I’m a medical student who smokes

I remember the day and reason I took up smoking. It was September, 2005. My close friend Fraser had died in a motor vehicle accident. I had just given his eulogy an hour before. I had smoked casually in the past, but I bought my first pack thinking I'd most likely not buy any more. I thought I just needed to smoke for a while to cope. And while my regular consumption of cigarettes stayed between three and seven a day, during stressful times it would become more.

Fewer heart attacks in Ohio under smoking ban

Ohioans are having fewer heart attacks since a voter-approved ban on smoking in public places took effect four years ago, according to a report issued by state health officials Sept. 1. And sales at restaurants and bars have edged up slightly over the same time period, health officials said. The information was released during a press conference at the Statehouse Sept. 1. Ted Wymyslo, director of the Ohio Department of Health, said the reports were compiled in response to concerns raised at the time the smoke-free workplace law took effect.

Activists decry tobacco promotion in Africa

Gerald Kitabu September 7, 2011. Human rights activists, health practitioners and journalists have expressed dismay and horror over African governments’ stand to promote and campaign for tobacco growing and smoking saying such acts aimed at killing people especially the youth who are targeted by tobacco dealers. Speaking at a two-day tobacco control journalists’ workshop organised by Health-e News Service and The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (CTFK) in Johannesburg, South Africa recently, they said deliberate campaigns propagated by African governments and tobacco companies under the pretext of increasing the economy without assessing its devastating effects associated with tobacco left a lot to be desired..........