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It wasn’t very long ago at all - just a few short years, in fact when it was perfectly legal to light up a cigarette in just about any restaurant in Massachusetts. Not perfectly sensible, of course, but legal. While that might seem not a little odd when looked at from today’s smoke-free environment, rewinding the tape just a bit more reveals pictures that can only be called astonishing:

People smoking in their offices. People smoking on busses and even on airplanes. People smoking in elevators. People smoking everywhere and at every turn.

Back to the present.

Massachusetts just increased the tax on a pack of cigarettes by $1, to $2.51. The reasons for this are twofold:

First, the state is looking to raise money to help cover the costs of its universal health insurance program. And second, the state wants to encourage more smokers to quit and to dissuade young non-smokers from ever starting.

Both of these are sensible.

In general, we are not wild about tax increases. And we have had increasing concerns about the costs associated with the state’s health insurance program. That said, it makes sense to tap smokers for funds for health insurance. After all, there isn’t a legal activity that’s more unhealthy. As they bring ruin to themselves, they’ll be helping out the health care plan with each pack of cigarettes they buy.

And, one can only hope, they’ll tire of spending so much for so little and they’ll quit.

The state House and Senate hurriedly passed the tax hike on Monday, and Gov. Deval L. Patrick signed the increase into law on Tuesday. It took effect immediately.

What a difference a few decades makes. We remember well when it seemed that everyone was smoking. And when cigarettes cost much less than a dollar. Now there are fewer smokers all the time and the tax alone is $2.51.

Chennai: A company in Chennai has introduced the concept of ‘e-smoking’ with electronic cigarettes based on the principal of ‘nicotine replacement therapy’.

The concept has been introduced for the first time in India.

The electronic white stick hit the Chennai market on May 31 that is observed as the ‘World No Tobacco Day’.

The e-cigarette looks like a normal cigarette and the white part of the cigarette is the battery. The filter part is the cartridge, which can be replaced. Diluted nicotine is kept in the gadget.

The good news is that puffing these cigarettes does not compromise on the stimulation aspect of smoking, as it lends the same stimulation sans carcinogenic elements.

New legislation in Congress would give the Food and Drug Administration the power to oversee tobacco products. It would also ban most flavored Marlboro cigarettes, but menthol Marlboro cigarettes would stay on the market.
Some health experts say that plan could leave black Americans at risk.
For more, Farai Chideya speaks with Bill Robinson, Executive Director of the National African American Tobacco Prevention Network, and John McWhorter, Senior Fellow in Public Policy at the Manhattan Institute.