How You Can Help Hold Big Tobacco Accountable
Nearly 20 years ago, a U.S. Federal District judge found that the major cigarette manufacturers violated civil racketeering laws for deliberately defrauding the public.
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Happy New Year- DC legislative Priorities
January 10, 2018
Happy New Year! As we ring in the new year, I hope we can continue to count on you to help make 2018 another great year! This year's ACS CAN’s legislative priorities for the District of Columbia are:
- Increase the cigarette tax by $2.00 per pack to $4.50 per pack and allocate 10% of all tobacco revenue to designated tobacco control programs.
- Secure sustainable funding for tobacco prevention and cessation programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) recommended level of $10.7M.
- Increase funding for the Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program. This program provides low-income, underserved women access to lifesaving breast and cervical cancer screening, early detection, diagnostic and follow up services, as well as a pathway to treatment services, if diagnosed with cancer.
- Pass legislation improving the delivery of palliative care to patients with chronic illness. Palliative care is specialized medical care that provides patients with serious illnesses relief from the pain and other symptoms from a disease such as cancer. Palliative care uses a team-based approach to coordinate care and give patients an extra level of support.
As you can see, we have a full agenda, which is why we need your help. Throughout the year, additional information will be shared and we hope you will take action on these issues.
At this time, ACS CAN is working with other health organizations on the “Raise it for Health” Campaign. This campaign is focused on passing legislation to raise the tax on cigarettes to fund prevention and cessation programs, as well as to fund the implementation of the law passed last year to prohibit sales of tobacco products to anyone under the age of 21.
We are ecstatic to share that we now have a hearing date for the cigarette tax bill, which will occur on February 1,, 2018. This was no small feat and we thank all of our advocates who took action to make this happen. Please watch for an upcoming email asking you to contact your councilmembers to support this bill.
Thank you for your continued hard work to help save lives in the District of Columbia.
Sherry McCammon, Grassroots Manager
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