BALTIMORE — Maryland took steps forward in some areas, but fell short in others to protect children and curb tobacco-related disease in 2011, according to the American Lung Association’s State of Tobacco Control 2012 report. Virginia scored an F in each of four categories measured, while Delaware was among only four states that received all passing grades.
The Lung Association’s annual report card on tobacco control monitors progress on key tobacco control policies at federal and state levels, and assigns grades to assess whether laws are protecting citizens from the health burden caused by tobacco use.
Maryland joins other states that fell short in its responsibility to enact "much needed" laws and policies that save lives and reduce tobacco-related disease, the Lung Association said in a statement released Thursday afternoon.
Teen smoking dropped last year to the lowest level since 1975, researchers at the University of Michigan said Dec. 14 in a survey funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. About 11.7 percent of eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders said they had smoked in the previous 30 days, compared with 12.8 percent in 2010.
The decline signaled that state tobacco-prevention policies enacted before 2011 were working, McGoldrick said.
“You’re not saving money by cutting these programs,” he said. “It’s like a person who says, ‘My medicine was working so I stopped taking it.’ If it works, we need to keep doing it, and we know it works.”
None of the states earned “A” grades in all four policy areas covered in the report: cigarette taxes, smoking bans, tobacco-prevention spending and cessation coverage. Delaware, Hawaii, Maine and Oklahoma were the only states that received passing grades in all four areas.
The Lung Association’s annual report card on tobacco control monitors progress on key tobacco control policies at federal and state levels, and assigns grades to assess whether laws are protecting citizens from the health burden caused by tobacco use.
Maryland joins other states that fell short in its responsibility to enact "much needed" laws and policies that save lives and reduce tobacco-related disease, the Lung Association said in a statement released Thursday afternoon.
Teen smoking dropped last year to the lowest level since 1975, researchers at the University of Michigan said Dec. 14 in a survey funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. About 11.7 percent of eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders said they had smoked in the previous 30 days, compared with 12.8 percent in 2010.
The decline signaled that state tobacco-prevention policies enacted before 2011 were working, McGoldrick said.
“You’re not saving money by cutting these programs,” he said. “It’s like a person who says, ‘My medicine was working so I stopped taking it.’ If it works, we need to keep doing it, and we know it works.”
None of the states earned “A” grades in all four policy areas covered in the report: cigarette taxes, smoking bans, tobacco-prevention spending and cessation coverage. Delaware, Hawaii, Maine and Oklahoma were the only states that received passing grades in all four areas.
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