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Alyosha
11-07-2013, 12:34 PM
http://reason.com/blog/2013/11/07/never-call-the-cops-unless-you-want-some


The details from Des Moines Register (http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20131106/NEWS/311060044/Exclusive-Interview-In-ISU-case-police-action-baffles-family?Frontpage&gcheck=1):

James Comstock refused to buy a pack of cigarettes for his 19-year-old son, Tyler, and now he’s planning his son’s funeral.
http://cloudfront-media.reason.com/mc/_external/2013_11/des-moines-register.jpg?h=273&w=170Des Moines Register
“He took off with my truck. I call the police, and they kill him,” James Comstock told The Des Moines Register on Tuesday. “It was over a damn pack of cigarettes. I wouldn’t buy him none. “And I lose my son for that.”


Comstock said he’s outraged police shot and killed his son Monday morning on Iowa State University’s campus.

Police began pursuing Tyler Comstock of Boone after his father reported the truck stolen. The truck belonged to a lawn care company.


Ames Police Officer Adam McPherson pursued Comstock into the heart of ISU’s campus. During the chase, Comstock rammed McPherson’s car. The truck eventually stopped, but Comstock revved the engine and refused orders to turn it off.


McPherson fired six shots into the truck. Comstock died from two gunshot wounds, according to the Iowa state medical examiner’s office.


James Comstock said his son was not carrying a weapon.


During the chase, an unidentified Ames police staffer twice suggested that police back off their pursuit, according to dispatch audio obtained by the Register through a third-party service. Audio: Listen to dispatchers and officers during the pursuit (http://desmoinesregister.com/videonetwork/2808789798001)
The audio linked to above is illuminating; the police knew from their own audio that it was a family dispute leading to a kid grabbing dad's truck, not a car theft desperado on the loose.


Undoubtedly, a more sensible person would not have done what Comstock did -- assuming the officer's story is true, he does say on police audio that Comstock "backed up into my vehicle."


A voice of reason on the police channel points out, hey, if Comstock is being that reckless in regard to police attempts to stop him, maybe the safest thing to do is back off. "We know the suspect," the voice points out. "We can probably back it off."
Regardless, the use of lethal force on someone for cop-defiance and traffic violations should, to put it mildly, happen less often



The lesson to be learned from this is to don't even start smoking.

Codename Section
11-07-2013, 12:56 PM
I really don't know what to think about this.

waltky
07-29-2017, 03:00 PM
Granny don't care - she smokes cigars...
http://www.politicalwrinkles.com/images/smilies/wink.gif
US Government Proposes Cutting Nicotine Levels in Cigarettes
July 28, 2017 - The U.S. government is proposing cutting the nicotine level in cigarettes for the first time in its history.


The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Friday it has directed the agency’s staff to develop new regulations to make cigarettes less addictive. Tobacco stocks fell Friday following the news. FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said the agency plans to explore ways to limit the amount of nicotine in cigarettes. “A renewed focus on nicotine can help us to achieve a world where cigarettes no longer addict future generations of our kids,'' Gottlieb said in a speech to staff in Silver Spring, Maryland.


E-Cigarettes


Along with reducing nicotine, the FDA plans to ease the path of entry for less-harmful nicotine delivery systems, such as e-cigarettes. The agency said it will give e-cigarette makers four more years to comply with FDA oversight of their products, giving them more time on the market without regulation. "While there's still much research to be done on these products and the risks that they may pose, they may also present benefits that we must consider," Gottlieb said.


E-cigarettes contain nicotine, which is addictive, but they do not contain tar or many of the other substances in traditional cigarettes, which make them deadly. Battery-powered e-cigarettes turn liquid nicotine into an inhalable vapor. "Nicotine itself is not responsible for the cancer, the lung disease and heart disease that kill hundreds of thousands of Americans each year," Gottlieb said. "It's the other chemical compounds in tobacco and in the smoke created by setting tobacco on fire that directly cause illness and death."



https://gdb.voanews.com/2F5524C4-FB69-448C-848F-FD7C7906D6E1_cx0_cy24_cw0_w1023_r1_s.jpg
A smoker snuffs out a cigarette at the Capitol in Sacramento, California



However, Gottlieb said he was concerned that e-cigarette makers are using “kid-appealing flavors” which he said the FDA would consider regulating. "I have real concerns about kids use of e-cigarettes and I know many others share those concerns, especially for those products marketed with obviously kid-appealing flavors,” he said.


Response


Anti-smoking activists hailed the announcement and said that reducing the level of nicotine in traditional cigarettes could make it easier for people to switch to e-cigarettes or less harmful tobacco products. However, some activists say the amount of nicotine in cigarettes needs to be reduced dramatically, and say if nicotine is only reduced a small amount it will just encourage smokers to use more cigarettes. Altria Group, which sells Marlboro and other cigarettes in the United States, said it would comply with all FDA rules, but said in a statement Friday that any new rules should be based on evidence and not lead to unintended consequences.


While the new policies could be bad business for cigarette companies, Altria and other groups, like Philip Morris International, have been spending billions of dollars to make to products that they say have less health risks such as e-cigarettes. The FDA has had the power to regulate nicotine levels since 2009 but has not yet done so. The U.S. government says tobacco use causes more than 480,000 deaths annually, and is the leading cause of preventable heart disease.


https://www.voanews.com/a/us-government-proposes-cutting-nicotine-levels-in-cigarettes-/3963620.html

See also:

Stronger Tobacco-control Measures Vital, WHO Warns
May 30, 2017 — The World Health Organization warns that more than 7 million people die prematurely every year from tobacco-related causes, and it's a costly drain on national economies.


In advance of World No Tobacco day, to be observed Wednesday, the global health agency urged governments to implement strong tobacco control measures for the health of their people and their economies. WHO calls tobacco a threat to development. Besides the heavy toll in lives lost, global estimates show that "tobacco costs the global economy $1.4 trillion a year," or 1.8 percent of global gross domestic product. The WHO notes this estimate takes into consideration "only medical expenses and lost productive capacities."




Despite effective tobacco control measures, WHO reports the number of people dying from smoking is increasing because those dying today have mostly been long-term smokers and it takes time for tobacco control policies to make an impact. Vinayak Prasad, program manager of the WHO's Tobacco Free Initiative, told VOA, "What we are seeing is that if the policies were not in place, the number of 7.2 million would have been higher. We are seeing a reduction of tobacco use prevalence in most countries. The only regions now which are seeing higher growth are the African continent and Middle Eastern region. The rest of the world is seeing a decline."

Diseases, disabilities

Besides leading to premature death, the WHO has found, countless millions of people who smoke suffer from a wide variety of tobacco-related diseases and resultant serious disabilities, including blindness, amputation, impotence and poor oral health. Andrew Black of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Secretariat noted that smoking is an addiction largely taken up in childhood and adolescence, "so it is crucial to reduce the number of young people taking up smoking in the first place. We must stop the tobacco industry's powerful advertising and promotion, which can all too often be oriented toward young people."

[center][img]https://gdb.voanews.com/8619E7D7-8BEE-4E48-8B76-8EABDD92B6FB_w650_r0_s.jpg
Warning signs are printed on packs of cigarettes for sale in Bangkok, Thailand.

Black said tobacco widens social inequalities and is a driver of poverty around the world. "We know that those living on lower incomes in virtually all countries are likely to smoke, and therefore more likely to suffer the consequences of tobacco use," he said. Black said that by 2030, about 80 percent of the world's tobacco-related mortality will be in low- and middle-income countries. "High rates of tobacco use being promoted by aggressive strategies from the tobacco industry are projected to lead to a doubling of the number of tobacco-related deaths in low- and middle-income countries between 2010 and 2030," he said.

Study issued (https://www.voanews.com/a/stronger-tobacco-control-measures-vital-world-health-organization-says/3878184.html)

donttread
08-02-2017, 10:49 PM
http://reason.com/blog/2013/11/07/never-call-the-cops-unless-you-want-some





The lesson to be learned from this is to don't even start smoking.

33% hit rate. That's good for cops. The kid certainly did some bad and stupid things but I'm not sure reving an engine warrented shooting. Or maybe shoot the engine? Hit the oil pan or
radiator bad enough and he won't be revying for long.