Smoking

On weekday mornings, I'll post the most controversial, shocking and (of course) ridiculous stories for your reading pleasure. That way, when you walk into work, you'll be the master of witty conversation. National • Really, Canada? Smoking is the least of your Charlie Sheen worries: Canada warns Sheen n ot to smoke on stag e. (CBC News)  • Shocker. It's all about ratings? Trump might announce presidential intentions on "The Apprentice. " (Yahoo News)

Debate over a higher cigarette tax in Maryland started out as an attempt to raise more money for the state. But as the state Senate argues the pros and cons in the final days of this year's legislative session, the measure has become primarily a health issue. And rightly so.Smoking causes 5,000 new cases of cancer every year in Maryland. This state continues to have one of the nation's highest cancer mortality rates. There's no doubt any longer that smoking is the biggest culprit. It contributes to 30 percent of all cancer deaths and 87 percent -- 7 out of 8 -- of all cases of lung cancer.

Now that Gov. Parris N. Glendening has moved swiftly and wisely to put an end to the haggling over the ban on smoking in the workplace, the tobacco peddlers are trying an end run back to friendlier territory in the legislature. The governor's prompt decision to endorse the regulations protecting workers from inhaling other peoples' carcinogens caught the tobacco lobby off guard.Leaders of the Senate and House, who should know better, are considering legislation to permit smoking in bars, restaurants and hotels, ostensibly to protect the state's tourist and convention business.

Baltimore officials are aggressively going after smoking products they think are causing particular harm in the city. Their efforts - to regulate cigarettes that pose an enhanced risk of fire and reduce consumption of little cigars that have become popular among young African-Americans - are a justified and welcome response to a couple of related public health issues. A study by the Harvard School of Public Health found that cigarettes sold in Maryland are considerably more likely to cause fires than those sold in states such as New York and California that have stricter safety standards.

IT IS both quite simple and somehow difficult to write about cigarette smoking. The simple part is this: Smoking kills. Cigarettes are, as Dr. Louis W. Sullivan, the secretary of Health and Human Services, once said, "the only legal product that when used as intended cause death."It is lung cancer, not breast cancer, that is now the number one cancer killer of American women. "Smoking is associated with more death and illness than drugs, alcohol, automobile accidents and AIDS combined."That last is from the memoirs of C. Everett Koop, who as surgeon general did more to promote a smoke-free America than anyone.

OCEAN CITY -- Smoking in all state buildings controlled by the executive branch of government will be banned under an order Gov. William Donald Schaefer says he intends to issue within the next few days.In a surprise announcement yesterday during his speech at the annual Maryland Association of Counties meeting here, the governor said the no-smoking order was part of his effort to expand programs to prevent diseases.The order will note that state courts or other buildings controlled by either the judiciary or legislative branches of government will not be affected.

The welfare of each of us is dependent fundamentally upon the welfare of all of us.-- Theodore Roosevelt THE Montgomery County Council recently took a bold step to protect the health of Maryland's citizens and visitors by approving an ordinance that will reprimand anyone who smokes or discards tobacco products on sidewalks, lawns or other areas of Friendship Heights. The council understands its obligation to protect citizens from hazardous conditions. This is a critical action toward reducing death and disease caused by smoking and is no less meaningful than attempting to get the cocaine out of crack-infested areas.

Spurred on by a group of students, the Harford County public school system this week became the first in Maryland to prohibit tobacco use in its buildings and vehicles. The ban, which affects school employees, takes effect July 1 with tobacco use to be allowed only in outside designated areas. Students already are barred from smoking on public school property statewide, and the state Board of Education is considering a bylaw to prohibit smoking in all public school buildings.The Evening Sun would like to know what you think.

Anne Arundel County Councilwoman Maureen Lamb should be prepared. In the next few weeks, she's going to be painted as a radical, far-fetched health nut for trying to put some far-reaching restrictions on smoking.Already some of her colleagues are saying her anti-smoking bill is excessive. Almost every business organization in the county has registered opposition, saying economics matter more than breath.As usual, tobacco lobbyist Bruce Bereano -- one person for whom smoking truly is an economic issue because he makes a mint defending it -- has put in his two cents.