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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Rhode Island State Facts
- Economic Costs Due to Smoking:
- $869,938,000
- Adult Prevalence:
- 17.4%
- High School Smoking Rate:
- 15.1%
- Middle School Smoking Rate:
- 5.0%
- Smoking Attributable Deaths:
- 1,696
- Smoking Attributable Lung Cancer Deaths:
- 540
- Smoking Attributable Respiratory Disease Deaths:
- 435
Adult smoking rate is taken from CDC's Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2008 Prevalence Data. High school smoking rate is taken from the 2007 Youth Risk Behavioral Surveillance System. Middle school smoking rate is taken from the 2005 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.
Rhode Island
Behind the Scenes
The American Lung Association in Rhode Island works with its partners on tobacco control throughout the state to enact and defend strong regulations and laws to protect Rhode Islanders from secondhand smoke; to make it more difficult for retailers to sell tobacco to minors; and to fight for an effective, comprehensive tobacco control program in Rhode Island.A major coalition focus in 2009 was attempting to revamp the system for regulating tobacco retail sales. A major success in cooperation with the state Division of Taxation was a new law making it harder to avoid penalties for repeated sales to minors by simply purchasing a new(inexpensive) license. Other proposals for raising the license fee, other ways of improving enforcement of licensing laws and closing a major loophole in the penalties for retailers who sell to minors failed to make it all the way to law. However, both retail sales bills and amendments to close some exemptions in and otherwise strengthen the smokefree law advanced farther than ever before.
In the face of a major state budget deficit, funding for tobacco control fell somewhat in the revised fiscal year 2009 budget, and it stayed level in the fiscal year 2010 budget. As a revenue producing measure, the tax increased for cigarettes by $1.00 per pack, once again giving Rhode Island the top cigarette tax rate at $3.46 per pack. Taxes on most other tobacco products also increased.
The Department of Health (DOH) did continue to fund some tobacco dependence treatment services for the uninsured. To enforce the requirement that after January 1, 2007 private insurers must provide some coverage of smoking cessation, the Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner adopted regulations in 2009 that will phase in as policies are started or renewed. The regulation specifically defines tobacco cessation treatments as treatments included in the most recent clinical practice guideline sponsored by the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
DOH continued to fund community-based (geographic or minority population) organizations that did major organizing work in their communities. This work expanded and used preliminary results from the survey and mapping of actual tobacco retail sales locations and the promotions offered, in relationship to schools, demographics of the communities, and other factors; the results clearly demonstrate that retail sales are targeted towards the populations most at risk when compared to other communities.
In 2010, the American Lung Association in Rhode Island and coalition partners will continue to work on the tobacco retail sales system, as well as working for adequate funding and other resources for comprehensive tobacco control programs. As part of an overall Healthy Air agenda, we will also work on expanding protection from secondhand smoke exposure while defending the current law.
