“State of Tobacco Control” Facts Show Historically Low Smoking Levels
Adult and youth cigarette smoking rates are near historically low levels in the U.S. The current American Lung Association’s “State of Tobacco Control” may be seen at www.lung.org/our-initiatives/tobacco/ reports-resources/sotc
The report shares the parts of the country and populations that are still very much impacted by tobacco use or exposure to secondhand smoke.
Facts include:
- More than 1 in 5 high school students and 7.2 percent of middle school stu- dents use at least one tobacco product, including e-cigarettes.
- Since 1964, 8 million lives have been saved through tobacco control efforts, including 800,000 lung cancer deaths between 1975 and
- Smoking is the number one preventable cause of death in the S., killing over 480,000 people per year. Secondhand smoke kills more than 41,000 people in the U.S. each year.
- Washington D.C. and 28 states have passed laws making virtually all pub- lic places and workplaces, including restaurants and bars,
- Connecticut and New York have the highest cigarette taxes in the country at $4.35 per
- Missouri has the lowest cigarette tax in the country at 17 cents per
- Alaska is the only state that is funding their tobacco control programs at or above the CDC-recommended level (in Fiscal Year 2018).
- Nine states – California, Connecticut, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Massachu- setts, Missouri, Ohio and South Car- olina offer a comprehensive cessation benefit to tobacco users on Medicaid.
- Each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia provide tobacco quitlines, a phone number for quit smoking phone The median amount states invest in quitlines is $2.10 per smoker in the state.
- Nationwide, the Medicaid program spends more than $22 billion in health- care costs for smoking-related diseases each year – more than 11 percent of total Medicaid
- States spend less than three cents of every dollar they get from tobacco settlement payments and tobacco taxes to fight tobacco
- Each day, more than 2,300 kids under 18 try their first cigarette and close to 400 kids become new, regular
- Smoking costs the U.S. economy over $332 billion in direct health care costs and lost productivity every year.
- The five largest cigarette companies spent over $22 million dollars per day marketing their products in
- Smoking rates are over twice as high for Medicaid recipients compared to those with private
- A 2013 study of California’s tobacco prevention program shows that the state saved $55 in healthcare costs for every $1 invested from 1989 to
- One study found persons with behavior- al health and substance abuse disorders consume about 40 percent of the ciga- rettes sold in the S.
- Native Americans and Alaska Natives have the highest smoking rates among any racial/ethnic group.
