Zero Dollars for Prevention Risks More Teen Smokers in North Carolina

State's decision called "stunning shortsightedness"

Editor
Dec 17, 2012

Recently, we released a report showing that the states this year will collect a record $25.7 billion in revenue from the 1998 tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend less than two percent of it — $459.5 million — on programs to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit. That’s less than two pennies of every dollar in tobacco revenue to fight tobacco use.

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Cook County, IL, Delivers Win for Health by Increasing Cigarette Tax

$1 hike will protect kids, save lives

Editor
Nov 12, 2012

It’s been a great year in the fight against tobacco in Illinois.  Earlier this year, the state increased its cigarette tax by $1 per pack.  Now Cook County commissioners have taken another critical step by increasing the county’s cigarette tax by $1, effective March 1, 2013.

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Back to School and Tobacco-Free

Protecting kids from the tobacco industry’s products and marketing

Editor
Sep 6, 2012

The backpacks have been aired out, the supplies purchased, pencils sharpened, and the kids are now back to school.  With young people being away from home and parental supervision, however, moms and dads need to be vigilant. 

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NY Times Editorial: Close Loopholes in Tobacco Regulation

Tobacco companies manipulate products to attract kids

Editor
Sep 4, 2012

An editorial in The New York Times calls on elected officials and the Food and Drug Administration to close tax and regulatory loopholes that tobacco companies have exploited to keep some products cheap, flavored and appealing to kids.

"Give the tobacco industry credit for ingenuity," the Times wrote. "Just when it looked as if federal regulators could block their ability to addict children and young adults, several companies that make cigars and pipe tobacco have sidestepped the barriers by taking advantage of loopholes in federal law."

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Let’s Finish the Fight Against Tobacco

Elected officials must accelerate proven strategies

Editor
Aug 20, 2012

Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, has written an op-ed in The Huffington Post warning against complacency in the fight against tobacco use and calling on elected officials in the United States to finish the fight against the nation’s number one cause of preventable death.

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Sweet, Cheap and Colorful – No Wonder Some Cigars Are Popular with Kids

Cigar smoking jumps among African-American teens

Editor
Aug 14, 2012

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new survey results last week showing that youth cigarette smoking continues to fall, but it had troubling news about cigars.

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Missouri Can Rise from the Ashes in November by Increasing Low Tobacco Tax

Voters will have a chance to keep kids from smoking, save lives

Editor
Aug 8, 2012

Missouri voters in November can prevent kids from smoking and save lives by approving a ballot initiative to increase the state’s lowest-in-the-nation cigarette tax by 73 cents per pack.

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Maryland Leads with First Tobacco Tax Hike of 2012

Raising taxes on tobacco products will protect kids and save lives

Editor
May 23, 2012

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley has signed a life-saving increase in the state's tax on little cigars and smokeless tobacco, products that the tobacco industry is marketing heavily in a bid to entice youth to use tobacco.

Lower tax rates on cigars and smokeless tobacco compared to cigarettes have helped fuel an increase in teen use of these products. While cigarette smoking among Maryland high school students has decreased nearly 40 percent since 2000, cigar use has increased by more than 11 percent during the same period.

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The Kids Get It: Secondhand Smoke Kills

Elected officials must get it, too

Editor
Apr 24, 2012

Kids say the darndest things — and some of the smartest, too.

When Linda Kelsch’s third grade students at Linton Elementary School in Linton, North Dakota, were asked to express their opinions about a community issue, they chose to write about a proposal before the City Council to require smoke-free public places and work places.

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Surgeon General’s Report Shows Youth Smoking is “Not an Accident”

Tobacco industry spends over a million dollars an hour on marketing that hooks kids

Editor
Mar 8, 2012

Smoking among American youth is a “pediatric epidemic” that isn’t occurring by accident:  It’s directly caused by tobacco industry marketing and promotion that entices teenagers to start smoking and encourages their progression to becoming regular smokers.

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Cheap and Sweet Like Candy – Kills Like Tobacco

Sweet flavors and low prices entice kids to smoke "little cigars"

Editor
Dec 13, 2011

The tobacco industry has maneuvered around marketing restrictions aimed at protecting youth and found yet another way to hook kids when they're young: Flavored "little cigars" that are so cheap kids can easily afford them, and so sweet with kid-friendly flavors that some young smokers believe they're less addictive than cigarettes.

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