August 3, 2016
Ventura County just released a very well done report on severe problems with the proposed marijuana legalization initiative, The 2016 California Marijuana Initiative and Youth: Lessons from Alcohol Policy
Here is their press release; the report is here; I also deposited a copy in the UC eScholarhip library where it is freely available here.
July 30, 2016
The MPAA, studios, NATO, and the plaintiffs in the national class action lawuit alleging that their rating system defrauds parents have agreed that the defndants' response to the plaintiff's June filing will be due on September 15, 2016 and proposed to the judge that the hearing on the Motion to Dismiss and SLAPP Motion will be held on October 27.
The judge will have to approve this schedule, but such approvals when both sides agree are usual.
You can read about the case and all the legal documents at https://smokefreemovies.ucsf.edu/take-action/class-action. The plaintiff's July 15 response is especially entertaining.
This item is cross-posted from the Smoke Free Movies blog at https://smokefreemovies.ucsf.edu/blog/mpaa-studios-and-theaters-will-fil...
July 29, 2016
Heikki Hiilamo and I just published “FCTC followed by accelerated implementation of tobacco advertising bans” in Tobacco Control. This paper shows a statistically demonstrable positive effect on implementation of national advertising bans but, as with similar positive effects on smokefree laws and health warning labels, the effect is fading.
These three papers point to the need to redouble efforts at implementation, especially in countries with limited state capacity.
July 28, 2016
The fourteen states hand out the most lavish subsidies to Hollywood film producers together spent $1.48 billion on movies proven to recruit kids to smoke from 2010 to 2016 — $150 million more than they invested over the same period to reduce smoking.
Smokefree Movies now tracks top subsidy states and countries, updating our dollar estimates weekly. Watch the totals grow at How you pay...
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2010 to 2016, six individual states spent more to subsidize smoking movies than on programs to reduce smoking: Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nevada and New Mexico.
New York State and Pennsylvania spent nearly as much to promote smoking as they did to reduce smoking. California, Connecticut and North Carolina spent at least two-thirds as much on films with smoking as they did on tobacco control.*