Celebrity Activists Who Have Smoked Pot: Morgan Freeman, Oliver Stone And More

As the movement to legalize marijuana gains traction, some environmental activists and celebrities are throwing in their support for legalization, while others have simply admitted to using pot at some point in their lives.
Many celebrities and politicians have publicly come forward as either current or reformed pot smokers. There are some, like Paul McCartney, who have reportedly left those days behind them. At the age of 69, McCartney told Rolling Stone that he smoked his share already. "Enough's enough," he said. On the other end of the spectrum are those still rolling, like famous director Oliver Stone. “It can be done legally, safely, healthy,” Stone insisted in a recent Associated Press interview.

48 hours after ending Tobacco use, health benefits begin

“Within 48 hours of quitting smoking, health benefits begin,” said Dr. Steven Leers, a member of the Society for Vascular Surgery. “Blood pressure decreases. Pulse rate drops. The body temperature of hands and feet increases. Carbon monoxide levels in the blood return to normal. The chance of a heart attack decreases. Nerve endings regrow. There’s an increase in the ability to taste and smell.”
Dr. Leers is an advocate for not smoking cigarette or other products. Research has linked smoking to cancer, vascular disease, stroke and lung disease.
“As a vascular surgeon, I’ve seen the damage done to veins and arteries from tobacco use,” said Dr. Leers. “Nicotine speeds up the heart and causes the body to release fat and cholesterol into the blood. All of these are related to vascular disease.”
In addition, smoking accelerates the hardening and narrowing of arteries. Smokers are two to four times more likely to develop blood clots.

Celebrities & Gun Control: Hollywood Weighs In On Newtown Shooting

CIGARETTE displays will be banned in large retailers from April, after the Scottish Government won a landmark ruling against Imperial Tobacco in the Supreme Court.

• Ban comes into force in larger shops from April
• Imperial Tobacco admits defeat in appeal process
• Vending machine ban will also come into force
Judges unanimously rejected the company’s appeal, which had previously failed twice at the Court of Session, saying it was a health, rather than a 
consumer, issue.
The display ban will come into force in large shops from April, although smaller ones will have until 2015 to make the necessary changes.
Imperial Tobacco also lost its appeal against a vending machine ban, which will come into effect in spring, with a four-month implementation period starting in the new year.
The world’s fourth-largest cigarette group admitted it had exhausted all possible routes of appeal, which means there is nothing now standing in the way of the ban.

Basuki Feels ‘Ashamed’ of City’s No-Smoking Awards

Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama said on Wednesday that he felt “ashamed” after receiving four awards from the Environment Ministry for no-smoking policies in city buildings. “The awards made me ashamed, because we have to admit we are still so far behind on environmental issues,” Basuki said. “But if we start today to do the right things to create the new Jakarta, I believe in just one or two decades the environmentally friendly Jakarta is no longer a dream.”

Objective Study Finds ‘No Justification’ for Banning E-Cigarettes Indoors, in Public Places

Good news for the vaping community! A new study, produced by the environmental health consulting firm CHANGE LLC, claims that the secondhand risks from e-cigarette vapors are minuscule, and we should all just be chill about co-workers using them in the office.

Study abstract:
Comparisons of pollutant concentrations were made between e-cigarette vapor and tobacco smoke samples. Pollutants included VOCs, carbonyls, PAHs, nicotine, TSNAs, and glycols. From these results, risk analyses were conducted based on dilution into a 40 m3 room and standard toxicological data. Non-cancer risk analysis revealed “No Significant Risk” of harm to human health for vapor samples from e-liquids (A-D).
Before we get too excited, the study was contracted for $100,000 by the National Vapers Club from solicited donations at Vaping Expos. And “non-cancer risk analysis” is sort of a shady term: does that mean that checking for the risk of cancer in secondhand vapors wasn’t a factor in the study?

The British nearly half of the number one tax evaders cigarette smugglers

The British nearly half of the number one tax evaders cigarette smugglers Updated date: on November 2, 2012 Tobacco Nearly half of the UK's top tax evaders cigarette smugglers, their tax evasion amounting to hundreds of millions of pounds. The British HMRC data show that eight of the 20 number one tax evaders was sentenced to the crime of illegally imported cigarettes.

A member of the European Parliament requires the disclosure of the anti-smuggling trade agreement details

According to the TMA quoted today Malta "reported that a member of the Budget Control Committee of the European Parliament requested the European Commission, aims to provide the Committee with Philip Morris International, Imperial Tobacco, Japan Tobacco International and British American Tobacco in 2004-2010 signed to Parliamentin all documents and correspondence of the cooperation agreement to solve the problem of illegal cigarette trade.
 
Many persons love to smoke
Camel cigarettes, Winston cigarettes.

A member of the European Parliament, said the information requested "the possibility of a conflict of interest of the Commission assessment and analysis arising from those agreements is particularly important". EU anti-fraud agency, the European Anti-Fraud Office involved in the investigation of a legally binding agreement signed with the tobacco manufacturers, tobacco manufacturers agreed to pay the total cost of 1.65 billion euros to the EU and its member states.

"We demand full disclosure of comprehensive information related to the tobacco industry," a member of the European Parliament, said in a letter submitted to the European Commission.