Senate Plan Falls Short on Smokeless Tobacco

The Senate budget plan took a great step forward by increasing the tax on cigars to be comparable with the tax on cigarettes. The tax on cigars goes from 15% of the wholesale price up to 70%. (The tax on a pack of cigarettes is $2). This measure will produce some revenue, but it’s biggest value is the health benefits of reducing tobacco use by young people.

The Senate plan only raises the tax on chewing tobacco by a small amount – from 15% to just 20%. Yet the tobacco companies have been marketing both cigars and chewing tobacco in ways that appeal to young people. So under the Senate plan, teens and youg adults are likely to simply switch from cigars to chewing tobacco. This only changes the type of cancer that they are risking.

The House of Delegates should raise the rate on chewing tobacco to 70% as well. The Center for Tobacco Regulation provides the following, very compelling evidence:

Protect Maryland’s Youth

Increase the Tax on Smokeless Tobacco to 70% of Wholesale Price

Youth Smokeless Tobacco Use

• A national study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that 15 percent of high school boys have used smokeless tobacco – a 36 percent increase from 2003.
• Youth aged 12 to 17 are more likely to use smokeless tobacco products than adults aged 18 to 34.
• High school boys that use smokeless tobacco products are nearly five times more likely to smoke cigarettes daily than high school boys that do not use smokeless tobacco.

Smokeless Tobacco is Harmful

• The U.S. Surgeon General concluded that smokeless tobacco leads to nicotine addiction and cancer, and is not a safe substitute for smoking cigarettes.
• Smokeless tobacco causes cancer of the esophagus, pharynx, pancreas and stomach.  The World Health Organization determined that smokeless tobacco users have an 80 percent higher risk of developing oral cancer and a 60 percent higher risk of developing pancreatic or esophageal cancer.
• Between 60 and 78 percent of smokeless tobacco users develop oral lesions, which can lead to oral cancer, within the first three years of use.

Marketing Smokeless Tobacco to Youth

• Sweet, candy and fruit flavors such as berry, cherry, citrus, peach, and vanilla appeal to youth users and mask the harsh flavor of tobacco. 
• Smokeless tobacco products frequently come in brightly colored containers that resemble candy packaging and attract youth users. 
• ·         Advertising and marketing expenditures of smokeless tobacco products have increased by 276 percent since 1998, with the greatest increase coming in the form of discounts and free samples.

Please Protect Maryland Youth – Increase the Tax on Smokeless Tobacco Products to 70 Percent of Wholesale

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