Proposal: County commissions must approve bans

<div style="text-align: justify;">From the <i>Times</i> of West Virginia: &quot;If passed &mdash; the bill is now in the House&rsquo;s Political Subdivisions Committee &mdash; that would means [sic] that Marion&rsquo;s smoking ban questionably passed last year would have to be approved by the county commission before it goes into effect.</div>

EXTRA – The Old Antitobacco Jackboot

<div style="text-align: justify;">Longtime smokers’ rights advocate Norman Kjono got invited and disinvited all in a day to be a Key Speaker at the Third Annual Smoking Cessation Conference scheduled for September in Philadelphia.</div>

State excise cigarette tax increase considered

<div style="text-align: justify;">From the <i>Times</i> of West Virginia: &quot;Early this week, the West Virginia House introduced a bill to raise the cigarette tax by 66-cents per pack, moving it up from 54-cents to $1.20. The bill also calls to raise the tax on other tobacco products from 7 percent of the wholesale price to 14 percent.</div>

No smoking = lottery loss

<div style="text-align: justify;">From the <i>Charleston Gazette</i> of West Virginia: &quot;Since the smoking ban took effect, there hasn’t been a single month that Kanawha County’s video lottery sales eclipsed totals for the same month the previous year, Lottery data shows.</div>
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