W.Va. Falls Far Short Of Smoking Cessation Funding

A major goal in the Rural Health Transformation Program is reducing poor health outcomes for all West Virginians. But the state isn’t putting its money into smoking cessation programs. 

Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable death in West Virginia, accounting for about 4,200 deaths annually. And about 20% of West Virginia adults smoke. 

At the recent Legislative Lookahead, Sen. Tom Takubo, R-Kanawha, a doctor, put it in perspective. 

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that West Virginia should be spending roughly around $27 million,” he said. “I think that’s the rough number I heard. And I think the last line item was $300,000 and this has been a problem for decades.”

Takubo plans to introduce legislation to fund cessation programs. He explained by email that his proposal takes money from the Rainy Day B Fund to create a fund that will produce interest that is to be used for smoking cessation efforts.  

The American Cancer Society recently put out a statement noting that more than 28% of West Virginia high school students use tobacco products, including e-cigarettes. Nearly 38% of cancer deaths can be attributed to smoking in the state — the highest smoking-attributable cancer death rate in the country.

The group said it “urges legislators to invest $5 million through the state budget, as well as all payments the state receives from its settlement with JUUL, in programs to prevent kids from starting to use tobacco and help those already addicted to quit.”

Takubo noted he was a “a big, lower tax guy,” but said raising taxes on cigarettes was one issue where “I’ll vote for that every time. The only thing that’s really been shown to cut down on smoking is to make it more expensive, and we’re still one of the cheapest cigarette costs in the country,” he said. “I’ve had 100 plus patients tell me that the reason for smoking was because we raised that tax several years ago. I guarantee you, if you do a study, you’re going to see the amounts of hospitalizations, EMS, bronchitis, heart attack, have dramatically dropped. In fact, now that you have a 10% reduction in smoking rates, that was equivalent to about a $250 million savings in the Medicaid system.” 

Wednesday, the American Lung Association is expected to release its State of Tobacco Control report, grading each state in five categories.