61,000 Kids is Why

While the state of Kansas wrestles with finding a solution for its current deficit, we know there is a popular and life-saving way to raise some much needed revenue for the state – an increase in the tobacco tax.

Kansans for a Healthy Future (K4HF) is a coalition formed around the singular mission of tobacco prevention. The American Heart Association along with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, Inc., the American Lung Association, the Kansas Health Foundation, the Kansas Health Consumer Coalition, Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City and the Tobacco Free Kansas Coalition to name a few are proud partners of this effort.

We know smoking is still a problem in Kansas – 19.4 percent of adults and 10.2 percent of high school students smoke. Tobacco kills more Kansans than alcohol, homicides, car accidents, AIDS, illegal drugs and suicide combined.

TAKE ACTION – Join the movement! Do you have an interest in tobacco prevention? Have you, a family member or someone you know been personally impacted by tobacco use? Follow this link to reach out to us. We’d love to hear from you! 

Now's the Time! 
Kansas has not raised the cigarette tax in over a decade and the tax on other tobacco products has never been raised since its inception in 1972. At the same time that tobacco products are inexpensive, our health outcomes are declining and it is time to reverse this trend. An increase in tobacco tax is one of the best proven ways to stop kids from picking up the deadly habit and to encourage current smokers to kick the habit.  

Increasing Kansas’s cigarette tax by $1.50 per pack, with a parallel increase on other tobacco products, would raise nearly $113 million for the state. It could also save the state $196 million in long-term health care costs. Most importantly however, an increase in the tobacco tax would save lives! It would prevent an estimated 61,000 kids from becoming addicted adults and would result in a 20 percent decrease in youth tobacco use.

Our success depends upon your participation and willingness to break through the chatter of competing issues and make tobacco prevention a priority!

Stay tuned on other ways you can help!

Christy Dreiling
Regional Grassroots Advocacy Director

61,000 kids is why