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Tobacco Charts: Cigarette Smoking and Smoke Free Laws

Cigarette Smoking and Smoke Free Laws

Suggested Chart
X axis: One of the state tobacco control variables   
Y axis: Per capita sales of cigarettes or adult smoking prevalence
Size: Percentage of US population    Color: Unique colors

Although only two states had enacted statewide smoke free laws prior to 2000, many states have done so between 2000 and 2008. This scatter plot demonstrates that states have experienced reduction in cigarette smoking in the years following the enactment of statewide smoke free law. Caution should be used in comparing the impact of smoke free law with that of state cigarette tax. Tax policies are typically consistent for all residents of a state. However, many people who live in a state without a statewide smoke free law may live in a community with a smoke free law.

Data Source:

• Orzechowski and Walker (2008). The Tax Burden on Tobacco Historical Compilation Volume 43, 2008. Arlington, Virginia.
  State Cigarette Tax 
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey Data. Atlanta, Georgia: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2009.
• American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation (2009). Chronological Table of U.S. Population Protected by 100% Smokefree State or Local Laws.
• U.S. Census Bureau (2008). Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for the United States, Regions, States, and Puerto Rico.

Tobacco Interactive Charts

• Percent of Population Protected from Tobacco Smoke
• State Cigarette Tax and State Cigarette Tax Revenue
• Cigarette Smoking and Tobacco Contol Policies
• Cigarette Smoking and Smoke Free Laws

Tobacco control policies are a crucial component of statewide programs to reduce the prevalence of smoking. We created these charts to provide policy makers with a vivid illustration of the profound changes states have experienced after raising their state cigarette tax or passing statewide smoke free laws. Substantial increases in revenue and reductions in cigarette smoking have occurred in every state that raised their cigarette tax.

States have also experienced reductions in cigarette smoking after passing statewide smoke free laws. Moreover, it's obvious from these charts that although many of the states in the U.S. have enacted tobacco control policies and experienced desirable outcomes - other states have missed the opportunity to improve health while increasing tax revenue.

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