My beloved Nevada scored two F’s in the freshly released State of Tobacco Control 2014 Report! Ouch. That one truly hurt. Now, let’s be clear on how extremely biased I am: I am an officer on the American Lung Association (ALA) Southwest Regional Board and sit on two national committees, plus am past chair of our Reno Leadership board. Oh ya, I’m seriously biased. BUT…this report and website make me giddy! I’m highly critical of ALA’s technical efforts in the past and this website and report are fabulous (progress)! Visit State of Tobacco Control, select your state and then check out how well your state is controlling the effects of tobacco use and engaging successful policies! Tobacco deaths and disease are completely preventable and effect EVERYONE–even non-smokers, so this why this report is important.
What’s The News? The report basically reviews how well each state is doing in regards to controling tobacco: prevention, cessation, smoke free air and cigarette tax. No, back to my pity party: Nevada scored two F’s each for prevention and cessation!!! That hurts. We got a C for smoke free air and a D for cigarette tax. Safe to say that we are rolling around the bottom of the tobacco control barrel. How can we go from doing so well with mandated stock epinephrine to flunking out on prevention and cessation when our state receives Master Settlement Agreement monies? Shame on us.
Good News? The good news is that the American Lung Association, along with the American Heart Association, American Cancer Association and many others all work towards changing this. Stepping up on my soap box for a brief moment: Each day, almost 3,900 kids under 18 try their first cigarette and more than 1,000 kids become new, regular smokers. After they become smokers, they will possibly die 10 years earlier than most and will most likely die of diseases related to their smoking (heart attacks, lung cancer, etc.). They will most likely harm the ones they love too by exposing them to second hand smoke.
You know where I am going with all of this: please check out this report and I hope you will be inspired to protect your family. The State of Tobacco Control Report offers ways for you to take action and to help you better understand the air that you breathe and why clean smoke free air is a critical.
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