Health: Tobacco

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www.ncsl.org/programs/health/tobacco.htm

Tobacco

Updated March 2007

An estimated 46.5 million adults in the United States smoke cigarettes and every day more than 5,000 young people try cigarettes for the first time . Smoking can cause chronic lung disease, coronary heart disease and stroke, as well as cancer of the lungs, larynx, esophagus, mouth and bladder. Each year, tobacco use causes more than 440,000 premature deaths each year, or 1 in every 5 deaths, and exposure to environmental tobacco smoke causes an estimated 3,000 nonsmoking Americans to die of lung cancer and causes up to 300,000 children to suffer from lower respiratory tract infections. If current tobacco use trends persist in the United States, an estimated 6.4 million children will die prematurely from a smoking-related disease. The annual economic burden of tobacco use is more than $75 billion in medical expenditures and another $80 billion in indirect costs.

Frequently Asked Questions

NCSL Publications

State Cigarette Excise Taxes - March 2007 State Cigarette Excise Taxes - 2006	An NCSL postcard displaying cigarette excise tax rates in the 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
Cigarette Taxes, Revenues and Smoking Rates	An NCSL State Health Notes article on the affects of raising taxes, July 11, 2005
Environmental Tobacco Smoke	An NCSL Legisbrief on bans on public smoking, June/July 2004 (For Legislators and Legislative Staff Only) (For all others, visit this site).
Smoking Cessation	State Health Lawmaker's Digest (Vol. 4, No. 2) Winter 2004
Tobacco Prevention and the Master Settlement Act Slides From Spring Forum 2004 Now Available	Two slide shows presented at the Tobacco Prevention and the Master Settlement Act: An Update on Trends in the States at the NCSL Spring Forum, April 30, 2004 are available for viewing.
Curbing the Costs of Tobacco Use	An NCSL document describing the direct and indirect costs of tobacco use and how states can reduce the health and economic burden of tobacco use.
Public Place Smoking. An Issue Brief written by NCSL's Health Policy Tracking Service	NCSL members can access the full document and nonmembers can read a summary that includes information to order this document. (printer-friendly version) To read portable document format (.pdf) files, you must install Adobe Acrobat Reader.
State Tobacco Excise Taxes. An Issue Brief written by NCSL's Health Policy Tracking Service	NCSL members can access the full document and nonmembers can read a summary that includes information to order this document. (printer-friendly version) To read portable document format (.pdf) files, you must install Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Youth Access to Tobacco. An Issue Brief written by NCSL's Health Policy Tracking Service	NCSL members can access the full document and non-members can read a summary that includes information to order this document. (printer-friendly version) To read portable document format (.pdf) files, you must install Adobe Acrobat Reader.
Tobacco Use Cessation: The Effectiveness of Quit Lines	An NCSL document describing methods for quitting smoking and what some states are doing to provide cessation services to their residents.
Flavored Cigarettes (Bidis) Popular Among Youth	An NCSL document describing these Indian cigarettes and what the federal government and state legislatures are doing to prevent youth from smoking them.

Non-NCSL Publications

New Surgeon General's Report Expands List of Diseases Caused by Smoking	On May 27, 2004, U.S. Surgeon General Richard H. Carmona released a new comprehensive report on smoking and health, revealing for the first time that smoking causes diseases in nearly every organ of the body.
Reducing Tobacco Use: A Report of the Surgeon General	A report that examines the tools and methods available to reduce tobacco use. (printer-friendly version) To read portable document format (.pdf) files, you must install Adobe Acrobat Reader.
State Highlights 2002: Impact and Opportunity	A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Office on Smoking and Health summarizing information on the health and economic burden of tobacco use, tobacco control objectives of the states and evidence-based strategies to meet Healthy People 2010 tobacco objectives.
Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs	The CDC's evidence-based guide to help states plan and establish effective tobacco control programs to prevent and reduce tobacco use.
Women and Smoking: A Report of the Surgeon General - 2001	A CDC report focusing on data on tobacco specific to women and girls, the unique health effects of tobacco on women and girls and premature death from smoking-related diseases such as cancer and heart disease.

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