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State of Tobacco Report

Have you noticed the cost of cigarettes is continuing to go up?
That’s good news, and worthy of a good grade, according to the American Lung Association.

Today, it released its annual state of tobacco report. It grades states and the federal government on a variety of tobacco control policies with one major goal: getting people to stop using tobacco….period.

Damon Mccoll is a college-age smoker in New York. “They are way to expensive, I can’t afford this I am just a college student, I can’t afford cigarettes at this price.”

That’s sweet music to the ears of those in charge of the American Lung Association. Dr. John Kirkwood, President and CEO, says, “We have found there are four strategies that are effective in reducing smoking, higher prices which can be accomplished through increases in cigarette excised taxes, limiting youth access to cigarettes, spending at the level recommended by the senate for disease control for prevention and education and passing smoke free laws.”

It’s on these strategies that the American Lung Association bases its annual report card on the state of tobacco—in each state.

Four years ago, there were only two states where all public places and workplaces, including bars and restaurants, were smoke free: California and Delaware.

Since then, seven more became smoke-free, and this year was a huge one: Georgia, Virginia, Montana, North Dakota, Washington, and Rhode Island all strengthened their smoke free air laws or banned smoking in all workplaces, including restaurants and bars.

Twelve states raised their cigarette taxes in 2005, increasing the average state cigarette tax to 92 cents per pack, from 84 cents last year.

In ny, the benefits of a high tax, along with smoking cessation programs and a comprehensive smoke free air law led to…get this…180,000 fewer smokers between 2003 and 2005…that’s a 15 percent decline over two years.

In Oklahoma, an 80 cents per pack increase led 30,000 Oklahomans to quit.

Maine, Michigan, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Washington have cigarette taxes at or over two dollars a pack.

Still, there’s a lot of work to do.

Forty states, the District of Columbia and Puerto rico received an "F" for program funding.

Nationally, Medicare is now covering smoking and tobacco use cessation programs, but the funds are not at the level recommended by its own experts to truly succeed.

“As you go into the tobacco growing states, you find that those are the worst states, so North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, for reasons that we can understand tobacco is part of the culture, part of the economy in those states and it is difficult, or more difficult to bring about the changes that we have been talking about in those southern states,” says Kirkwood.

Still, the changes are occurring--slowly but surely.

“If you go back to the first sergeant general report which was in 1964, 46 percent of the American population smoked now we are down to a little under 21 percent. The center for diseases control goal is 12 percent smoking by the year 2010,” says Kirkwood.

A goal many agree is within reach.

It would give many a reason to take a deep—clean--sigh of relief.

A link to the report can be found online at www.lungusa.org

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