Although smoking costs the state billions of dollars annually, none of the tobacco settlement money and only 3.2 percent of tobacco revenue goes toward prevention.
Although smoking costs the state billions of dollars annually, none of the tobacco settlement money and only 3.2 percent of tobacco revenue goes toward prevention.
Tobacco costs Oregonians at least $2.4 billion a year in direct and indirect costs related to smoking and tobacco use. That’s over $13 per pack of cigarettes sold, nearly three times what the smoker pays. A recent report by the American Lung Association and Penn State University estimates that tobacco costs Oregon even more at $3.3 billion a year or $18.83 per pack.
Despite these staggering estimates, only 3 cents of the $1.18 tax per pack of cigarettes in Oregon goes toward tobacco reduction efforts. In other words, only 3.2 percent of the estimated $260 million in tobacco-generated revenue the state collects every year from tobacco taxes is spent on tobacco reduction efforts.
Read more at the Lund Report.
