Online Petition Sparks Push for Stricter Tobacco Reforms in Indonesia

A grass-roots campaign to snuff out Indonesia’s ubiquitous tobacco advertising is gaining traction online as thousands of anti-smoking advocates urged the Ministry of Technology and Communication to ban cigarette ads in mass media.

Indonesia is the only country in Southeast Asia, and one of the few in the world, to still allow cigarette ads on television. Tobacco ads can air between 9:30 p.m. and 5 a.m. and are barred from showing people smoking or cigarette boxes under the country’s 2002 Broadcast Law.
The regulation has been seen as a limited attempt to rein in tobacco companies, which spent $202 million in 2010 advertising on everything from concert stages to motorcycle taxi stalls. But the law, which still allows print, radio and television ads, as well as corporate sponsorship and billboards, doesn’t go far enough, said Usman Hamid, co-founder of

It's the dangerous new way teens are getting drunk -- and it's going viral. Now doctors say it could be deadly.
It's called "smoking alcohol." You don't drink the booze, you inhale it. Sounds bizarre, but those vapors give you an instant high.
Here's the problem: Doctors say it's incredibly dangerous and can be extremely addictive. Pure alcohol shooting into your brain. Doctors are issuing an urgent warning: Don't try this at home.
Chances are your teenager

Domestic tobacco market specialists are cautious

An opinion survey , which was undertaken on RusTabak portal in October 2011, showed that tobacco market specialists see the following main reasons for the success of Donskoy Tabak: aggressive advertising targeting young people (40.35%), export to unrecognised republics (26.68%), and credit terms for trade partners (24.95%). Another 2.39% of respondents saw the reason in “dumping”, while 3.04% chose “all the above”. Only 2.59% attributed the company’s success to “other business practices”. These disheartening results from a survey of specialists gives evidence that the picture  portrayed by the factory for investors is very much different from what experts see.

The real situation at the factory is such that its future is more than uncertain, regardless of whether it is sold now. It remains to be seen whether a decline will begin under its present owner or whether growth will continue, but it is quite obvious, that the new owners of Donskoy Tabak, whoever they are, will inherit a number of unsolved problems and questionable business practices and thus may eventually see the return on their investment being different

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Marlboro maker Altria plans electronic cigarette as sales drop

Altria Group Inc., the largest U.S. tobacco company, said Thursday it will introduce an electronic cigarette this year amid a continuing slump in sales of its top-selling Marlboro brand.
Some of Altria's competitors -- including Lorillard Inc., with its blue eCigs brand, as well as smaller rivals such as NJOY -- have been quicker to seize on the rising popularity of e-cigarettes.Altria Group is alos producer of Bond cigarettes and Chesterfield cigarettes .
E-cigarettes are battery-powered devices that heat liquid nicotine in a disposable cartridge and produce a vapor that's inhaled. Consumers can buy refill cartridges in various flavors, often at a discount to what traditional cigarettes cost.
Altria's move could cannibalize sales of Marlboro and its other brands, but analysts say the company could grab a significant piece of the business in short order given its size and resources.
"We are pleased to announce another step in our efforts to address the changing preferences of adult tobacco consumers," Marty Barrington, Altria's chairman and chief executive, said Thursday. "In the second half of this year, Altria's subsidiary, Nu Mark, plans to introduce an electronic cigarette."
Despite increased use of e-cigarettes, they remain a relatively small part of the overall market, according to industry experts.
Some anti-smoking groups and lawmakers have called for more regulation of e-cigarettes. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been reviewing the product category.
Altria reported Thursday that its cigarette sales volume fell 5.2% in the first quarter. The Marlboro brand's sales volume dropped 5.5%.
The company, based in Richmond, Va., said its first-quarter net income grew 16% to $1.4 billion, or 69 cents a share, from $1.2 billion, or 59 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue declined 2% to $5.5 billion.

Favor Legalization of Pot in USA

For the first time ever, a solid majority of Americans supports legalizing marijuana for recreational use: 56%, according to the most recent Rasmussen poll. Support for legalization has been growing steadily since the 1990s; in 1994, just 25% were in favor.
In November 2010, California residents voted on a ballot initiative to legalize the possession and sale of marijuana. Although the measure failed to pass — 46% to 54% — the fact that the initiative made it onto the ballot and garnered that much support was itself historic. Indeed, it was fear of the initiative’s passage that led then California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to decriminalize possession of up to 1 oz. of pot shortly before the vote — a move that was intended to bleed voter support from the ballot question. Had it passed, California would have been the first state to legalize the drug outright. In 2012, Colorado and Washington State will vote on total legalization.
Because support for legalization tracks closely with age, change would seem inevitable in the long run. The most recent Gallup poll found that 62% of people ages 18 to 29 favor full legalization, compared with 31% of senior citizens. As far as medical marijuana goes, Americans are nearly unanimous in their approval: 70% or more support it.

Marijuana, Market Forces and Why Colorado’s New Pot Law Could Actually Be a Black-Market Boon

“What’s the price of an ounce of marijuana in Colorado these days?” I e-mailed a friend who I thought might know. The reply: for the top quality stuff, about as much as a share of Apple stock. Apple shares were going for $528 recently, which raises an interesting arbitrage possibility: What’s your guess about the price of Apple and pot a year from now, when Colorado’s legalization of personal pot possession establishes a legitimate commercial market for weed?

My play would be to go long on Apple and short hemp.
Colorado has made the possession of marijuana legal but hasn’t figured out much else. Looking at it from a classical economics perspective, the legitimization of marijuana raises the issue of what happens to the demand, quality, supply and price of a product that has now become legal after decades underground.