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Tobacco use policies: Georgia among the worst

Internal industry documents suggest McConnell worked hard on behalf of the tobacco industry, while also receiving gifts from tobacco lobbyists and major campaign contributions.
Matt Cardy
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Getty Images
Internal industry documents suggest McConnell worked hard on behalf of the tobacco industry, while also receiving gifts from tobacco lobbyists and major campaign contributions.

Georgia is among the states with the worst policies to prevent and reduce tobacco use according to the American Lung Association’s 21st annual “State of Tobacco Control” report.

The report evaluates state and federal measures taken to eliminate tobacco use and recommends effective tobacco control laws and policies to save lives. The state of Georgia, where tobacco use takes the lives of 11,690 people each year, earned mostly failing grades on this year’s report, and tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease in America, The report calls for Georgia policymakers to focus on closing the gaps in Georgia’s smoke free air law and significantly increasing the state tobacco tax on cigarettes and other tobacco products.

The American Lung Association's Danna Thompson, Director of Advocacy in Georgia, also highlighted the state's high smoking rates and high usage of tobacco products among high school students. Thompson said that "Georgia lags behind when it comes to tobacco control policies, and as a result, we have higher than average adult smoking rates at 15% and 21% of high school students use a tobacco product."

The report also suggests that one of the most effective ways to reduce tobacco use among both low-income individuals and youth is to significantly increase the tax on all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes. Studies have shown that every 10% increase in the price of cigarettes reduces consumption by about 4% among adults and about 7% among youth. Georgia has not significantly increased its tobacco tax since 2003. The American Lung Association says state lawmakers should increase the cigarette tax $1.50 per pack with a parallel increase on other tobacco products

The American Lung Association encourages the public to visit Lung.org/sotc to learn more about the report's findings and take action to support effective tobacco control measures in the state of Georgia.