PACT Notes

December 14th, 2018

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the landmark 1998 legal settlement between the states and the tobacco companies, which required the companies to pay more than $200 billion over time as compensation for tobacco-related health care costs.
The report challenges states to do more to fight tobacco use – the nation’s No. 1 preventable cause of death – and to confront the growing epidemic of youth e-cigarette use in America. In Pennsylvania, 8.7 percent of high school students smoke cigarettes, while 11.3 percent use e-cigarettes. Tobacco use claims 22,000 Pennsylvania lives and costs the state $6.3 billion in health care bills annually.
To read the full report click here.
Wolf’s Budget Secretary Randy Albright said Tuesday he expects the state to finish the current fiscal year with its general fund account in the black. He added that he sees the Independent Fiscal Office’s November forecast of conditions pointing to a starting $1.7 billion deficit for next year as overly pessimistic.
To learn more click here.
Cincinnati Council voted Wednesday for an ordinance raising the age to buy tobacco in the city from 18 to 21.The final vote was 5-3. Council members voting in favor included Tamaya Dennard, Greg Landsman, P.G. Sittenfeld, Christopher Smitherman and Wendell Young. Those opposed were David Mann, Jeff Pastor and Chris Seelbach. Amy Murray was absent from Wednesday’s meeting. The ordinance would prohibit the sale of tobacco products to anyone under the age of 21. That includes cigarettes, chewing tobacco, electronic cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco and snuff. Congratulations to Cincinnati!
To view the article click here.
During 2015–2017, the proportion of students currently using tobacco products who used a product for ≥20 of the past 30 days ranged from 14.0% of cigar smokers to 38.7% of smokeless tobacco users among high school students and from 13.1% of e-cigarette users to 24.5% of hookah smokers among middle school students.
To access the report click here.
SAVE THE DATE: Master Settlement Agreement (MSA)/Budget 101 Webinar
Please mark your calendars for January 29th at 11:00 am for the first MSA webinar for this fiscal year. This webinar will explain all you need to know about MSA for this year as well as the budget process. Additionally, after the Governor’s budget address in February another webinar will be released that will discuss the action plan for this year’s campaign – please be on the lookout for the release date for the second webinar.
Registration for the first webinar on January 29th will follow shortly. If you have any questions please reach out to Erica Saylor.
Registration for the 2019 Pittsburgh LUNG FORCE Expo is now open! You don’t want to miss this exciting one-day event for patients, caregivers and health professionals. Join us and learn important lung disease information, latest trends, resources and research surrounding lung cancer, COPD, asthma and other respiratory issues.
For registration click here.
Tobacco 21 Campaign Materials Coming Soon!
Please be on the lookout for Tobacco 21 campaign materials that will be released by the end of December!
TRU Coordinator Update
Our TRU Coordinator Molly Anthony has recently changed her name! Her new name is Molly Pisciottano and you can reach her at Molly.Pisciottano@lung.org.

PACT Notes

PACT Notes – December 21, 2018

PACT Notes – December 21, 2018

A new study found that increases in adolescent vaping from 2017 to 2018 were the largest ever recorded in the past 43 years for any adolescent substance use outcome in the U.S.

In just one year e-cigarette use among youth has skyrocketed, increasing by:
90% among 12th graders
96% among 10th graders
74% among 8th graders

PACT Notes – December 7, 2018

PACT Notes – December 7, 2018

This week Senator Mario Scavello (PA-40) released a co-sponsorship memo for Tobacco 21. He is actively looking for support in the Senate and plans to introduce legislation in the session starting in the new year. While PACT is still advising that advocates wait until the new year to start their legislative visits, if you have any connections with Senators you think might be interested in support please reach out to PACT and we are happy to connect them with Senator Scavello’s Office.

PACT Notes – November 30, 2018

PACT Notes – November 30, 2018

The CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health released an article in the Journal, Nicotine & Tobacco Research. Their study found that people living with mental health conditions are more likely to smoke cigarettes than people without these conditions, and are also likely to smoke more often, be more dependent on nicotine, have stronger withdrawal symptoms when trying to quit, and be overall less successful in quitting. This study shows that cigarette smokers with mental health conditions had increased quit attempts after reporting having seen the TV ad featuring Tips participant Rebecca, a former smoker living with depression.