29-01-2025
Arkansas receives low marks in tobacco control report
ARKANSAS (KNWA/KFTA) — The American Lung Association has released its annual report card on tobacco control, and Arkansas scored poorly in three of five categories.
The state received the following grades in the report:
Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Funding: F
Smokefree Air: C
Tobacco Taxes: F
Access to Cessation Services: B
Flavored Tobacco Products: F
Arkansas has received an F in Tobacco Prevention and Control Program Funding every year since 2017.
Laura Turner, a representative of the American Lung Association in Arkansas, said the goal of the report is to highlight both progress and areas that need improvement.
'The point of this is to help draw attention to what we are doing well in Arkansas and where we need improvement,' Turner said. 'It's really a message to lawmakers to make the policy changes.'
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One of those policy changes, she said, should include repealing a state law that prevents local governments from passing stricter tobacco regulations than the state. This would allow cities and counties to set their own policies and could strengthen tobacco prevention efforts.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Arkansas has one of the highest tobacco use rates in the country:
Adult smoking rate: 15.0%
Adult tobacco use rate (including cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, and e-cigarettes): 26.3%
High school smoking rate: 4.9%
High school tobacco use rate: 20.0%
Smoking-attributable deaths per year: 5,790
Healthcare costs due to smoking: $1.2 billion annually
To read the full report, click here.
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