KC Star Editorial on Missouri & Tobacco

Printer Friendly VersionE-mail ThisSave As PDF

Editorial: Missouri’s race to the bottom on tobacco
The Kansas City Star
May 8, 2010

Missouri is well on its way to becoming the most tobacco-friendly state in the nation. It is an unsavory and embarrassing distinction.

Beyond putting people in early graves every year, the state’s shameful love affair with tobacco drives up medical bills for thousands upon thousands of residents.

Check out some disturbing facts:

Missouri soon could have the nation’s lowest cigarette tax.

That’s a clear invitation for people young and old to buy something that will harm them.

The state’s cigarette tax is a paltry 17 cents a pack, ahead only of South Carolina’s 7-cent rate. Last week, though, South Carolina legislators approved raising their state’s tax to 57 cents.

They reached that decision for the same excellent reasons lawmakers in other states have opted to raise tobacco taxes in recent years. Higher taxes can prevent tens of thousands of residents from starting or continuing to smoke. And they can create millions of dollars a year for state health care programs and smoking cessation efforts.

While South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has threatened a veto of the higher tax, lawmakers tired of dealing with the issue say they can override it. Missouri then would have the lowest cigarette tax by a long shot; the next is 30 cents a pack in Virginia.

The Kansas tax is at 79 cents and — regrettably — appears ready to be stuck there, despite good-faith attempts by Gov. Mark Parkinson and others to boost it toward the national average of $1.41.

At the very least, Missouri should raise its tax to the Kansas rate.

Puffing away on cigarettes is a way of life for 25 percent of Missourians.

This rate is the third highest among states and the District of Columbia, according to a new report from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

More smokers, of course, means more deaths from lung cancer and other well-known health problems connected with tobacco use. Missouri has the ninth highest rate of smoking-related deaths per 100,000 people.

Missouri doesn’t have a comprehensive smoke-free law.

That puts Missouri in the small minority of fewer than 10 states that don’t have some form of the law, which protects people from smoke in workplaces such as offices, restaurants and bars.

Also, the CDC report found that Missouri ranked next-to-worst in the nation for workplace exposure to smoke.

The Missouri General Assembly has handled the smoke-free issue in a disgraceful manner. It refused for years to seriously debate the matter even as more states outlawed the habit in workplaces.

One bill introduced this year got a little more attention but is not likely to become law.

The Kansas Legislature, which for many years had also stayed on the sidelines, finally endorsed a smoke-free law this year with strong support from Parkinson. It goes into effect July 1 in all workplaces, restaurants and bars (casinos are exempted).

Missouri should approve a similar law.

There’s more bad news from the CDC report.

Missouri’s funding for tobacco control programs was third lowest in the nation.

The state had the 13th highest rate of teenage smoking. And Missouri is irresponsibly lax in not licensing retailers that sell tobacco products, something that Kansas and 36 other states do.

Unfortunately, Missouri is racing to the bottom when it comes to smoking, with cigarette manufacturers and vendors cheering it on.

The losers are smokers and the taxpayers who foot the bill for many medical expenses.