In the first of a two-part series examining the challenges of operating in Central Asia, MARK O'NEILL discovers how multinational tobacco firms succeed in Kazakhstan. The Marlboro Man may have been banished from much of Europe and the United States but you can still see him in action, corralling horses through the canyons of the Wild West, on late-night television screens in Kazakhstan. ...

Dr. Robert Cushman needed to look no further than his own office to collect what he calls evidence of fraudulent marketing of "light" and "mild" cigarettes by tobacco manufacturers. Cushman, the City of Ottawa's medical officer of health, says that evidence came from a security guard he spoke with about quitting smoking. "She told me that after multiple efforts to quit, that she had gone back to a light or a mild cigarette in the hopes that this would reduce her risk but also would enhance her chances of quitting," recalls Cushman. ...

New York smokers already exiled from restaurants, nightclubs, office lounges and taxis are about to lose one more perch: the Internet. Under a state law that goes into effect Wednesday, New York residents will no longer be able to buy cigarettes from online or mail-order dealers. Tobacco distributors face heavy fines if they sell cigarettes to anyone in New York State except licensed dealers. ...

LEGISLATION to ban tobacco advertising in Britain before the end of the year and phase out all sponsorship of sporting events by 2006 was heralded by the Government yesterday as the toughest attempt yet to deter smoking in Europe. ...

It's 9:30 at the Back Door Lounge and the line on this Tuesday night is already 10 deep. But these people aren't waiting for the bar's famous bourbon and Cokes. The line is for the cigarettes: They're free. Representatives of R.J. Reynolds -- maker of Camel, Winston and Salem brands -- show up twice a week to hand out two free packs to anyone willing to show ID, answer a couple of consumer questions, and sign a waiver verifying his or her age. ...

If a smoker can't or won't kick the habit, is puffing on a less hazardous cigarette thenext best alternative? Consumers may have to decide for themselves. One product advertised as "the first reduced-carcinogen cigarette" is already on the market; another brand, which its makers say contains "less toxins," is being test-marketed. And this summer a nicotine-free, reduced-carcinogen product aimed at smokers who are trying to quit will arrive on store shelves. But the very notion of a safer cigarette appalls many tobacco-control advocates. Saying there is no evidence that smoking can be made safer, they charge that such products could cause people to avoid quitting -- or even to take up smoking. ...

Yet another reason for New Yorkers to quit smoking: The state yesterday began enforcing a law that bans the sale of cigarettes over the Internet, telephone and through the mail. That means the closure of one avenue by which smokers could avoid paying sales tax on cigarettes, which cost about $7.50 per pack in the city. Although the law was passed nearly three years ago, its enforcement was delayed by court challenges. A 2001 court ruling declared the law unconstitutional because it interfered with interstate commerce, but a federal appeals court overturned that decision in February. ...

I VIEW SMOKING AS A FORM OF CHILD ABUSE. . . . I'D LIKE TO SEE WHAT SIX MONTHS IN A NON-SMOKING FOSTER HOME WOULD DO FOR THE BREATHING OF SOME OF MY PEDIATRIC ASTHMA PATIENTS. MAYBE THAT WOULD BE A WAKE-UP CALL FOR THEIR PARENTS. At 11 p.m., I arrived in the emergency department to see a twelve-day-old infant with a runny nose, cough and fever. It turned out the baby had a respiratory infection. I'm confident she got it mainly because her parents smoke. ...

New Yorkers already aren't permitted to smoke in their offices, in bars and restaurants and in public buildings. Starting next week they'll face a new restriction: a cigarette that goes out if it lingers too long in an ashtray. A landmark New York state law, which goes into effect Monday, compels major tobacco companies to replace their cigarettes with new "fire safe" versions designed to extinguish themselves more quickly than conventional cigarettes. Most will be made with a new type of wrapper that uses evenly spaced rings of ultra-thin paper -- layered into the cigarettes' regular paper -- that serve as speed bumps to put cigarettes out when they aren't being puffed. ...

Smokers in Washington usually cough up big bucks for cigarette taxes -- but that does not apply to one elite group on Capitol Hill. Members of Congress and other Hill insiders can buy cigarettes in the House and Senate without paying the District's hefty cigarette tax or its sales tax. The Senate sells a carton of cigarettes for $22.90 -- $10.40 less than the closest drugstore. At the House of Representatives, a carton goes for $26. ...