cigarettes

Michigan ranks 42nd nationally in funding smoking prevention

Michigan Radio Newsroom — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 22:13:25 +0000

Michigan ranks among the worst states for funding anti-smoking programs.

Each year, the state collects over one billion dollars in tobacco taxes and settlement money from a 1998 tobacco company lawsuit.

A new report by the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids says Michigan only spends one tenth of one percent of that money on programs that reduce or prevent smoking.

As a result, the state has been ranked 42nd in spending money to keep kids away from cigarettes.

Michigan's smoking ban did not hurt restaurants and bars, according to study

Steve Carmody — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 22:43:27 +0000

A new study suggests Michigan’s two-year-old public workplace smoking ban has had little effect on the state’s bar and restaurant industry.

Taxing Cigarettes for the Arts

Dan Bobkoff — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 10:10:00 +0000

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/michigan/local-michigan-981280.mp3

It’s a tough time for arts funding around the nation. Kansas, as an example, just cut all its state support. It’s a different story in the Cleveland area, though. That region has found a unique way to fund the arts, and it’s paying off big.

It’s made residents like Samantha Kane arts patrons of sorts. She says she smokes about two or three packs of cigarettes a week. We find her waiting at a bus stop with a stroller in one hand and a cigarette in the other. Since 2006, each cigarette she smokes contributes a penny and a half to Cuyahoga County’s arts organizations.

“I love that it goes to something instead of road work, or you know, padding congressmen’s pockets,” Kane says.

This county cigarette tax really adds up. The group that administers the money is doling out $15 million this year alone. That’s enough to catapult the Cleveland area to among the top public funders for the arts in the nation—many times more than what most states contribute.

“I tell people: you don’t have to smoke ‘em, just buy them,” says Cindy Einhouse, CEO of the Beck Center for the Arts in Lakewood.

It puts on shows, teaches dance and music, and provides summer camps for kids.

Einhouse says the recession hit her organization hard. The Beck Center almost closed its doors in 2009. A wave of private donations helped, but she’s grateful for this county tax.

Michigan's smoking ban - One Year Later

Steve Carmody — Thu, 19 May 2011 19:29:38 +0000

State health officials received nearly 15 hundred complaints about businesses violating Michigan’s public smoking ban during the first year of the ban’s existence. The smoking ban took effect on May 1st, 2010.

James McCurtis is with the Department of Community Health. He says for a lot of businesses getting a citation for violating the smoking ban has been like getting a speeding ticket from a state trooper.