today don't just start smoking for no reason," the president said Monday. "They're aggressively targeted as customers by the tobacco industry. They're exposed to a constant and insidious barrage of advertising where they live, where they learn, and where they play. Most insidiously, they are offered products with flavorings that mask the taste of tobacco and make it even more tempting."

"Today, thanks to the work of Democrats and Republicans, health care and consumer advocates, the decades-long effort to protect our children from the harmful effects of tobacco has emerged victorious," he added. "Today, change has come to Washington."

The goal here is not to ban tobacco products, but to allow adults to make a choice, much like alcohol. With the progressive legislation being passed, we hopefully can see some change in our junior highs and high schools allowing kids to make it to 18 before choosing to smoke. We've seen stronger legislation passed to enforce the "no selling under 18" methodology, but I know from my own experience and the experience of others that it's still easy to obtain cigarettes under the age of 18. Hopefully we can further educate our kids to be able to make the right choices around tobacco, and, of course, around other drugs.

Like anything else, however, starting smoking is a choice, just like starting to drink or smoke pot is a choice. The best thing we can do isn't legislation- the best we can do is let our kids and smokers and addicts know that help is available when they need it. And that it's not a weakness to ask for help- that asking for help is a strength. We in America have this "pull-ourselves-up-by-the-bootstraps" type of mentality, and that can prove fatal when dealing with addictions. It's imperative, at least around addiction, to instill in our youth that asking for help is ok. Because, as President Obama put it, "If current trends continue, 1 billion people will die from tobacco-related illnesses this century." 1 billion is 1/6th of our total population today, just to put it into perspective.

Educate, educate, EDUCATE!

Here's a video of the bill being signed:


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U.S. Drug Czar calls for end to "war on drugs"

As I talked about in an earlier post, I'm very excited to have Gil Kerlikowske as our new drug czar. On Wednesday, we finally got some good news in the so-called "War on Drugs." In a Wall Street Journal article, new head of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, Gil Kerlikowske, said that the "war on drugs" was a, "barrier to dealing with the nation's drug problem."

"Regardless of how you try to explain to people it's a 'war on drugs' or a 'war on a product,' people see a war as a war on them," he said. "We're not at war with people in this country."

FINALLY some progress and someone who sees the nation's drug problem as something that can't be fixed by putting more and more people in prison. The more people we funnel into treatment as opposed to prison, the better the solution is going to get. I also like how the Obama administration is going to change the policies surrounding the major criminal disparity between crack cocaine and powder cocaine, thus hopefully closing the racial barrier. The administration is also planning on changing the current federal rules that allow federal agents to raid state-run medical marijuana facilities based on federal law. This would allow states that legalize medical marijuana to operate freely as opposed to being under constant threat from the federal government. All of this is progress. As much as we can do to keep people out of prison for unnecessary reasons and put them into treatment when needed, the better we'll be off.

Here's a video about Barack Obama's stance on drug policy:



Here's a video from Ron Paul about ending the war on drugs:



And here's the famous episode of Different Strokes where Nancy Reagan talks about the war on drugs and just saying no:




Here's something funny.

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Also, if you're feeling generous, please donate a couple of dollars towards the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society- I'm riding 100 miles on August 15th in support of individuals suffering from these terrible diseases. Thanks so much, and see you tomorrow.

Senate Approves Tight Regulations on Cigarettes

On June 11th (yesterday), the U.S. Senate approved a measure that would allow federal officials to regulate tobacco products. It's now been four decades since the Surgeon General declared cigarettes a health hazard, and we'll finally have oversight into the product. The legislation will allow the FDA to regulate both the content of tobacco products as well as the marketing side of the house.

In order to gear the tobacco companies away from marketing their products to the youth segment, outlawing ads within 1,000 feet of schools and/or playgrounds. Also, the terms "light" and "low tar" will be removed from packaging by 2011, and by 2012 there will be large health warnings on cigarette packs, similar to Canada and Europe.

It's crazy to think that in 40 years we've gone from ads like the one pictured here:


to warnings like this saying things like "Smoking will kill you."


We'll see what happens in the future. I'm surprised we haven't heard more of an uproar from the tobacco companies, although Phillip Morris has been going along with the legislation. No other tobacco companies have made any effort to support this measure, and the Democratic senator from North Carolina, Kay Hagan, was the only Democrat not to support the bill. Coincidentally, North Carolina is the nation's leading producer of tobacco.

Will we see a revolution that involved less people smoking? It remains to be seen. For now, we can only hope for a more healthful country that is conscious of the decisions they make.

Here's a Camel ad from 1949:



And here's an ad from 2008 from TheTruth.com:



Amazing how things change, huh?

Here's something funny.

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Obama says NO to legalization

In his first internet town hall, President Barack Obama said he is against the legalization and taxation of marijuana. Since the majority of the questions for this town hall came from individuals via the internet, the response was instantaneous. Twitter users reacted swiftly with their disapproval (check it out on the previous article).

The tough part for politicians and businesses today is the quick reaction by bloggers, Twitter users, and Facebookers to write about what they see wrong. I trust that Obama has worked with experts to come to this decision for now- what's nice is it seems Obama isn't completely adverse to change and is willing to admit he was wrong and not have to stick to his guns. If a good argument is economically and scientifically presented, I'm sure he'd change his stance based on the evidence.

Once again, I'm torn on this issue. I'm wondering what my friends over at Faces and Voices of Recovery would have to say about this; I can say that there hasn't been a lot of uproar about this issue besides some Twitter feeds from Vaughn Howland.

It's really interesting to watch people in the industry start to get into social media, like blogging, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. I'm still working on ways to make all of this work better and would welcome any ideas to help use social media to help our cause. Make sure to check out the All About Addiction blog as well.


Here's a good argument pro-legalization.

Here's an interesting video from Lou Dobbs:





Here's something funny.


As always, find me on LinkedIn and Twitter. See you later this week.

New Drug Czar

With the new nomination of Seattle Police Chief R. Gil Kerlikowske for drug czar, we're finally seeing a move to put treatment ahead of prison. FINALLY! This may mean we'll start to make progress actually getting addicts and alcoholics help instead of simply putting them in jail and not actually rehabilitating them. By incorporating treatment, we'll be able to provide some options for these struggling people, instead of simply putting them in jail.

"The success of our efforts to reduce the flow of drugs is largely dependent on our ability to reduce demand for them," Kerlikowske said at a ceremony. "Our nation's drug problem is one of human suffering, and as a police officer but also in my own family, I have experienced the effects that drugs can have."

Kerlikowske's stepson has had problems with drugs and alcohol in the recent years, so he understands the situation families go through. I think that's invaluable knowledge for a person in charge of drug prevention in this country; without empathy, it's hard to make good decisions around how we treat this disease.

Here's a video introducing Kerlikowske:



Hopefully we can make some more roads for people to get well. This is a step in the right direction.

Here's something funny. Thanks to Eliza for this!

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