Tobacco sales to minors in Indiana reached an all-time low last year, according to a report released Monday by the Tobacco Retailer Inspection Program, known as TRIP. Store clerks sold tobacco products to those 17 and under 3.8 percent of the time during more than 8,400 inspections in 2010. TRIP — a joint venture by the Prevention Resource Center at Indiana University Bloomington and the Indiana State Excise Police — began inspections in 200 ... Jump to full article >>

It’s been 12 years since the major class-action Tobacco Settlement Agreement was made between the attorneys general of 46 states, including Indiana, and the four largest tobacco companies. Indiana’s share of the settlement created a trust fund for a state program dedicated to tobacco control. Ten years after the Indiana Tobacco Prevention and Cessation (ITPC) organization was formed and significant progress has been made to reduce smoking ra ... Jump to full article >>

LOUISVILLE, KY. (WDRB Fox 41) — Both Kentucky and Indiana receive poor grades in the American Lung Association’s State of Tobacco Control 2010 report. It looks at whether the laws in individual states are protecting people from tobacco-related diseases. The report grades each state in four categories — tobacco prevention and spending, smokefree air, cigarette taxes, and cessation coverage. Kentucky received an “F” ... Jump to full article >>

State Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary, will hold Senate legislation hostage unless he gets a Senate vote on a statewide smoking ban. Brown said Wednesday he is sending a message to the Senate by refusing to sign Senate Bill 175 until two state senators sign House Bill 1132, which contains the smoking ban. Neither proposal can advance from conference committee to a final floor vote until two members of each chamber agree to the language in each measur ... Jump to full article >>

It’s time. The state of Indiana needs to light the no-smoking sign. Indiana is just one of 13 states that doesn’t have a general statewide ban on smoking in virtually all public places. Even North Carolina — the leading producer of tobacco in the nation — has enacted a ban. State Rep. Charlie Brown, who has been crusading for years to prohibit smoking in public places, said last week that he again will renew his push when ... Jump to full article >>

INDIANAPOLIS (Legal Newsline)- Thanks to a consent agreement from a lawsuit headed by Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller, more than 11 million cigarettes have been destroyed or shipped out of state. The case derived from an Indiana Department of Revenue audit and inspection of a warehouse owned by G.T. Northeast Inc. of Sellersburg, Ind., in Sept. 2007, where 55,039 cartons (555,390 packs or 11,007,800 cigarettes) of six brands prohibited fo ... Jump to full article >>