CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Nearly a third of West Virginia’s cancer deaths — 32.6 percent — can be attributed to tobacco, a product that costs the state $1 billion in health care costs each year, according to a new report from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.
The annual report, “How Do You Measure Up? A Progress Report on State Legislative Activity to Reduce Cancer Incidence and Mortality,” is now in its 17th year.
Again this year, the report concluded West Virginia has not invested enough state funding in tobacco prevention and cessation programs at a time when the Mountain State continues to have one of the highest smoking rates in the entire United States.
“We did get a small amount (of funding) following this year’s legislative session, but the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) recommends $27.4 million for West Virginia to be allocated towards those programs,” said Ryann Moore, West Virginia ACS CAN grassroots manager.
“It is an area that we can definitely make improvements and better help the health of West Virginians.”
This year’s additional funding came in the form of budget line item of $1 million designed for healthy initiatives to address issues related to both tobacco and electronic cigarette usage along with obesity.
Moore said lawmakers would be lobbied to add to that number during the 2020 Regular Legislative Session which begins in January.
Next year, Moore said she also expected a bill raising the legal age to use tobacco in West Virginia to 21 to be introduced again.
This past February, the state Senate approved the proposal with a vote of 20-14, but it went nowhere in the state House of Delegates.
“We have some champion senators who really want to help with tobacco-related issues in West Virginia and we were just as disappointed as them to see it not make it any farther,” Moore said.
The report addressed Tobacco 21 proposals.
Nationwide, 88 bills have been introduced dealing with tobacco and e-cigarette usage.
In the past year, e-cigarettes have driven a 36 percent rise in youth tobacco use, ACS CAN reported.
“It is critical that our lawmakers act to end the youth e-cigarette epidemic and protect our kids from all tobacco products that threaten a lifetime of addiction,” said Lisa Lacasse, president of ACS CAN, in a statement.
Overall, the progress report from the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network measures states based on eight policy actions to fight cancer.
West Virginia was one of 29 states and Washington, D.C. that reached benchmarks in three of the eight areas. For the Mountain State, those areas were palliative care access, tanning device restrictions and access to Medicaid.
Along with tobacco cessation and prevention funding overall and through Medicaid, the areas where West Virginia fell short were pain policy, cigarette tax rates and smoke-free laws.
Only four states hit the tobacco cessation funding mark: Oklahoma, North Dakota, California and Alaska.
Overall, Massachusetts, Maine and California were the three states that did the best by meeting six or more established benchmarks.
The ACS Cancer Action Network is the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society.