From Foresight, Vol. 6, No. 3
published 1999
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported recently that both Kentucky’s adult (30.8 percent) and youth (47 percent) smoking rates are the highest in the nation. In 1996, Kentucky produced 27 percent of the country’s tobacco, second only to North Carolina’s 38 percent, where the smoking rate actually fell to 25.8 percent. Though it is illegal to sell tobacco to a minor, it is not illegal for them to use tobacco products. Because two thirds of Kentucky farms grow tobacco, according to the Federal Reserve Bank, the Commonwealth is the nation’s most tobacco-dependent state. Its prominence in the state has kept cigarette taxes low; the current three-cent-a-pack excise tax on cigarettes is the second lowest in the nation. Conversely, in states such as Oregon and California where aggressive anti-smoking campaigns have been implemented, smoking rates have declined steadily.
The long-term health consequences of smoking, which is epidemic among Kentuckians, are well established. Moreover, an unhealthy population costs the Commonwealth in innumerable ways. Public policy can be instrumental in changing these costly health behaviors, while it works to transform agriculture and wean it from dependence on tobacco.