As the founder of SmokingWords at LSU, I am asking the campus community to support increasing the state tobacco tax by $1.05. A rally to show support for the tax and continued funding for cancer-related screening programs will occur today at noon to 12:30 p.m. on the Capitol steps. Take action and show your support!

The $1.05 is necessary to put us on par with Texas and will have a significant impact on the health of Louisianians by reducing youth smoking rates, encouraging adults to quit and saving lives. Increasing the tobacco tax would prevent more than 36,400 would-be smokers in Louisiana, cut health care costs and reduce deaths from lung and other cancers, heart attacks, strokes and other preventable diseases.

We cannot settle for less than $1.05.  Louisiana is near the bottom currently in a state tobacco tax.  A smaller tax increase will not produce significant public health benefits or cost savings because the cigarette companies can easily offset the beneficial impact of such small increases with temporary price cuts, coupons, and other promotional discounting.  I also know from the research that I’ve done that our college students are targets for tobacco companies, and only a large increase in the price will make any kind of impact on our smokers (almost 30 percent of our undergraduates are regular or social smokers).  

The annual health care costs in Louisiana directly caused by smoking are $1.47 BILLION. According to TobaccoFreeKids.org, 109,000 kids under the age of 18 who are living in Louisiana today will ultimately die prematurely from smoking.  Think about how much better off LSU and this state would be if we weren’t dealing with tobacco-related illnesses and deaths.  We can’t afford to continue smoking.