As Rhode Island lawmakers move into summer and say goodbye to another legislative session, now is the perfect time to look back at tobacco control wins and losses, as well as highlight what lawmakers can do when they return next session to ensure public health takes priority over the tobacco industry’s bottom line.
Win on flavored tobacco: Flavored tobacco products hook kids. Fruit- and candy-flavored products such as cotton candy, watermelon, menthol and mint are driving Big Tobacco’s comeback attempt. As a result, we risk a new generation growing up addicted to their deadly products. It’s startling to see research that shows 81% of kids who have tried tobacco started with a flavored product.
Big Tobacco knows this, and that’s why it fought so hard to undo legislation that banned the sale of most flavored e-cigarette products in our state. Reintroducing flavored e-cigarettes would have been a major step backward for public health, particularly as it relates to youths.
We applaud lawmakers for saying “no” to bills that would have rolled back the progress made in protecting our kids from the tobacco industry’s continued targeting in the form of flavored tobacco products.
Win on tobacco tax: Some legislators teamed up with the tobacco industry in an attempt to make addictive tobacco products cheaper by reducing taxes on what the Food and Drug Administration calls “modified risk tobacco products” or MRTPs.
All tobacco products, including MRTPs, are unsafe and should be taxed and regulated in the same manner to encourage tobacco users to quit and keep youths from ever starting. Thanks to the leadership of House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi, the House rejected this tactic, ensuring Rhode Island didn’t make tobacco products more affordable and easier to obtain.
We know Big Tobacco won’t back down in trying to make its products more appealing and accessible, so in addition to avoiding any tax rollbacks, lawmakers should also be prepared to consider a comprehensive tobacco tax increase when they come back into session.
Loss in tobacco control: Recent actions by the Trump administration to eliminate the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Office on Smoking and Health means that Rhode Island’s Tobacco Control Program has lost most of its funding, putting at risk the programs that help people quit tobacco and prevent kids from picking up a deadly addiction.
The state Tobacco Control Program plays a critical role in countering an industry that is relentless in its pursuit to develop products that will addict a new generation. Due to high rates of youth tobacco use in recent years, largely due to skyrocketing rates of e-cigarette use, the decades of progress that has been made in reducing tobacco use in youths is now in jeopardy.
A well-funded, fact-based tobacco control program is needed to counteract the $27.2 million that tobacco companies will spend in Rhode Island this year to market their deadly and addictive products. Despite the extensive research proving the benefits of such a program, lawmakers failed to include a funding increase for the state’s Tobacco Control Program in this year’s budget.
It’s worth noting that Gov. Daniel J. McKee’s proposed budget did include baseline core funding for the program, which has remained relatively level for the last 20 years. However, this level falls well short of CDC-recommended amounts, and it’s incumbent on lawmakers to do more.
In addition to saving lives, such an investment would have made compelling financial sense: for every $1 spent on comprehensive tobacco control programs, states see up to $55 in savings from averted tobacco-related health care costs. Lawmakers cannot forget this as a priority in next year’s budget.
So, what’s next?
Decades of progress have been made by concerned citizens and public health groups, yet Big Tobacco is once again making inroads in the Ocean State, and those companies remain a formidable foe.
Lawmakers must remember that the tobacco industry is not backing down and continues to target our kids and communities all year round. The problems are clear but so are the solutions: keep flavors off the shelves, fund lifesaving tobacco control programs, increase and sustain tobacco tax rates, and protect everyone’s right to breathe smoke-free air. We owe it to future generations of Rhode Islanders to combat the tobacco industry’s continued targeting and protect public health for everyone in our great state. I, and so many of my colleagues in public health across the state, look forward to working with the General Assembly next session to do just that.
Ryan Strik is the Rhode Island director of government relations for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.
