Staff Writer
The
use of electronic cigarettes has increased drastically in the past few years,
and some North Carolina health advocates are blaming this rise on a lack of
tobacco prevention funding. The state’s
funding for anti-tobacco programs was severely cut in 2012. The cigarette awareness group Tobacco Reality
Unfiltered, for example, saw its funding fall from $17.3 million to $2.7
million. When the cuts were made,
teen-smoking was down, but smoking rates started to rise after the cuts. Plus, the popularity of e-cigarettes has shot-up,
especially for teenagers. In fact, the
use of e-cigarettes by middle and high school students tripled from 2013 to
2014, with high school use going from 4.5% to 13.4%.
Currently,
North Carolina only provides $1.2 million to QuitLineNC, a service designed to
help NC citizens quit tobacco use. The
state just passed a new $21 billion spending bill, but it didn’t include any
money for tobacco awareness. However,
some people are still pushing for a change.
State health advocates are now lobbying the North Carolina Senate to set
some money aside for tobacco-awareness programs in the upcoming year. Pam Seamans, executive director of the North
Carolina Alliance for Health, is one of them, and she says that, “We need to
get some education out there to our young people."
