Boston bans sale of tobacco in pharmacies and on college campuses

If you're looking to buy your next pair of cigarettes, you better check where you're going. The Boston Public Health Commission has banned the sale of tobacco products in pharmacies and convenience stores located in college campuses. The ban began on Monday February 9, effecting about 100 stores within the city of Boston.

Pharmacist Gregory Laham has mixed feelings about the ban. "Its difficult to lose one customer, let alone lose 20 or 30 a day," said Laham, "but my feelings are as a pharmacist, how can you reconcile selling cigarettes? If you've got somebody that's on numerous heart medications, its tough filling prescriptions for them and then having them go buy two packs of cigarettes in your store."

Thawing out the blog

Okay...it has been almost a month since my last post. The last few weeks have been some of the busiest so far this year. With that said, I have a lot of great news.

First, I have an update in my Fulbright status. I have made it past the second round of deliberations and my application is now under final review. Also, many of my friends on campus also got good news on their applications as well. Congratulations BC!

Last week, I also had the chance to join my friend Orhan, a Cambridge College grad student I met at the TCC, for some delicious soup, tea, and Turkish desserts. Orhan introduced me to a really, great Turkish musician, Bariş Manço (pronounced Barish Mancho). I can only describe him as an eclectic musician because some of his songs are really folky, others are more new age, some sound like disco, etc etc. Here is a photo from one of his very early music videos.


Also, it looks like there will be a screening of "In Good Faith" at the Roxbury Mosque on March 22. The screening is tentatively scheduled for 6PM, and will include a panel of those involved including someone from the Muslim American Society and Father Raymond Helmick, S.J.

That's it for now. I've also been very busy finishing a video for Citizen Schools, a non-profit interested in providing better after school options for inner city students, and also a report for my TV Newsroom class on Boston's new cigarette ban. I will be posting those soon.