Below is a listing of the latest news on legislative issues and anti-smoking movements affecting your personal freedom and rights to enjoy cigars. Get Involved, Learn about the Issues, and Take Action!
Premium Cigar Association Supports D.C. Smoking Ban Proposal...Almost
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| January 22nd, 2010, 01:11 PM | Washington D.C. |
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The International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association has come out in support of proposed Washington D. C. Council legislation to reduce under-aged smoking and against the same piece of legislation that would impact smokers’ rights outside businesses, according to Chris McCalla, legislative director of IPCPR. The proposal would assess new penalties on under-aged youth for purchasing or possessing tobacco products. At the same time, the bill allows shop owners to post no-smoking signs in front of their establishments to include 25 feet of their front door or from the sidewalk.
Washington, D.C. (PRWEB) January 22, 2010 -- The International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association has come out in support of proposed Washington D. C. Council legislation to reduce under-aged smoking and against the same piece of legislation that would impact smokers’ rights outside businesses.
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Bill to combat sidewalk smoking moves forward
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| January 19th, 2010, 01:11 PM | Washington D.C. |
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A D.C. Council bill that would allow D.C. business owners to ban smoking on the sidewalks outside their establishments moved forward with initial approval from the council earlier this month.
The smoking ban, introduced by D.C. Councilmember Phil Mendelson, D-At Large, would allow stores and businesses to post no smoking signs up to 25 feet away from their business.
The full council will most likely vote on the bill "sometime early [this] year," according to a Washington Post report.
University spokeswoman Michelle Sherrard said the University will respond to and comply with the bill once it has been finalized, saying it is currently "too premature to speculate" on whether the University will post no smoking signs outside of buildings.
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D.C. moves to curb sidewalk smoking, youths' access to tobacco
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| January 6th, 2010, 01:11 PM | Washington D.C. |
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The D.C. Council voted unanimously Tuesday to enact far-reaching proposals to curtail smoking by giving store owners a tool to prevent smoking on public sidewalks and by assessing new penalties on anyone younger than 18 who possesses tobacco products.
The bill, part of a coordinated campaign to reduce tobacco use in the District, also requires store owners to ask for identification from anyone buying cigarettes who looks 27 or younger, places new restrictions on cigarette-vending machines and outlaws the sale of "blunt wraps."
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D.C. Council takes up tighter smoking restrictions
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| January 5th, 2010, 01:11 PM | Washington D.C. |
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The D.C. Council will move Tuesday to toughen the District's smoking laws with new provisions targeting underage tobacco use and lighting up on public sidewalks, part of a broad bill that could portend a more rigid ban down the road.
The omnibus smoking legislation, up for the first of two council votes, establishes civil penalties for minors who buy cigarettes, bars street vendors from selling tobacco products, bans the sale of "blunt wraps" often used to roll marijuana and allows commercial property owners to post signs banning smoking outside their buildings.
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Smoking bans march across region
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| November 30th, 2009, 01:11 PM | Washington D.C. |
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The District was first to clear the ashtrays from its taverns in 2007. Maryland pushed its smokers outside not long after, in 2008. And on Tuesday, so goes Virginia.
The march of smoking bans in bars and restaurants across the region has made lighting up while dining out a practical impossibility for many people. And Virginia's ban -- which kicks in Tuesday -- leaves the Washington area with a only a handful of venues where a customer can hold a drink in one hand and a cigarette in another.
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A smoke-free outdoors?
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| November 20th, 2009, 01:11 PM | Washington D.C. |
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Rep. Eliot Engel is trying again to ban smoking near federal buildings.
The New York Democrat unsuccessfully introduced a bill during the last Congress to ban smoking within 25 feet of any federal building’s entrances, exits, windows that can be opened and ventilation intakes. Engel reintroduced the bill Nov. 18 to correspond with the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smoke Out smoking-cessation campaign.
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Anti-smoking proposal could push D.C. smokers into the streets
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| September 30th, 2009, 06:22 AM | Wahington D.C. |
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The D.C. Council is eyeing an extension of the city's anti-tobacco prohibitions into public space, allowing all private property owners to ban smoking outside their buildings -- including the public sidewalk.
The proposed legislation, a major expansion of the District's smoke-free law, sets 18 as the legal age to purchase or possess tobacco products, requires retailers to post signs warning of the dangers of smoking, ramps up enforcement of sales to minors and authorizes smoking bans up to 25 feet from the wall of any private property -- residential or commercial.
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Get Ready to Buy Cigars in Bulk
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| September 10th, 2009, 06:22 AM | Washington D.C. |
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The D.C. Council already came for your single beers, now they want your cigars, as well.
In 2004, a bill championed by then Councilmember Adrian Fenty, banned the sale of single bottles and cans of beer. Its passing drew protests from owners of small grocers and their poorer customers. Now Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander wants to do the same for single cigar sales at gas stations and convenience stores.
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DC Smoke Shops Warn of Proposed Ban on Sales of Single Cigars
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| September 9th, 2009, 06:22 AM | Washington D.C. |
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Is the day coming when you go into a cigar store and can’t buy a single cigar? That day could come sooner than anyone might expect, according to the International Premium Cigar & Pipe Retailers Association.
The Washington D. C. Council has scheduled a public hearing on Bill 18-124, called the “Single Sale of Cigar Products Prohibition Amendment Act of 2009.” The open ended Bill would ban the sale of individual cigars or cigar products that might be used to introduce marijuana into the human body. The hearing is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. on September 29 in the John A. Wilson building at 1350 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington DC 20004.
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D.C. Council considering banning sales of single cigars
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| September 4th, 2009, 06:22 AM | Washington D.C. |
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The D.C. Council has scheduled a public hearing on bill 18-124, the “Single Sale of Cigar Products Prohibition Amendment Act of 2009.” Although the bill description says it’s designed to “ban the sale of individual cigars or 32 cigar products intended or designed for use in ingesting, inhaling or otherwise 33 introducing marijuana in to the human body,” the text only expands the section of the DC Code (§48-1101) in a fairly generic way.
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Students propose smoking ban
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| March 12th, 2009, 10:53 PM | Washington D.C. |
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MAR 12 - A group of graduate students is lobbying administrators to ban smoking on all University-owned property, but it remains unclear exactly where GW would be allowed to enforce the ban.
Campus for Clean Air, an unofficial student organization created by three graduate students in the School of Public Health and Health Services, is leading the push to extend the smoking ban to all outdoor areas within the perimeter of campus - rather than just inside University buildings and within a certain distance from entrances. The groups leaders - Lindsey King, Chris Carrier and Babak Yaghmaei - say they have conducted meetings with top GW administrators and health experts around the District.
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