When it comes to preventing and reducing tobacco use in all states, North Carolina is close to last place according to a report put out last week by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, or ACS CAN.
Every year ACS CAN releases an annual report called How Do You Measure Up?, a report that measures how states are doing in reducing and preventing tobacco use.
According to the report, North Carolina and 11 other Southern states are not implementing any of the nine policy actions which are proven to protect adults and youth from preventable death as a result of tobacco.
Christine Weason, the ACS CAN Government Relations Director in North Carolina, says the state needs to make a change.
“How North Carolina measures up in regard to the entire nation, it’s quite sad,” says Weason. “We rank 47th in the country when it comes to the excise tax that we put on a pack of cigarettes. The national average is $1.69.”
Christine Weason spoke with WCHL’s Aaron Keck.
Weason also said that the biggest takeaway for North Carolina from the report’s research is the need to increase the excise tax by $1.50, which would generate $534 million in revenue for North Carolina.
“This would not only save lives, reduce healthcare costs, and generate the much needed revenue that the state needs, but also what it would do is it would result about in almost a 17% reduction in teen use and teen smoking, and also help about 75,000 current smokers help them to quit using tobacco,” said Weason.
Tobacco use in North Carolina costs the state $3.8 billion in healthcare every year and 30 percent of cancer deaths in the state are attributable to tobacco use.
In North Carolina alone it is estimated that 56,900 people will be diagnosed with cancer in 2017 and 20,020 will die from it.
For Weason, the fight against tobacco use is a personal one.
“Tobacco has impacted my life. My father he was a smoker, he tried and tried and tried to quit, he could never quit. He had a heart attack and died when he was 49. And I see my baby sister, and she’s a smoker, and it breaks my heart and I think, I don’t want to lose another member of my family to tobacco,” said Weason.
While Weason recognizes that this topic is not a popular one in a tobacco state, she says it’s important to demonstrate to the public and to policymakers that How Do You Measure Up? can really make a difference.
“If we work and advocate for these proven tobacco controlled measures, we can save lives, we will save lives, and we’ll save many many dollars and it’s just a win win win.”
To read the full report visit acscan.org
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