Governor Markell with state Senator Bethany Hall-Long.

DOVER –  Surrounded by lawmakers, police officers, scientists, social service and health officials, the Governor signed a bill into law that makes permanent a ban imposed last September on a class of designer drugs popularly known as “bath salts.”  The new law also gives police and prosecutors more flexibility in dealing with the dangerous drugs.

“This is where public safety and law enforcement meet science and public policy,” said Governor Markell.   “This has been a scary epidemic.  These drugs, with their high potential for abuse, have been a threat to people and public safety.  The emergency ban ordered through Secretary of State Jeff Bullock in September has been a success because emergency rooms are seeing fewer people affected by these ‘bath salt’ drugs.  By permanently banning these drugs, we hope to lessen their availability and their use.”

People on the drug can experience bouts of extremely violent paranoia requiring emergency room personnel to take measures, including rendering patients unconscious, to treat them. In some areas, bath salts cases threatened to periodically overwhelm some emergency rooms around the state.  The compound of drugs exploded in popularity last summer.

“When it became clear how much these drugs were affecting our communities, we used our emergency powers to act quickly to get them off our streets and out of our stores,” Bullock said. “With the Governor’s leadership on this issue and with the strong support of the General Assembly, we have ensured that not only are bath salts outlawed in Delaware, but also other dangerous designer drugs.”

“In order to protect the public we’ve got to stay one step ahead of the criminals that develop these poisonous substances,” said Attorney General Beau Biden.  “This new law not only permanently bans ‘bath salts,’ but also more than a dozen chemicals that could be used to produce new versions of these dangerous mind-altering drugs.  I applaud Senator Hall-Long for her leadership in developing this legislation and thank the General Assembly and the Governor for working so quickly to enact this bill.”

Sen. Bethany Hall-Long, D-Middletown, who is also a nursing professor, had been developing legislation banning bath salts when the General Assembly took its summer break.  During that time, she worked with the administration, law enforcement as well as medical and pharmacological experts to develop the new law.

“This was a team effort,” Hall-Long said. “These are drugs that you can make in your basement, if you have the right chemicals.  Without the changes we made to the law, it wouldn’t have taken a lot to make a drug with the same devastating effects but with a subtle difference in its chemical makeup that would have shielded a person from prosecution.”

A significant investigatory role rests with the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office, which will test the chemicals in the drugs.

“This will be a big challenge,” said Health and Social Services Secretary Rita Landgraf. “But we’re going to work to ensure that the Medical Examiner’s office will have the resources it needs to meet that challenge and give our partners in law enforcement the information they need to prosecute these cases.”

Rep. Rebecca Walker, a practicing nurse, saw the effects bath salts have on people first hand in her job as an emergency room nurse at Christiana Hospital.

“People under the influence of these bath salts are so out-of-control and violent that they’ve injured nurses and EMS providers, making it difficult to provide the necessary treatment,” said Walker, D-Middletown. “My biggest concern is for members of the community who may be violently attacked. Permanently banning this dangerous designer drug is an important step in protecting Delawareans.”

Three weeks into the new year gas prices stabilized somewhat, yet remain at historic highs for the month of January.  Despite U.S. demand for gasoline hovering at a multi-year low, high crude oil prices and reports of impending refinery shutdowns have fueled a 10-cent increase in the national gas price average since January 1.  The national average for regular grade gasoline dropped a penny this week to $3.38 per gallon Friday.  Prices are 17 cents above month ago prices and 26 cents above year ago prices, yet remain 73 cents below the all-time record high of $4.11 set three and a half years ago.

Crude oil moved back into triple-digit territory this week, supported by Nigerian production issues and ongoing Middle East tensions over Iranian sanctions and the Straight of Hormuz, with Iran threatening neighbors of consequences if they raise oil output to replace Iranian oil.  In addition, positive economic news out of China, the world’s second largest economy, showed an 8.9 percent growth in the fourth quarter also supported crude’s upward movement.  Yet, by week’s end it was news out of China showing manufacturing declined for a third month and a continued debt crisis in Greece that sent crude below the $100 mark.  Given multiple geopolitical issues in flux, crude oil prices could remain volatile for the next few weeks.  However, analysts believe such volatility and upward movement will not last, reinforcing this year could be quite similar to 2011 in the sense that crude oil (and in turn gasoline) prices were front-end loaded.  Crude oil settled at $98.33 Friday, a one-month low.

In its weekly report, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed the nation’s crude oil supplies fell 3.4 million barrels to 331.2 million barrels, contrary to analysts’ expectations of a 2.8 million barrel build.  Gasoline supplies rose by 3.7 million barrels to 227.5 million barrels, in line with analysts’ expectations of a 2.6 million barrel build.  Gasoline demand was dismal, dropping to under 8 million barrels per day (bpd), almost 1 million bpd less than the same week last year and the lowest level since 2001.  Gasoline demand was off to a sluggish start in 2011 and is even worse to start 2012, as the four-week gasoline demand average is over 6 percent behind the same time last year.  Supporting lackluster demand expectations for early 2012, the Federal Highway Administration (FHA) reported October 2011 vehicle miles traveled to be down 6 billion, or 2.3 percent from October 2010.

“Record-high gas prices for January have left motorists wondering just how high prices will go this year and when (rather than if) prices will shatter all-time record high prices,” said Jana Tidwell, Public Affairs Specialist for AAA Mid-Atlantic.  “The current tension in the Middle East and escalating crude oil prices have led analysts to believe it is only a matter of time – as early as perhaps April – when gas prices reach the $4.00 to $4.25 per gallon range, setting a new all-time record high.”

Analysts’ projections indicate consumers could pay record high prices within the next few months.  Fred Rozell, retail pricing director at Oil Price Information Service (OPIS), expects the national average for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline to reach $4.00 to $4.25 per gallon when the market peaks, sometime between April and early May, before retreating later in the year.

CURRENT AND PAST GAS PRICE AVERAGES

Regular Unleaded Gasoline (*indicates record high)

Delaware improved its efforts to protect children and adults and curb tobacco-related disease according to the American Lung Association’s State of Tobacco Control 2012 report.  The state earned a “B” in Tobacco Prevention and Control Spending, an “A” in Smokefree Air and a “C” in Cigarette Tax.  Delaware also earned a “C,” an increase from last year’s grade of “F”, in Cessation Coverage. 

The Lung Association’s annual report card monitors progress on key tobacco control policies at the federal and state levels and assigns grades to assess whether laws are protecting citizens from the terrible health burden caused by tobacco use.  Delaware is one of a few states to enact much-needed laws and policies and provide funding for programs that save lives and reduce this burden. 

“In the past year, Delaware made strides to protect its citizens from the deadly burden of smoking and other tobacco use,” said Deb Brown, president and CEO of the American Lung Association of the Mid-Atlantic.  “It put the health and wellness of the people of Delaware ahead of the tobacco industry’s lobbying agenda.” 

The American Lung Association in Delaware labored in 2011 to maintain funding of tobacco prevention and cessation programs, promote and enforce comprehensive cessation coverage, advance legislation to tax other tobacco products (OTP), and reduce indoor and outdoor air pollution.  Delaware has been one of several states to fund tobacco prevention and cessation programs at a fairly high level, when compared to the level recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  The approved fiscal year 2011/2012 budget funded tobacco prevention and cessation programming at approximately $9 million, provided by the Delaware Health Fund.  Delaware also took steps to alter state regulations to require coverage of tobacco cessation counseling under its state Medicaid program. 

“While we celebrate the progress Delaware has made in protecting its citizens from the harms of tobacco use – previously as a model for comprehensive clean indoor air and now in its cessation coverage efforts, there is still work to be done,” says Brown. 

In Delaware, the adult smoking rate is 17.3% and the high school smoking rate is 14.9%.  Tobacco causes an estimated 1,196 deaths in Delaware annually and costs the state’s economy $678 million in health costs and lost productivity. Each year, 443,000 people die from tobacco-related illnesses and secondhand smoke exposure in the U.S.  In 2012, the Lung Association in Delaware will continue to work to maintain funding for tobacco prevention and cessation programs. 

The American Lung Association report congratulates the federal government for taking action to carry out strong tobacco control policies, as it identifies a chasm between the progress achieved by the federal government and weak efforts by most states.  Due to this inaction, the tobacco industry has made inroads to fill the resulting void, attempting to exploit states’ failure to act and marketing new products to addict Americans, particularly young Americans. 

In its tenth annual State of Tobacco Control report, the Lung Association graded all 50 states and the District of Columbia on four proven policies to save lives and cut healthcare costs. These are tobacco prevention and control program funding; smokefree air laws; cigarette tax rates; and coverage of cessation treatments and services, to help smokers quit. 

In addition to Delaware, there were three other states, Hawaii, Maine and Oklahoma, that received passing grades.  Six states received all “F’s.” They were Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia. No state received straight “A’s.” 

Many states regressed in 2011. No state passed a strong smokefree air law, and Nevada weakened its existing law. Washington virtually eliminated a tobacco prevention and quit-smoking program that was previously a national model. For the first year in recent memory, no state increased its tobacco tax significantly, and 13 states and the District of Columbia significantly cut or completely eliminated already meager funding of tobacco control and prevention programs.   

“Our annual report spells out best practices for success at both the state and federal levels,” said Brown.   “The report card shows where we pass, and where there are failures and more work is needed.  We can’t fail the citizens of Delaware.  Our end goal is to remove tobacco’s chokehold on our health.  It’s a life-and-death matter.”