This letter is in response to your recent editorial that claimed a tobacco tax increase was unfair. I don’t know how anyone could come to that conclusion when tobacco is the No. 1 cause of preventable death in Minnesota. Tobacco kills more than 5,000 Minnesotans every year. Tobacco is linked to 15 types of cancer, heart disease and lung disease. There is a way to reduce these preventable deaths in our community — by reducing tobacco use.

Research shows that one of the most effective ways to reduce tobacco use is to increase tobacco taxes, especially when it comes to youth usage. Today, 18 youth in Minnesota will start smoking. Minnesotans pay nearly $3 billion annually for the cost of tobacco-related illness. Every Minnesotan pays $554 per year for smoking-related medical expenditures. One pack of cigarettes generates $8.85 in health care expenditures and lost productivity.

By raising the cost of tobacco products, we can prevent over 41,000 kids from becoming addicted to nicotine, save 22,000 lives from smoking-related disease and save nearly 1.4 billion in long-term health care costs. The vast majority (72 percent) of Minnesotans support raising the price of tobacco. Cheap tobacco does not help the Albert Lea community thrive.

We have a chance to further protect the health of our community by supporting a tobacco tax increase. As a 17-year cancer survivor, I applaud Sen. Carla Nelson and Rep. Mike Benson for their leadership on this issue.

 

Charles Van Wey

Albert Lea