WARREN BANS SALES OF BIDI CIGARETTES

WARREN -- Sales of bidis, small cigarettes from India that resemble
marijuana joints, have been outlawed in Warren.

The ban is part of a new ordinance intended to combat their popularity
with teens.

They "impose an immediate health hazard to young children with four
times the nicotine and five times the tar" of typical cigarettes, said
Councilman Jim Fouts, who pushed the new law.

Warren's bidi ban began this month, fashioned after a Chicago
law.

"Kids sometimes make bad choices. We have to help them make better
choices," said Paul Young, principal of Warren's Lincoln High School.
"It's part of our job as educators."

Bidis contain up to 8 percent nicotine, compared to 2 percent in
American cigarettes. Chicago's City Council imposed the nation's
first bidi ban in February, setting fines of up to $1,000.

Lawbreakers in Warren could lose their city business licenses and the
right to sell tobacco products. There's no penalty for possession.

Some students, like Sterling Heights High senior Brad Adkins, think
"it should be the students' choice."

Christina Fohey, an Enterprise High senior in Warren, shared this
view: "If you're over 18, you have the right to do what you like, even
if it messes up your health."

Lincoln High wrestler Justin Neilson, however, is supports the ban
because "they're disgusting."

Robert Freehan, a spokesman for Warren Consolidated Schools, said
bidis are a mystery to many students. Teens asked by a teacher about
bidis in two Warren middle school classrooms recently didn't know what
they were.

Bidis, which have no health warning on packages, have been available
in Metro Detroit for 30 years and cost about 20 cents a cigarette,
said a spokesman for the Indian Embassy.

Fouts said he took up the cause after learning young girls in India
earn 15 cents a day to roll 1,000 fruit- and candy-flavored bidis.