Kentucky environmental attorney Sanders says 25 percent of youths in state are addicted to chemicals in cigarette smoke according to U.S. Center for Disease Control.

Smokers be aware that cigarettes cause cancer, death, and pain and suffering.

More than 25 percent of Kentucky youths smoke cigarettes, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in the January 23, 2009 issue of its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report that Kentucky has the highest death rate from smoking in the nation.

Kentucky also has one of the lowest excise taxes on cigarettes in the nation. Kentucky charges on $0.60 per cartoon of cigarettes.  Perhaps we need to start looking for higher cigarette taxes and less emphasis on legalizing gambling casinos to bring in state tax revenue in 2010.

Cigarette Excise Tax Facts

• At least twelve states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, and Utah, use cigarette excise tax revenue to fund their tobacco control programs.
• Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States.
• The U.S. Center for Disease Control & Prevention estimates that smoking-caused health costs total $7.18 per packed sold and consumed in the United States.
• According to the CDC, cigarette smoking was estimated to be responsible for $193 billion in annual health-related economic losses in the United States ($96 billion in direct cost and $97 billion in lost productivity).
• Adolescents and young adults are more responsive than adults to changes in cigarette prices.
• Increasing a cigarette excise tax can result in stockpiling of cigarettes prior to the implementation of the tax and a temporary drop in sales immediately following the tax increase.