CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Health advocates want to see West Virginia investing more, not less when it comes to tobacco prevention and cessation programs.
In the new budget, the state appropriation for the West Virginia Division of Tobacco Prevention was reduced to $0 from more than $3 million in the previous budget which will leave the office with one employee.
“Right now, we’re working together with partner organizations trying to come up with solutions as to how we can still implement some of these programs,” said Juliana Frederick Curry, West Virginia government relations director for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.
That work comes as the ACS Cancer Action Network releases a new report this week, “How Do You Measure Up?,” looking at a series of health issues by individual states.
In that report, West Virginia was one of 12 states that did not earn a single “green” rating on any of three tobacco measures that are considered critical.
“Green” is an indication that a state has adopted evidence-based policies to reduce preventable causes of death.
The Mountain State fell short in areas of tobacco tax increases, implementation of comprehensive smoke-free policies and full funding for statewide tobacco prevention and cessation programs.
As of July, the Division of Tobacco Prevention was running in the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources with carryover money and federal funds.
The division included the West Virginia Tobacco Quitline, the West Virginia Tobacco Cessation Program, the Clean Indoor Air Program and Raze, the teen anti-tobacco movement.
“Obviously, it was a tough year. There were a lot of budget cuts, but I think this was a program that really we couldn’t afford the cuts because we were already well underfunded,” Frederick Curry said Thursday.
Any savings now from the cuts, she argued, will lead to higher health costs later.
West Virginia spends approximately $1 billion annually in tobacco-related health care costs, according to ACS CAN. West Virginia’s adult smoke rate is near the top nationally at 25.7 percent.
The Centers for Disease Control had recommended $27 million in annual funding for tobacco cessation efforts in West Virginia, well above the $3 million previously allocated.
West Virginia’s cigarette tax remains at $1.20 per pack, compared with $1.69 per pack nationally.
Frederick Curry and others are pushing for an addition of $1.50 more per pack.
“It’s the biggest opportunity the legislators have in West Virginia to save lives from cancer, a significant increase that would have the public health impact we need to get people to quit and to prevent the youth from ever starting to smoke,” said Frederick Curry.
In addition to the tobacco issues, the report also highlighted greater needs in West Virginia in areas of breast and cervical cancer early detection funding, access to palliative care and pain policy.
West Virginia scored well, with “green” rankings for increased access to Medicaid and indoor tanning device restrictions.
In July, the Mountain State became one of 15 states with laws making it illegal for people under the age of 18 to use indoor tanning beds.
“We’ve determined tanning beds are Class A carcinogens, the same cancer-causing category as tobacco and asbestos, so this was a great a step in protecting youth from developing cancer,” Frederick Curry said.
She commended lawmakers for that, while calling for similar steps in other cancer prevention areas.
The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network is the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate for the American Cancer Society.