South Carolina is one of six states to earn F's in all four categories measured in the most recent annual study by the American Lung Association. The state fails in its level of spending for tobacco prevention and control, and in its efforts to promote smoke-free air, tax cigarettes and curb youth access to cigarettes.
It should be a no-brainer for the General Assembly and the governor to do more to prevent smoking.
First and foremost, lives are being lost. In South Carolina, where 27 percent of adults smoke, 96.5 out of every 100,000 people get lung cancer due to smoking, the Lung Association says.
Cigarette smoking is a leading cause of death nationwide. Smoking killed more than 440,000 people each year from 1995 to 1999, according to the Centers for Disease Control. It was 40 years ago this month that the U.S. surgeon general said cigarettes were a health hazard and launched a war on smoking.
Despite that knowledge, the General Assembly skips simple measures that could make a difference. Smoking restrictions in the workplace are spotty, store clerks are not required to ask for identification from customers who appear younger than 21, and there are no provisions banning smoking in restaurants and bars.
Beyond that, the state grossly underfunds efforts to keep kids from taking up the habit. And it has one of the lowest cigarette taxes in the nation.
"We have the data to prove that funding comprehensive prevention programs, raising cigarette taxes, providing smoke-free air and preventing the sale of cigarettes to children can dramatically reduce tobacco use and disease," said Jim Gooden, chairman of the board of the American Lung Association of South Carolina.
It is not only dumb to ignore those facts, it is immoral.
South Carolina reaped a massive financial settlement with tobacco companies, and it needs to redirect some of that spending. The settlement was touted as a way to help prevent youth from smoking. But last year, the state spent zero tobacco-settlement dollars for prevention programs. It spent $1.2 million on it in other funds, when an analysis of the state's tobacco settlement indicates it should have spent $23 million.
Large chunks of that settlement went to pay tobacco farmers and even fund sewer systems in some parts of the state.
The General Assembly reconvened this week, and will again this session be asked to raise the state cigarette tax. Not only would that help reduce cigarette consumption, the state can use the money. The money could go to fund Medicaid, or, as Gov. Mark Sanford suggests, it could be used to lower the state income tax.
It is foolish for the state to ignore so many simple ways to save lives, save on medical costs, increase revenue and improve the quality of life in South Carolina.