You’ve heard a lot from us lately about Measure 108 and why we would like you to vote YES but this week we want to share with you some of the very personal stories we have encountered while working on this issue.
| “I’m supporting the vape and tobacco tax to create a world where my children don’t make the same mistakes I did when I was young. As a teen, a pack of cigarettes cost the same as a pack of baseball cards and once I started, it took me two decades to stop. More expensive tobacco products would have helped me choose the baseball cards. Times may have changed, but it is still too cheap for kids to get their hands on these addictive products.” - Chris, Portland | ||
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"A sullen and irritable 8th grader; A 16-year-old vaping with her friends nearly every day; A 19-year-old with chest pains afraid of dying of a vaping illness he has heard about in the news. These three patients have something in common: They are addicted to nicotine. This is why we need to raise the purchase price of tobacco. Our kids’ lives are not for sale.” - Dr. Peter Reed, Portland Pediatrician |
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“I was 8 years old when I walked home from school to find my mom on the kitchen floor, collapsed from a heart attack. She has been smoking more than a pack of cigarettes a day since high school, and continues to do so now despite the heart attack and 17 stints she’s had to try and open her arteries, so hardened from the decades of tobacco use, unable to stop because of her addiction. I support increasing the price of tobacco to prevent anyone else from following her same path, and to prevent any child from having to go through what I have.” - Emily, Tigard |
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“The toll of smoking on my family has been immense. I lost my father and both of my uncles when they were far too young, to both heart disease and lung cancer, after each smoked heavily starting as teenagers. My father would have trouble breathing at night when he was sleeping. I support increasing the price of tobacco as it will help get tobacco out of the hands of young people and help prevent them from creating a lifelong bad habit, that ultimately leads to early death.” – Laurie, Oregon City |
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"I’m the only adult in my family that has never smoked. My grandparents and parents smoked, and now my siblings do too. I’ve seen firsthand the power and addictiveness of nicotine. The average life expectancy in my family is decades shorter than it could be because of tobacco. I support the vape and tobacco tax because I don’t want our next generation – my kids, nieces and nephews – to smoke. The odds are already against them growing up in a smoking family." – Lanette, Washington County |
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“Throughout my college career I was constantly surrounded by vapes. Almost daily, I would hear of a new acquaintance picking up the habit because it was the “cool” thing to do. Many of those people didn’t even realize there was nicotine in them because of the flavors. I support increasing the price of vapes because I don’t want to see my friends develop lifelong addictions. “ - Hannah, Recent OSU Graduate |
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| "I was only 12 years old when my father died of a heart attack. He had started smoking as a teenager because cigarettes were so cheap and easily available. Not enough has changed since then. I support increasing the price of tobacco to prevent other children from losing their parents to a deadly habit.” – Christina, Portland |
Thank you for taking the time to read these stories. We hope we can count on your YES vote on Measure 108.
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