Nearly 1-in-4 Illinois high schoolers using tobacco, report warns

(The Center Square) – A new study argues Illinois could do more to reduce tobacco use across the state.

The annual American Lung Association “State of Tobacco Control” report tracks the efforts of the federal government and state governments across the country on actions taken to eliminate tobacco use and enact tobacco control laws and policies.

Illinois received mixed grades across five different categories, but raised its mark from a “D” to a “C” when it comes to access to cessation services.

“That is in large part because Illinois now has a law in place that requires Medicaid to cover all three forms of tobacco cessation counseling, phone, group, and individual,” said Kristina Hamilton, director of advocacy for the American Lung Association in Illinois and Iowa. “It’s important because smoking rates among low-income people are nearly double the general population in Illinois,” Hamilton said. “This will hopefully help to reduce the smoking rate among low income individuals.”

The report notes that Illinois spends about $12 million on total funding for state tobacco control programs, nowhere near the $136 million that some experts argue should be the goal.

“We still are at only 9% of what the CDC recommends we spend on tobacco prevention and control,” Hamilton said. “We would like the General Assembly to increase that budget in the future.”

The ALA remains highly concerned about the nearly 23% of Illinois high school students using some form of tobacco, driven in large part by e-cigarettes, especially flavored e-cigarettes.

“We are strongly advocating for municipalities to pass policies to end the sale of flavored tobacco products that include menthol cigarettes and flavored cigarettes because they are so popular among youth,” Hamilton said. “It’s really undoing a lot of the impactful work that the tobacco control community has done the past couple of decades.”

Among the recommendations in the report, the American Lung Association is calling on Illinois lawmakers to act to ensure tax parity among tobacco products, including e-cigarettes and cigarettes.

“We would like to see other tobacco products taxed at the same rate of cigarettes,” Hamilton said. “For price sensitive consumers of tobacco products, if you increase taxes, you do see lower usage rates of build tobacco products.”

The ALA also continues to advocate for states to eliminate the sale of all flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes.

Illinois gets high marks for its air quality, thanks in large part to the now nearly 15-year-old Smoke-Free Illinois Act which prohibits smoking in virtually all public places and workspaces.

“We know that it has saved lives and prevented another generation being addicted to certain tobacco products,” Hamilton said.

New in Illinois is the Preventing Youth Vaping Act, which took effect at the beginning of the year. The law prohibits companies from marketing e-cigarettes to minors, prohibits misleading e-cigarette advertising, and gives the Illinois attorney general’s office and law enforcement agencies both criminal and civil authority to hold violators accountable.

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