Category Archives: English

In this category you will find contributions in English.++++ In dieser Kategorie finden sie Beiträge in englischer Sprache.++++Dans cette catégorie, vous trouverez des contributions en anglais.++++

Frank the Thinker

smokingbandits Posted on by

Frank Davis, the blogger, the fighter, the polemist was, first and foremost, a thinker, a philosopher whose ideas have shaped the world. The infamous Tobacco Control (TC) industry, greedy for money and power, might have hoped to bludgeon that world into total submission, but it so happened that one man suddenly became a moral leader and the global symbol of resistance to TC, and look now – its evil empire is still far from victory. How did he do it, that man? He did it by becoming a thinker, formulating ideas in a way that galvanized us all. Let me … Continue reading →

Frank Davis is dead

smokingbandits Posted on by

The English blogger and virtual host of the Smokydrinkybar Frank Davis has unexpectedly passed away. Frank has been tirelessly filling his blog with new information, assessments and opinions since 2009, most recently a few days before his passing. The reason for Frank’s journalistic activities was the statutory smoking ban in Great Britain, which is of course embedded in tobacco control in general and linked to other elements of the health dictatorship. In his second blog post Frank aptly stated: “The smoking ban is not just about smoking. It’s about freedom and democracy and accountability. It’s about science and risk and … Continue reading →

“We’re gonna take it”

smokingbandits Posted on by

New York State just legalized possession and regulated sale of cannabis, joining at least 14 others where it’s completely legal. Most US states have at very least decriminalized marijuana; others have legalized medical marijuana. The Drug Enforcement Agency of the Federal government continues to consider it a “Schedule 1” substance, ranked with heroin as among the most dangerous. The details have yet to be worked out, but I am not optimistic.  Someone once posted “A Sentence for each State in the Union”. The sentence was supposed to encapsulate the character of the state it was about. My personal favorite was … Continue reading →

Smoking on U.S. university campuses

smokingbandits Posted on by

I was extremely fortunate to be a college student in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. It was the heyday of freewheeling student life in the United States. After the campus protests and unrest of the 1960’s, students were allowed a great deal of freedom and autonomy once things settled down. Things differed from campus to campus, but when I arrived at the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1978, it was quite the swinging place. The legal drinking age was 18 and there were frequent parties, especially on Thursday evening, as many campus residents lived close … Continue reading →

The virus, the distance, the smoke

smokingbandits Posted on by

I was fortunate to have been able to squeeze in one last congenial visit to my favorite Manhattan smoking bar, Karma, on March 14, the Saturday before everything shut down due to the Corona-virus.  I cut it even closer with my last haircut, making it into the barber the last day before New York State declared all “non-essential” businesses closed.  They had the great wisdom to designate liquor stores as “essential.” So thereafter all actual social life came to halt.  People stayed home and worked from home if they could.  Others, who were in essential sectors did work, while a … Continue reading →

Smoking in New York

smokingbandits Posted on by

I live in Long Island, a suburban area adjacent to New York City. New Yorkers pride themselves on their grit, toughness and sophistication. The “City that Never Sleeps” is also known for its cosmopolitan recreations. You can find food from anywhere on the planet and night spots to please any and all tastes here. New York’s reputation as a place where “anything goes” reaches back to colonial times. In contrast to staid, Calvinist Boston, New York’s pragmatic Dutch origins as a trading center (rather than a putative haven for those fleeing religious repression to impose their own theocracy) meant a … Continue reading →

We got our airports back

smokingbandits Posted on by

There were still no smoking rooms in the Domodedovo airport near Moscow when I was flying away from Russia in early January, but soon they’ll be reopened after seven years’ absence. The amendment to the anti-smoking law has passed both chambers of the Russian parliament and signed by the President on December 28, last year. All that time we, hundreds of people participating in the battle, were keeping our fingers crossed, for fear of some last-minute trouble. That was a very, very small victory over the huge Tobacco Control machine. But, nevertheless, a victory it was, and, as such, it’s … Continue reading →

Marlboro Cowboy gets off on the wrong boot

smokingbandits Posted on by

The tobacco company Philip Morris International (PMI) has long been ingratiating itself to the anti-smokers. Meanwhile, it is counting on its new IQOS heaters to profit from the increasing fight against classic tobacco products with their “Heet” sticks. Netzwerk Rauchen says: Do not buy! “I Love You Phillip Morris” is the title of a movie starring Jim Carrey in 2009. Not meant was the cigarette company Philip Morris (with only one “l”) and by no means would Netzwerk Rauchen have come to associate such a title with the tobacco company.  After all, we have very different feelings towards the company.  … Continue reading →

Legalise Cannabis?

smokingbandits Posted on by

It seems people are tripping over themselves to legalise cannabis these days. Everyone is talking about it and efforts to do so are well under-way. So why is another plant, tobacco, still considered to be the most dangerous drug known to man? The Government get a lot of money from tobacco; £13 billion per year currently. Anti-tobacco groups also get a lot of money from tobacco. The Government pays them with our taxes to do a job. That job is to tell the Government what it wants to hear; that the general population want to be controlled more. The Tobacco … Continue reading →