During Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont’s most recent budget address for the state of Connecticut, he proposed a substantial cut to cancer prevention programs.
Many of these programs provide life saving treatments, as 23,550 people in Connecticut have been diagnosed with cancer this year, a press release said.
One of the major cuts that Lamont proposed was the suspension of tobacco control programs.
“Knowing that smoking causes 27.1% of cancer deaths and that 4,100 people in Connecticut lose their lives to smoking each year, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network is appalled that Gov. Lamont would propose suspending funding for tobacco control programs,” Connecticut Government Relations Director for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network Bryte Johnson said.
Johnson expressed how he and his colleagues believe that the proposed cut in tobacco control will result in the loss of human lives.
Specifically, the proposed cut would result in the loss of $12 million. If enacted, this could cause current young children to be the another generation to fall victim to nicotine, the press release indicated.
“Big Tobacco continues to spend $60 million annually in CT alone on marketing these addictive, deadly products, frequently targeting youth who are particularly vulnerable to their harms and addictive potential,” Johnson said. “We know that over 90% of tobacco or nicotine users start before age 18, and that 56,000 kids alive today will die prematurely due to tobacco use.”
With the state of Connecticut having many universities located within it, including the University of Connecticut, the government’s possible enactment of the proposed budget cut could cause harm for the future of college aged students.
“It is terribly frustrating because all of the damage caused by tobacco use is entirely preventable,” Johnson said. “We need to continue to invest in proven CDC best practices to ensure people have the help they need to quit and to never start using these deadly products.”
For students and or residents who want to have their voices heard, action can be taken by using the Connecticut Cancer Action Center page.
“Tobacco related diseases are the single most preventable cause of death in our society, yet according to Department of Public Health statistics, tobacco use continues to kill more people in Connecticut each year than alcohol, AIDS, car crashes, illegal drugs, accidents, murders and suicides combined,” Johnson said.
Everyone knows that smoking kills. You don’t get any extra from it. Rich people stopped smoking back in the 1970s.