WV Still Struggles with Smoking Rates

As more West Virginia officials start to take a closer look at health care costs, many are taking a closer look at the contributing factors.

Kanawha-Charleston Chief health officer Dr. Rahul Gupta was a guest on this week's edition of The State Journal's Decision Makers to talk about the high numbers of smokers in the state.

West Virginians continue to lead the nation in the number of smokers. 26 percent of the state's population, 22 percent of high schoolers and 11 percent of middle schoolers are lighting up.

"The tobacco companies know that if you get them hooked early, and get them hooked well, they will smoke through their lifetime," Gupta said.

Gupta said people who smoke lose an average of 14 years from their life span.

And West Virginia's tobacco tax, at 55 cents per pack, continues to be one of the nation's lowest. Gupta said in New York City, youth smoking rates have gone from 17 percent to 8 percent in the past 10 years, and he said it's in part because of high tax rates.

Gupta said smoking has been a part of the culture for hundreds of years and it would take a multi-faceted approach to cutting smoking numbers.

"We have to fully fund programs at state and community levels," he said.

Gupta also said a strong counter-marketing campaign needs to be waged, along with strong second-hand smoke prevention policies, such as the one already in place in Kanawha County that bans smoking in any public area.

Gupta also said cessation programs need to get more serious.

"It bothers me as a physician that people, when they want to quit, we are not able to provide them help as a system," he said. "Whether it's the doctors, hospitals, the insurers, the insurance companies ... we have lifetime limits, we will give them gum, but we won't give them pills; we won't give them counseling.

"We play games with our folks who want to smoke, and then we put a stigma on them, so these are things that we could do in a nutshell in a large picture, that actually will help West Virginia move forward."

Gupta said smoking at work takes several victims, as well, because it hurts the employer in terms of productivity time lost.

"There is no reason we can't have smoke-free workplaces," he said. "It would help cut that cycle where the body requires that substance put in every so hours."