WASHINGTON, D.C. – December 20, 2019 – A report released today by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids and other public health groups shows that, amidst a youth tobacco use epidemic that is being driven by e-cigarettes, Georgia is shortchanging an important investment in prevention and cessation programs that are proven to prevent kids from starting to use tobacco products, reduce tobacco use, lower health care costs and save lives.
Broken Promises to Our Children is an annual report examining how states are spending their revenue from tobacco taxes and the Master Settlement Agreement, a landmark legal settlement reached in 1998 between the states and Big Tobacco that required tobacco companies pay more than $246 billion over time to states as compensation for the deadly toll of their products. Georgia collects approximately $392.2 million in settlement funds and tobacco taxes every year, but will spend a mere 0.7% of that revenue on tobacco prevention programs in Fiscal Year 2020.
“Smoking now directly causes an overwhelming $3.18 billion in health care costs annually in Georgia,” noted ACS CAN Government Relations Director Andy Freeman. “It’s time that our leaders make an investment in prevention programs that is proportional to the massive toll tobacco products take on our families, our communities and our economy by investing in Georgia’s woefully underfunded tobacco prevention and cessation programs to prevent kids from starting to use tobacco and help those already addicted to quit.”
Smoking remains the No. 1 cause of preventable cancer death in America. ACS CAN is working to prevent the use of tobacco products by advancing a comprehensive tobacco control agenda that includes regular and significant increases in the price of tobacco products, full investments in tobacco cessation and prevention programs, and the implementation of comprehensive smoke-free policies that include e-cigarettes.
“E-cigarettes have helped cause a youth tobacco use epidemic in communities across Georgia,” added Freeman. “Our lawmakers should be doing everything in their power to protect our kids from a lifetime of addiction, including increasing the tobacco tax to $1.87 per cigarette pack paralleled with a 41% increase of the wholesale price in the excise tax on all other tobacco products, including e-cigarettes.”
In Fiscal Year 2020, states will spend less than 3% or $739.7 million of the $27.2 billion in revenue they receive from the Master Settlement Agreement and tobacco taxes on prevention and cessation programs. No state currently funds tobacco prevention programs at the level recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and only six states—Alaska, California, Delaware, Maine, North Dakota and Oklahoma—appropriate more than 50% of the CDC recommended funding level.
###
About ACS CAN
The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) is making cancer a top priority for public officials and candidates at the federal, state and local levels. ACS CAN empowers advocates across the country to make their voices heard and influence evidence-based public policy change as well as legislative and regulatory solutions that will reduce the cancer burden. As the American Cancer Society’s nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate, ACS CAN is critical to the fight for a world without cancer. For more information, visit www.fightcancer.org.