Advocates want tobacco prevention, cessation funding on the agenda for WV special session

Doug Hogan, government relations director for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (left), and Katie Rose Garden, grassroots manager for the organization, deliver about 900 petitions asking for increased tobacco cessation programs to the office of Gov. Jim Justice Wednesday afternoon. (Lori Kersey | West Virginia Watch)

A coalition of health care organizations is again calling on West Virginia leaders to increase state funding for tobacco prevention.

In a letter Wednesday, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, along with the West Virginia Dental Association, West Virginia Hospital Association and the West Virginia State Medical Association asked Gov. Jim Justice to include $4.5 million for the state Division of Tobacco Prevention in the special session call expected late this summer or early fall.

They also presented to the governor’s office around 900 petitions asking for the funding from people across the state.

The Legislature approved about $450,000 in the budget for smoking cessation during this year’s regular legislative session, advocates say, but it’s not enough. In 2021, the Tobacco Use Prevention and Cessation Task Force recommended a plan to prevent and reduce tobacco usage and treat users at a cost of $16.5 million.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended the state spend $27.4 million on tobacco programs, Hogan said.

This is the third year the organizations have asked for the increased funding, said Hallie Mason, director of the state Dental Association.

West Virginia typically has the lowest investment for tobacco cessation and the highest usage rates in the country, the organizations wrote in a letter to Justice.

According to the state Division of Tobacco Prevention , West Virginia has the highest reported adult smoking rate in the country, at 25% in 2022. The state also had the third highest cancer death rate in the country in 2022, at 176.3 deaths per 100,000 people. Smoking is estimated to cost the state $1.17 billion in annual health care costs, the organizations wrote.

“The program does have some funding, [but] we see the anticipated special session as perhaps an opportunity to make a greater investment when legislators are talking about budgetary priorities and that sort of thing,” said Doug Hogan, government relations for the American Cancer Society. “And so what we’re trying to do is just elevate the issue, get it on the governor’s radar, the [House] speaker’s radar, and the Senate president’s radar, because the time to act is now.”

Gov. Jim Justice said earlier this month a $826 million tax revenue surplus for the year had triggered a 4% reduction in the state’s personal income taxes and that he would call a special session of the state Legislature in August or September and ask that lawmakers cut the state’s income taxes by an additional 5%. He also said he wants lawmakers to pass a child care tax credit he proposed during this year’s regular session.

An email to Justice’s office seeking comment was not immediately returned Wednesday afternoon.

Increasing the prevention and cessation funding to $4.5 million is “vital first step” to protect state youth from tobacco products, the organizations wrote.

The funding would support additional youth prevention strategies and additional resources for the state’s Quitline, a tobacco cessation service, Hogan said.

“We urge you to include tobacco funding as part of your special session call to legislators,” the letter states. “The time is now to invest in West Virginia’s Division of Tobacco Prevention to protect kids, save lives, and reduce health care, business and taxpayer costs.”

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