ACS CAN Lauds Legislature and Governor Wolf for Funding Lifesaving Programs

HARRISBURG, PA – The Pennsylvania Legislature has voted to fund the state’s tobacco control programs in the new budget enacted by Governor Wolf. These programs help smokers stop and non-smokers to never start the deadly addiction.

American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) Pennsylvania Government Relations Director Emma Watson released the following statement:

“It is crucial that these evidence-based, comprehensive, sustained and accountable programs are funded. We thank the legislature and governor for supporting these tobacco control programs which have proven successful in helping people who smoke quit and others to never start. The programs are especially crucial as we see the dramatic increase in the use of e-cigarettes among youth.  

“More than 11 percent of Pennsylvania’s high school students use e-cigarettes, according to the most recent research. It is also reported that youth who use e-cigarettes are more than four times as likely to try combustible cigarettes and nearly three times as likely to currently smoke cigarettes than those youth who have never tried e-cigarettes.

“We are grateful that our legislators and governor understand the need for these tobacco control programs. The longer states invest in such programs, the greater and quicker the impact.”

About ACS CAN
ACS CAN, the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, supports evidence-based policy and legislative solutions designed to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. ACS CAN works to encourage elected officials and candidates to make cancer a top national priority. ACS CAN gives ordinary people extraordinary power to fight cancer with the training and tools they need to make their voices heard. For more information, visit www.fightcancer.org