The District of Columbia scored exceptionally low on the American Lung Association’s State of Tobacco Control report, which was released on Wednesday.
The organization gave the District letter grades in several categories including Strength of Smokefree Workplace Laws, Level of State Tobacco Taxes, Coverage and Access to Services to Quit Tobacco and Ending the Sale of All Flavored Tobacco Products for which the city received an A rating.
“Here in the District, we are seeing tobacco industry lobbyists at the local level working to stop or weaken proven tobacco control policies,” Aleks Casper, director of advocacy for the American Lung Association in the District of Columbia, said in a statement.
Casper also warned of the type of tobacco on the market and encouraged lawmakers to support legislation removing products appealing to young people.
“The tobacco industry is also introducing new products that appeal to youth like e-cigarettes that mimic smartphones, kid-friendly flavors and flavored nicotine pouches that are heavily marketed by social media influencers,” Casper continued. “In 2025, policymakers in the District must focus on providing support to continue to implement the law to remove flavored tobacco products from the market, and funding tobacco prevention and cessation programs at the level recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).”
The American Lung Association estimated that the District has spent $391,048,877 in smoke-related health care costs, while noting the adult tobacco use rate at 14.2%.
Comparatively, the high school tobacco use rate was 11.6%, while there were 790 deaths attributed to smoking.
In 2022, District officials enacted a law banning flavored tobacco, which Casper said has majorly contributed to local sales to younger generations.
“We do know that kids overwhelmingly prefer flavored tobacco products, so this law will help prevent kids from ever starting to use tobacco products. In the 2024 National Youth Tobacco Survey, nearly 90% of youth using e-cigarettes are using flavored products, with the most popular being fruit flavors, followed by candy, desserts and other sweets second, then mint and menthol-flavored e-cigarettes,” Casper told The Informer. “This is why it is critical for District policymakers to focus on providing continued support and oversight to remove all flavored tobacco products from the market and ensure that tobacco enforcement is coordinated within the District.”
While the nation’s capital ranked high in several categories, the city scored exceptionally low on local funding for tobacco prevention programs with an F rating. The District only spent 42.6% of the recommended amount on tobacco prevention and cessation funding according to the State of Tobacco Control report.
However, D.C. currently does provide various access to cessation services including 12 Medicaid medications, eight Medicaid counseling options and four state employee health program medications in addition to three counseling options for state employees.
The availability is crucial considering that low-income individuals smoke at a rate of 29.9%, which is a significantly higher rate than the general population of which 11.3% smoke.
The American Lung Association has been an advocate for Medicaid and state employee health programs while urging federal lawmakers to enact a menthol ban nationwide citing strong concerns for the Black community.
“We have been active on both the local level, like with the District law and on the federal level. This is important because menthol cigarettes make it both easier to start and harder to quit by reducing the harshness of the smoke and cooling the throat. In addition, Menthol cigarettes remain a key vector for tobacco-related death and disease in U.S. Black communities, with over 80% of Black individuals who smoke using them,” Thomas Carr, director of Nationwide Policy, Advocacy and Public Policy told The Informer.
“In the State of Tobacco Control, flavored tobacco product restrictions factor into the Federal Regulation of Tobacco Products grade at the federal level,” Carr continued, “and states are graded on their flavored tobacco restrictions.”
