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Your Voice Matters!
Join us for the Day at the Capitol - April 18, 2013 read more
Governor Dayton includes raising the price of tobacco in his budget proposal
By including a significant tobacco tax increase in his budget, Governor Dayton affirms his commitment to a healthier Minnesota. read more
Tobacco Tax bill introduced in MN House!
Representative and Tax Committee Chair, Ann Lenczewski introduced a bill (H.F. 91) that will significantly increase the price of tobacco in Minnesota. read more
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Minnesota can do more. A majority of |
2013 Tobacco Control Report Card:
MN gets two "F's"!
The American Lung Association has released its annual State of Tobacco Control report which includes a report card for each state. Minnesota does NOT have a good report card!
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Did you know?
Find out more about why tobacco is still a problem and how you can get involved to change this. Visit this new website from ClearWay Minnesota: |
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Governor Dayton includes raising the price of tobacco in his budget proposal
By including a significant tobacco tax increase in his budget, Governor Dayton affirms his commitment to a healthier Minnesota. Increasing the price of tobacco will prevent youth from smoking, help current smokers quit and reduce healthcare costs for all Minnesotans.
Raising the price of cigarettes by $1.50 per pack will:
- Save 47,700 Minnesota kids from becoming addicted adults.
- Help 36,600 current Minnesota smokers to quit.
- Reduce long-term healthcare cost by over $1.5 billion.
Raise it for Health, a coalition of over 30 leading health and nonprofit organizations, stands ready to work with Governor Dayton and legislative leaders to ensure a significant tobacco tax increase is part of the dialog this session.
Please join with us to thank Governor Dayton for including a tobacco tax increase in his budget proposal:
ClearWay Minnesota Action Center
Tobacco Tax bill introduced in MN House!
Representative and Tax Committee Chair, Ann Lenczewski introduced a bill (H.F. 91) that will significantly increase the price of tobacco in Minnesota. This bill, which was introduced on January 17, 2013, will:
- Increases the tax on cigarettes by $1.60 per pack with a parallel increase on other tobacco products.
- Reclassifies “little cigars” as what they really are, cigarettes.
- Establishes a minimum tax on “other tobacco products,” such as chewing tobacco, equal to the tax on a pack of cigarettes.
A significant increase in the tobacco tax will save 47,700 Minnesota kids from becoming addicted adults, help 36,600 Minnesotans quit and save 27,700 Minnesotans from premature smoking-related deaths.
Use this link to contact your legislators and urge them to support this bill! ClearWay Minnesota Action Center
April 18, 2013 Day at the Capitol: Fighting Back Against the Tobacco Industry |
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2012 Day at the Capitol - Steele County group. |
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Your Voice Matters! The coordinators for the Four Corners Partnership are recruiting groups of volunteers from all four of our counties to participate in the Day at the Capitol on April 18, 2013. The coordinators will be the group leaders. Transportation, training and lunch will be provided. Join with hundreds of advocates from all across the state for a rally in the rotunda of the State Capitol. No previous experience is necessary! Be part of the group and meet with your legislators to ask them to:
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The Evidence is Clear: Freedom to Breathe Act is an Overwhelming Success Take a look! |
Cheap, fruit and candy flavored"little cigars" are attractive to teens
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So-called little cigars come in flavors like wild cherry, sweet grape and sweet strawberry. They have a filter tip, come in packs of 20 and are the same size as a cigarette. Little cigars have a small amount of tobacco pulp mixed into their rolling paper. This gives the paper a brown color like a cigar. Little cigars are really just brown cigarettes.
Two big differences that make "little cigars" attractive to kids
- Federal law prohibits fruit flavors in cigarettes. Kid friendly fruit flavors are still allowed in cigars.
- Little cigars are cheap! A pack or 20 cigarettes can cost around $6.00. Compare this to a pack of 20 little cigars that often cost less than $2.00.
Raise the price - Close Minnesota's tobacco tax loophole!
Functionally little cigars are cigarettes. However, because they are wrapped in brown paper, they have been misclassified in law as an “other tobacco product.” This loophole unfairly gives favorable tax and regulatory treatment to little cigars. The solution is to classify little cigars as cigarettes by fixing the current definition of cigarettes in the Minnesota tax and commerce statutes.
Help to educate your state lawmakers about the little cigar loophole during the Day at the Capitol on March 22, 2012. Your voice matters!
Read more: The Cigarette Uniformity Act - A Common Sense Solution
Four Corners Partnership Little Cigar Fact Sheet
(Note: Only the federal government has the authority to regulate the use of candy or fruit flavors in tobacco products.)
New Dissolvable Tobacco Products Attractive to Youth
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The green one is candy, the brown one is tobacco, teens are likely to find both attractive
The tobacco industry is constantly innovating and reinventing its products. Dissolvable tobacco products are currently being test marketed in selected areas across the U.S. (but not in Minnesota).
No spitting, no mess, just pop one of these in your mouth and let it dissolve.
Camel's dissolvable tobacco comes in three forms. Orbs (pictured above) closely resemble a Tic Tac. Not pictured are Sticks (like a large tooth pick) and Strips (like a breathe strip). All three are made of "micro milled tobacco" with added flavor like mint.
"Our students could be using these all day and we would never know!"
This was the reaction when samples of the Camel Dissolvables were shown to a meeting of school nurses in Goodhue county. Parents who have seen samples of these new products have had similar concerns.
Help us to educate our state lawmakers about how the tobacco industry lures new customers. Share your concerns with your legislators during the Day at the Capitol on March 22, 2012.
Your voice matters!
MDH Report shows slower progress toward reducing teen tobacco use
Tobacco use by Minnesota teens decreased at a slower rate between 2008 and 2011 and more than 50 percent of high-schoolers are still exposed to secondhand smoke
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) released new information on December 6, 2011 showing that after a decade of sharp declines in tobacco use among teens, progress is slowing.
In addition, more than 50 percent of high school students are still exposed to secondhand smoke, despite the passage of the Freedom to Breathe Act in 2007. Equally concerning is that the use of menthol cigarettes has more than doubled among teen smokers since 2000.
Dr. Ed Ehlinger, Minnesota Commissioner of Health, noted a number of strategies that public health officials across the country have used to successfully reduce and prevent youth tobacco use, including:
- Price increases on tobacco products.
- Counter-advertising mass-media campaigns that include TV and radio commercials, posters, and other media messages to counter pro-tobacco marketing.
- Comprehensive school-based tobacco-use prevention policies and programs, such as tobacco-free campuses.
- Community interventions that reduce tobacco advertising promotions and commercial availability of tobacco products.
These findings are included in the report, Teens and Tobacco in Minnesota 2011; Results from the Minnesota Youth Tobacco and Asthma Survey.
(read the full Press Release from MDH)
How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease
This is the title of the 2010 report from the Surgeon General of the United States. Along with the 700 page report, the Surgeon General has released a consumer booklet that sums up the key findings from the report in a short, easy to read format.
- Why is tobacco so addictive?
- How can brief exposure to tobacco smoke trigger a heart attack?
- How can tobacco smoke damage your DNA and lead to cancer?
Every American should read this booklet:
How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease...what it means to you
Smoking costs Minnesota $2.87 billion
A new report released by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota reveals that Minnesota paid a staggering $2.87 billion in 2007 to treat disease caused by smoking. The real tragedy is the cost in human suffering. To get the full story, read the report:
Health Care Costs and Smoking in Minnesota: The Bottom Line
What is the Four Corners Partnership?
The Four Corners Partnership is a coalition of concerned citizens and local organizations coordinated by the Public Health Services in Dodge, Goodhue, Rice and Steele counties. The goal of the Partnership is to reduce the harm caused by tobacco in our four-county region. Funding for this work comes from a grant from ClearWay Minnesota.
What is the ClearWay Minnesota Action Center?
Sign up now for this great resource that will help to make you a more effective advocate for reducing the harm caused by tobacco. ClearWay Minnesota Action Center
Minnesota's Tobacco 2013 Report Card
| Tobacco Prevention and Control Spending | F
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Cigarette Tax | C
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| Smoke-free Air | A
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Cessation Coverage | F
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The American Lung Association issues a annual report card for each state. Your continued support of Minnesota’s smoke-free law will help us to keep our one “A”! Help us support the Raise it for Health coalition in the effort to increase the tobacco tax in Minnesota. A $1.50 per pack increase in the tax on cigarettes should earn us an "A" next year.
Please take a look at our Report Card to see what else we could be doing better.
Minnesota’s 2013 Report Card (2-page report card)
