Tobacco Control News
- Smoking Cessation Coverage Now Available for All Medicare Patients
- Lights Out for Light Cigarettes
- A World Without Tobacco
- Most states falling short on tobacco policies
- This Mother’s Day, Help Your Mom Go Smokefree
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North Carolina State Facts
- Economic Costs Due to Smoking:
- $6,281,486,000
- Adult Prevalence:
- 20.9%
- High School Smoking Rate:
- 19.0%
- Middle School Smoking Rate:
- 4.5%
- Smoking Attributable Deaths:
- 12,264
- Smoking Attributable Lung Cancer Deaths:
- 4,027
- Smoking Attributable Respiratory Disease Deaths:
- 3,142
Adult smoking rate is taken from CDC's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2008 Prevalence Data. High school and middle school smoking rates are taken from the 2007 North Carolina Youth Tobacco Survey.
Health impact information is taken from the Smoking Attributable Mortality, Morbidity and Economic Costs (SAMMEC) software. Smoking attributable deaths reflect average annual estimates for the period 2000-2004 and are calculated for persons aged 35 years and older. They do not take into account deaths from burns or secondhand smoke. Respiratory diseases include pneumonia, influenza, bronchitis, emphysema and chronic airway obstruction. The estimated economic impact of smoking is based on smoking-attributable health care expenditures in 2004 and the average annual productivity losses for the period 2000-2004.
North Carolina
Behind the Scenes
The American Lung Association in North Carolina has helped bring about important policy changes in clean air and tobacco control that have improved life for the citizens of North Carolina since the mid 1980's. We have strengthened the laws limiting youth access to tobacco, increased the tobacco excise tax, helped secure the first state funds for tobacco use prevention and control and assured that employers can require employees to be non-smokers if it relates to their work. Our public schools became 100 percent tobacco-free in 2008, and all 128 of North Carolina's hospitals had passed 100 percent tobacco-free policies as of July 2009. The Lung Association, in conjunction with other tobacco control advocacy groups, continues to support legislation that will promote lung health and reduce tobacco use in North Carolina.We have successfully continued the public discussion about the dangers of secondhand smoke and maintained legislative momentum around the issue, advancing a comprehensive statewide smokefree bill in 2009. The Lung Association's goal is to ensure that no citizens and workers in North Carolina are exposed involuntarily to tobacco smoke. House Bill 2, approved during the 2009 legislative session, takes a giant first step towards accomplishing this goal.
Under the legislation, smoking was prohibited in restaurants and bars statewide as of January 2, 2010. Local governments are allowed to pass stronger laws prohibiting smoking in many additional public places and workplaces. Exceptions are allowed for designated smoking hotel rooms (no more than 20% of rooms), private clubs, and cigar bars. No fines are assessed for a first violation; continued violations are subject to fines of not more than $50 for individuals and not more than $200 for persons who manage, operate or control non-smoking public areas.
Despite efforts by health advocates to encourage a larger cigarette tax increase, the final budget included a small 10-cent increase in the cigarette tax, which will yield little or no reduction in smoking and thus little health benefit. The cigarette tax increase went into effect on September 1, 2009 bringing the tax to 45 cents per pack. Total expenditure on tobacco control programs in 2009 was a little over $20 million.
Senate Bill 167, also approved during the 2009 legislative session, expands upon the 2008 law prohibiting smoking inside prisons. The possession and use of tobacco products and cell phones in state prisons is now prohibited inside and outside of prisons. The prison smoking ban comes at the request of the North Carolina Sheriffs' Association, which asked that a statewide smokefree law for some public areas be extended to prisons.
The American Lung Association in North Carolina will continue to advance grassroots efforts on smokefree air in our state through advocacy and education.
