Connecticut Gets $125 Million from Tobacco Settlement

Connecticut is receiving nearly $125 million this year as part of a nationwide tobacco settlement, according to Attorney General William Tong, who calls for increased spending on preventing youth smoking and vaping.

The money comes from a landmark 1998 settlement with tobacco companies, which calls for more than $246 billion to be funneled into states based on an annually adjusted rate per number of cigarettes sold each year. A portion of the funds are supposed to be put aside for smoking prevention and cessation programs.

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Marijuana Use Soaring Among College Students While Alcohol Use Drops, Study Finds

two people passing a blunt

Marijuana use among college students has surged while alcohol use dropped, according to a recent National Institute of Health and National Institute of Drug Abuse study.

The “Monitoring the Future” study found that 44% of college students said they used marijuana in 2020, an increase from 38% in 2015. More, “daily” or “near daily” marijuana use among college students increased from 5% to 8% over the last five years.

The number of college students who said they consumed alcohol, on the other hand, dipped from over 62% in 2019 to 56% in 2020, according to the report. Binge drinking among college students, defined as having five or more drinks in one outing, decreased from 32% in 2019 to 24% in 2020.

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Anti-Smoking Groups Actually Testified Against Ohio Gov. DeWine’s Proposal to Raise Minimum Age to 21

  Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has called for raising the minimum age to purchase tobacco from 18 to 21, a proposal that’s included in Ohio’s biennial budget bill. But anti-smoking groups in the state have actually testified against the proposal. These groups believe that the proposal would mostly punish youth for underage sales but would do little to punish retailers for illegal sales. “Those of us who work on this issue every day in venues around the country recognize this bill as unacceptable by today’s standards,” said Wendy Hyde of the Preventing Tobacco Addiction Foundation. “Simply changing ‘18’ to ‘21’ without changing the structure of licensure and enforcement would be meaningless.” During a May 5 testimony on House Bill 166, Hyde said that “penalties for illegal sales to persons under age 21 should be placed on the retail owner who makes a profit from illegally selling harmful and deadly products rather than on the clerk or the youth.” “Penalties for repeated violations must result in meaningful fines and be followed up with license suspension for those few retailers who refuse to comply. Penalizing youth is not an an effective strategy for reducing youth smoking,” she said. She went on to…

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Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Calls for Raising Minimum Age to Buy Tobacco Products to 21

U.S. Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell said on Thursday he plans to introduce legislation to raise the minimum age for buying tobacco products, including vaping devices, to 21 from 18 to curb their “epidemic” use among teens. McConnell said the bill would be introduced in May. Shares of Marlboro maker Altria Group Inc, which owns a 35 percent stake in e-cigarette maker Juul, fell 3 percent on the news. Philip Morris International and U.S-listed shares of British American Tobacco were also trading lower. “For some time, I’ve been hearing from the parents who are seeing an unprecedented spike in vaping among their teenage children…. Unfortunately, it’s reaching epidemic levels around the country,” the Republican senator from Kentucky said in a statement. McConnell’s proposal comes as states and cities across the United States have moved to raise the legal age for purchasing tobacco in an effort to prevent addiction at young ages. A 2015 study from the National Academy of Medicine found that among adults who became daily smokers, about 90 percent started using cigarettes before they were 19. The study found that raising the minimum legal age to 21 would prevent 223,000 premature deaths. So far 12 states have enacted…

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Smoking Age Will Jump to 21 Under DeWine Budget

In a move to improve health quality in the state, Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine has included a provision in his proposed 2020-2021 Executive Budget that would increase the age for purchasing cigarettes from 18 to 21. The intent is to further discourage the use of cigarettes overall throughout the Buckeye State. Governor DeWine’s proposed budget was officially released on March 15.  Outlined in the Executive Budget: The fiscal years 2020-2021 Executive Budget proposes an important change to the cigarette and OTP taxes. The Budget would change Ohio law by increasing the minimum legal age – from age 18 to age 21 – for purchasing cigarettes, other tobacco products, alternative nicotine products, and cigarette papers. Although the proposed age increase does not constitute a change in how these products are taxed, it would reduce the quantity of purchased items because of the age change and therefore result in a modest decline in cigarette and OTP tax revenue. By the governor’s own assessment, the move would cut cigarette revenues by more than $20 million over the two year budget period. Despite this, a 2017 poll found that 58 percent of Ohioans favor this change. The measure has significant precedent throughout the country.…

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Commentary: Vaping and Smoking Are Not the Same So Stop Treating Them That Way

This week, Tennessee lawmakers will be considering legislation to increase the purchase age of vapor products to 21. But if we are really concerned about improving Tennessee’s health, we need our policy makers to create laws that recognize the significant difference between traditional cigarettes and vaping products.

The scientific community has overwhelmingly determined that vapor products are less harmful than traditional combustible tobacco. First and most importantly, e-cigarettes and other vapor products contain no tobacco. So they should not be legislated the same way.

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Paul Blair Commentary: Congress Should Act Now to Stop FDA Regulation That Will Shut Down Vapor Products Industry

Congress and the Trump administration have taken significant steps to rein in the regulatory state and its negative impact on the economy. From executive orders and official policy changes at nearly every agency, much progress has been made in a short period of time. For thousands of small businesses selling products with an innovative solution to America’s greatest public health problem, however, an Obama-era law and its interpretation at the Food and Drug Administration still stands to kill tens of thousands of jobs and harm millions of consumers. What began as a hobbyist enterprise, the homemade construction of electronic cigarettes and vapor products, has grown into a sophisticated multi-billion industry that is turning the tobacco industry upside down. Far more advanced than their first generation counterparts, vapor products delivery aerosolized nicotine to a user without the harmful effects of tar and smoke. The lack of combustion is precisely why a growing body of evidence and experts have concluded that vapor products are far less harmful than cigarettes. Unfortunately these acknowledgements run counter to the current regulatory treatment of the products by the FDA. As a result, Congress must act to modernize a law originally intended to regulate traditional tobacco products…

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