News
Pass strong tobacco control legislation
Thursday, November 21, 2013
McCook Gazette
The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) is celebrating the American Cancer Society's 38th Great American Smokeout today by calling on the Nebraska Legislature to protect the health of Nebraska residents by passing strong tobacco control legislation. This includes comprehensive smoke-free workplace laws, increasing tobacco excise taxes, and increasing or preserving state funding for tobacco prevention and cessation programs.
Currently, ACS CAN, the advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, in Nebraska is working with several local health groups statewide to increase the tobacco excise taxes.
"The Great American Smokeout is about helping people quit, and we know that increasing Nebraska's tobacco tax is critical to helping people do just that," said David Holmquist, Director of Government Relations for ACS CAN in Nebraska. "A tobacco tax is a win-win for the state. In addition to increasing the state's revenue, we know that consistent, significant increases in tobacco taxes mean fewer tobacco users, fewer tobacco-related deaths and fewer youth who ever start the deadly habit."
The American Cancer Society launched the Great American Smokeout more than 30 years ago as a platform to encourage smokers to quit. Since then, the program has expanded to not only encourage smokers to make a plan to quit, but also to encourage all Americans to advocate for comprehensive smoke-free laws, increased tobacco excise taxes, and increased funding for tobacco cessation programs.
ACS CAN works in partnership with state policymakers across the country to ensure that tobacco use is addressed through a comprehensive approach including 1) raising the price of tobacco products, 2) implementing comprehensive smoke free policies and 3) fully funding and sustaining evidenced-based, statewide tobacco prevention and cessation programs.
"Despite major advances in the past few years in the effort to ensure smoke-free workplaces and to discourage tobacco-use through higher tobacco taxes, we've seen a continuation of dwindling funding for proven programs that help smokers quit," said Holmquist. "Now is not the time to back down on tobacco control. States must continue the positive trend of passing comprehensive smoke-free laws and increasing tobacco taxes with new revenue directed to fund critical lifesaving tobacco prevention and cessation programs."
The use of tobacco products remains the nation's number one cause of preventable death, killing more than 400,000 Americans and costing $96 billion in direct health care costs each year. States with comprehensive tobacco control programs experience faster declines in cigarette sales, smoking prevalence, and lung cancer incidence and mortality than states that do not invest in these programs.
ACS CAN, the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, supports evidence-based policy and legislative solutions designed to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. ACS CAN works to encourage elected officials and candidates to make cancer a top national priority. ACS CAN gives ordinary people extraordinary power to fight cancer with the training and tools they need to make their voices heard. For more information, visit www.acscan.org.
