CHARLESTON, W.Va. — In a state where nearly 20 percent of high school age people are smokers, one of the highest rates in the United States, a representative for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids says the 21st Annual National Kick Butts Day is especially important.
“One thing we know is that 95 percent of adult smokers started before they were 21,” said John Schachter, campaign director of state communications.
To get kids hooked early, Schachter said tobacco companies utilize specially targeted ads, offer price discounts to make tobacco more affordable or promote sweet-flavored products like electronic cigarettes or small cigars.
The national rate of high schoolers who smoke is 15 percent, according to numbers from America’s Health Rankings.
While that number is nearing record lows, the most recent government survey showed e-cigarette use among high schools tripled from 2013 to 2014, climbing to 13.4 percent.
On Wednesday’s National Kick Butts Day, kids throughout West Virginia will join thousands of young people across the U.S. in demanding that tobacco companies stop marketing to them and encouraging elected officials to do more to provide protections from the dangers of tobacco.
The 2016 Regular Legislative Session ended Saturday at the State Capitol without any legislation raising West Virginia’s tobacco taxes.
Governor Earl Ray Tomblin had originally proposed adding 45 cents per pack to the existing 55 cent state tax on each pack of cigarettes, raising wholesale taxes on other tobacco products and, for the first time, creating a new tax on electronic cigarettes.
The Senate approved the increases, but those proposals were rejected in the House of Delegates.
Higher tobacco taxes, said Schachter, save lives and health care dollars.
“We know that increasing the tobacco tax, which increases the price of a pack of cigarettes, is one of the most proven ways to lower tobacco use because kids, especially, are very price sensitive,” he said.
While West Virginia’s lawmakers were considering tobacco tax increases, legislators in California were raising the legal smoking age from 18 to 21.
In addition to the smoking age change, the legislative package California Governor Jerry Brown had not yet signed as of Tuesday morning would also classify electronic cigarettes as tobacco products and allow local governments to tax such products.
If that legislation becomes law in California, “We think we’re going to see a lot more momentum on our side in raising the tobacco age to 21 in states and localities across the country,” Schachter said.
Hawaii was the first state to raise the legal smoking age.
National Kick Butts Day, an annual celebration of youth leadership and activism in the fight against tobacco, will include a number of events in West Virginia where tobacco companies spend $130 million annually on marketing efforts, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
For the full list of Kick Butts Day events in West Virginia, click here.
“This issue is so critical and we need to get the word out, need to have kids be heard,” Schachter said. “We need to protect them from these deceptive and horrible tactics from the tobacco industry and the only way to do it is to get kids and grown ups alike united.”