Poor Smokers Quit Smoking Because of Tobacco Taxes, Jakarta News

Although the cost of living in the capital is becoming unbearable for many Jakartans, when it comes to buy Esse cigarettes some have no qualms about shelling out as much as half of their incomes for the “luxury”.

Meet Romli, a liang teh (Chinese health tea) seller who earns between Rp 25,000 (US$2.80) and Rp 50,000 a day and spends some Rp 20,000 daily on two packs of cigarettes.

The 23-year-old man from Slipi, West Jakarta, said obligations to his wife and 4-year-old son were not enough to make him quit smoking and put that money to his family.

“My wife scolds me when she finds me smoking, especially when I do it when my son is around, but so far it hasn’t stopped me,” he said.

However, Romli said that, although he would not quit smoking any time soon, he always saved enough money for his son’s needs.

“I always make sure that my son’s needs are fulfilled,” he said.

In South Jakarta, another smoker, Sukiman, said that despite earning only Rp 650,000 per month as caretaker of a low-rent apartment in Kebayoran, he could not pass a day without spending Rp 10,000 for cigarettes.

“I started smoking when I was a little boy, younger than 10 years old,” Sukiman told The Jakarta Post.

Beside him were two packs of cigarettes: One nearly empty and the other still sealed.

“Back then, it was only one cigarette a day. Then it became two and then four and six and so on. Nowadays, I smoke between one and one and a half packs a day.” One pack of his favorite cigarettes costs between Rp 9,500 and Rp 10,000.

His children are grown and generate their own income now, Sukiman said.

Health Ministry data shows that, in 2010, smoking among Indonesian adults increased to 34.7 percent, up from 31.5 percent in 2001. Of that 34.7 percent, 28.2 percent smoked every day.

The data also shows that 66 percent of males and 4 percent of females over 15 are active smokers.

Tobacco industry players have targeted cigarette sales of Rp 188 trillion this year, a 6 percent increase from Rp 177 trillion last year when an estimated 250 billion cigarettes were produced. At least 10 million Indonesians are directly involved in the country’s cigarette industry.

The Jakarta administration is currently considering revoking the government-sponsored healthcare insurance for poor people who smoke habitually.

Sukiman, like many other impoverished smokers, said that he often tried to quit smoking.

“When I am working on something and my mind is occupied, I often forget my urge to smoke,” he said.

Irfan, a motorcycle taxi driver in Slipi agreed, but added, “The moment I take a break from doing whatever I’m doing, the moment I sit down and my mind begins to wander, that is when I feel the urge to smoke again.”

People such as Irfan and Sukiman said they often felt helpless to resist their smoking urges.

“It has changed from merely a hobby to some sort of a craving,” said Amsar, 45, an unofficial security guard at a residential area in Grogol Utara subdistrict, South Jakarta.

As an unofficial security guard, he does not have a fixed source of income. Most of the time, he depends on the generosity of local residents to give him money for his services.

“Let’s just say that I have enough money to buy my meals, my cups of coffee and lots of cigarettes. I can’t stop doing it now,” he said, taking a long drag on his cigarette.

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Posted in: buy Esse cigarettes,cigarette,quit smoking

U.S. Judge blocks Graphic Cigarette Warnings

A federal judge blocked a U.S. rule requiring tobacco companies to display graphic images on cigarette packs, such as a man exhaling discount Marengo cigarette smoke through a hole in his throat.

U.S. District Judge Richard Leon sided on Monday with tobacco companies and granted a temporary injunction, saying they would likely prevail in their lawsuit challenging the requirement as unconstitutional because it compels speech in violation of the First Amendment.

The Food and Drug Administration in June released nine new warnings to go into effect in September of 2012, the first change in U.S. cigarette warning labels in 25 years. Cigarette packs already carry text warnings from the U.S. Surgeon General.

The new warnings must cover the top half of the front and back of cigarette packs and 20 percent of printed advertisements and must contain color graphics depicting the health consequences of smoking, including diseased lungs, dead bodies and rotting teeth.

Congress instructed FDA to impose the new labels as part of 2009 legislation making the agency responsible for regulating tobacco products.

“The sheer size and display requirements for the graphic images are anything but narrowly tailored,” Leon wrote in a 29-page opinion.

Just because Congress ordered the size and placement of the new warnings before charging the FDA with carrying out the mandate, “doing so does not enable this requirement to somehow automatically pass constitutional muster,” he said.

The content of the images would also not likely survive constitutional muster because the FDA did not attempt to narrowly tailor those either, the judge said.

The tobacco lawsuit is the latest effort by corporations to assert a right to free speech, a high-profile legal battle that could end up before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Reynolds American Inc’s R.J. Reynolds unit, Lorillard Inc, Liggett Group LLC and Commonwealth Brands Inc, owned by Britain’s Imperial Tobacco Group Plc, sued the FDA in August.

They argued the new graphic warnings force them to “engage in anti-smoking advocacy” on the government’s behalf, breaching their right to free speech.

The Obama administration’s options include appealing Leon’s ruling or the FDA could try to rewrite the rules.

FDA spokeswoman Stephanie Yao said the agency did not comment on proposed, pending or ongoing litigation. Justice Department spokesman Charles Miller said the department was aware of the decision and was reviewing it.

The White House expressed disappointment in the ruling.

“Tobacco companies shouldn’t be standing in the way of common sense measures that will help prevent children from smoking. We are confident big tobacco’s attempt to stop these warnings from going forward will ultimately fail,” White House spokesman Nick Papas said.

Tobacco is the leading cause of preventable deaths in the United States, accounting for one in every five deaths every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 21 percent of U.S. adults smoke cigarettes, a number little changed since 2004.

Worldwide, tobacco kills nearly 6 million people every year, including more than 600,000 nonsmokers, according to the World Health Organization, which has repeatedly called for graphic images to appear on tobacco packs, saying the pictorial warnings actually work.

The tobacco industry had asked Leon to block the FDA’s new requirements, pending a final decision on their constitutionality. They argued they needed a quick ruling because they would have to start in November or December and spend millions of dollars to comply with the requirements.

Justice Department attorneys had argued that the money was a small fraction of the companies’ net sales, so they would not suffer irreparable harm without the temporary injunction.

Government attorneys said the labels conveyed the dangers of smoking more effectively than words alone, and were needed to stop more people from smoking, especially teenagers.

Judge Leon said the images provoked an emotional response rather than just providing factual and noncontroversial information, crossing the line into using company advertising for government advocacy.

Floyd Abrams, a prominent First Amendment lawyer representing Lorillard, called Leon’s ruling a “vindication for the well-established First Amendment principle that the government may not compel speech in the commercial area.”

He said the case was in its early stages and there was a “good chance” it will eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Dow Jones tobacco index, whose components include Altria, Lorillard and Reynolds American, was just 0.05 percent higher in afternoon trading amid mixed trading for broader U.S. stock indexes as investors kept a worried eye on European debt problems.

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Posted in: tobacco companies,tobacco products