Social Climate of Tobacco Control

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Cigarette Smoking and Tobacco Control Policies

Suggested Chart

X axis: One of the state tobacco control variables    Y axis: Per capita sales of cigarettes or adult smoking prevalence

Size: Percentage of US population    Color: Price of a pack of cigarettes

Cigarette smoking has a linear relationship with state cigarette tax – states with higher taxes have a lower prevalence of adult smoking and have a lower per capita consumption of cigarettes. Most states increased their cigarette tax between 2000 and 2008, and experienced subsequent reductions in cigarette smoking. The relationship of cigarette smoking and state funding for tobacco control is less straight-forward, possibly due to lack of stability in state funding across years. That is, the state cigarette tax may increase but it rarely decreases, whereas state funding for tobacco control frequently decreased.

Data Source:

  • Orzechowski and Walker (2008). The Tax Burden on Tobacco Historical Compilation Volume 43, 2008. Arlington, Virginia.
  • State Cigarette Tax
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey Data. Atlanta, Georgia: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2009.
  • A Decade of Broken Promises: The 1998 State Tobacco Settlement Ten Years Later American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
  • U.S. Census Bureau (2008). Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for the United States, Regions, States, and Puerto.

Tobacco control policies are a crucial component of statewide programs to reduce the prevalence of smoking. We created these charts to provide policy makers with a vivid illustration of the profound changes states have experienced after raising their state cigarette tax or passing statewide smoke free laws. Substantial increases in revenue and reductions in cigarette smoking have occurred in every state that raised their cigarette tax.

States have also experienced reductions in cigarette smoking after passing statewide smoke free laws. Moreover, it’s obvious from these charts that although many of the states in the U.S. have enacted tobacco control policies and experienced desirable outcomes – other states have missed the opportunity to improve health while increasing tax revenue.

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