American Lung Association in Utah

State of Tobacco Control Report Card
Utah continues to have the lowest smoking rates in the nation for both adults (9.3%) and high school students (7.9%). Even though the rates are low, smoking still significantly impacts the physical and financial health of all Utahans. For many years, state and local health departments and organizations, including the American Lung Association in Utah, have joined forces in the Coalition for Tobacco Free Utah to fight the ongoing tobacco epidemic.

During the 2009 legislative session, a bill was passed to prohibit internet or mail-order sales of tobacco products to anyone except persons licensed by the Utah Tax Commission to distribute, manufacture, or sell tobacco. This closed a notable loophole for underage access to tobacco. A bill also was passed that tightened restrictions on the sale, placement, and display of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco to include cigars and pipe tobacco. It, too, was aimed at reducing underage access.

Several bills were introduced in 2009 to increase Utah’s 69.5-cent cigarette tax and taxes on other tobacco products as well. Although an increase was discussed at length during the legislative session, no increase was ultimately approved. However, the effort to raise the tax will likely lay the groundwork for a proposal to raise the tax in the 2010 legislative session.

There was not enough support to pass a bill to prohibit smoking in vehicles when children younger than eight years old are present. Finally, a bill was introduced that would have weakened the Utah Indoor Clean Air Act restrictions. Thankfully, it was defeated.

State tobacco prevention and control efforts almost lost all funding during the legislative session. However, in the last minutes of the session, most of the funding was restored. Unfortunately, the American Lung Association’s Not on Tobacco (N-O-T) teen smoking cessation program funding was eliminated. Last year, almost 200 kids participated in high schools throughout the state with a cessation rate of 47 percent for those who finished the course. We are hoping funding will be restored next year to continue this important cessation program. Funding for tobacco prevention and cessation programs has remained at about $8 million when federal dollars from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) were counted for the past few years. In updated recommendations issued in 2007, the CDC now recommends that Utah spend $23.6 million on tobacco prevention and cessation programs.

The American Lung Association in Utah will continue to play a leading role in protecting Utahans from the death and disease caused by tobacco use and addiction.

Click here to view Utah ’s report.

For the full report or to view reports from other areas in the United States, click here.