When it comes to efforts to reduce tobacco use in the D.C. area, there is still some work to be done, according to a new report from the American Lung Association that gave failing grades to parts of the region.
“We still continue to fail across the DMV with regards to funding for state tobacco prevention,” said Dr. Amit “Bobby” Mahajan, chief of interventional pulmonology for the Inova Health System. “Virginia is really where we should start, because Virginia really has a lot of work to do.”
He said the issue largely comes down to where state funding is being spent in Virginia.
“There’s a ton of Fs across the state, and part of that is because there’s poor use of funding. There is lack of utilization of the different types of safe havens from tobacco, such as, for example, having areas in the workplace that don’t have tobacco exposure,” he said.
Mahajan said Maryland has made some progress in the space, earning an A grade in the strength of smoke-free workplace laws. But he said Maryland needs to work on cessation programs.
“We don’t really see a lot of funding for state tobacco prevention, and the flavored tobacco is still being utilized in the state of Maryland as well,” he said.
D.C. failed in funding for prevention programs, but the city has some big successes on the report.
“There is really some benefits that D.C. is actually doing great in ending the sale of flavored tobacco and increasing the taxes along with workplace-free tobacco areas,” he said.
He said the biggest risk with flavored tobacco is that it is attractive to a younger crowd of consumers.
“Flavored tobacco is really appealing to children as opposed to adults. So we’re doing really poorly when we look at the state of Virginia,” he said.
According to data released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2024, vaping among high school students fell sharply from 2023 to 2024 across the country. During the 2022-23 school year, 15.9% of Maryland high school students reported using tobacco products, with 14.3% reporting electronic smoking device use, the Maryland Department of Health said.
Find all of the grades and more breakdowns at the American Lung Association State of Tobacco Control website.
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