lilyjohn Posted October 21, 2006 Share Posted October 21, 2006 Can you believe a year has passed already? I got my think pink bag. I'm glad that they have so much support but am irritated that there is not the same support for lung cancer awareness. It seems very appropriate that on Novermbers ballot here in California there is a bill for raising taxes on cigaretts. Sounds good but I read it and I am so angry. First of all I will say when the government won the large suit against the tobacco company they did it pointing out the various diseases that people can get from smoking. Especially lung cancer. Yet not one cent of that settlement money went to help people quit. Oh sure it may have paid for adds but when I quit 6 months ago there was no financial help for the aids I needed and they cost a lot more than the cigaretts if used properly. Now we are asked to vote for a new tax on tobacco products. First of all I know from personal experience that the cost will not make people quit. YOu have to make up your mind and do it. People will do without other things to buy smokes. This is a major addiction we are taling about. Quiting is NOT easy Unlike most people I read our sample ballot. I read where the money will go if that tax passed and I am angry about it. Hospitals get most of it but the rest-------well stop smoking programs will get some, lung cancer reasearch will get a little, a very little! Prostate cancer will get 18 times as much. Breast cancer will get 6 times as much and another 4 times as much for research. COPD didn't even make the list So for Lung Cancer Awareness month I am going to vote against that tax in protest. One more thing I am going to do is ask in every store I go into where there little collection jar is for lung cancer awareness month and try to remind people that we need more than just a lot of stop smoking adds. We need action just like think pink got. Too bad we can't find something catchy to use like a rhyming way to say breathe freely. Wow I hope no one thinks of this as political. I just think of it as sending a message to those who should know better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandyW Posted October 21, 2006 Share Posted October 21, 2006 You are so right about all of this. Good idea voting it down too! I live within the heart of Cigarette Making country. North Carolina. It is so sad about all the money raised and where it goes after it is provided. "Live Freely, Breathe Freely" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karen335 Posted October 21, 2006 Share Posted October 21, 2006 I live in California and I am voting YES on 86. The American Lung Assoc. and American Cancer Society support it. We have to START somewhere, voting it down is not a start. In fact I will be standing close to my polling place with a sign, LUNG CANCER KILLS YES on 86. If we all thought that way, where would we be. Look at our world now. WE ARE MOVING out of the super power arena because of the same old way of thinking and giving in, NO VOICE IS HEARD ANY MORE. STAND UP and FIGHT!!! Just do it, git er done... Don't mean to offend anyone, not intended for political gain. This is just my opinon.. "Gung in the Lung", It's OK cough it up if you can... IT'S NOT LIKE THE MONEY IS COMING OUT OF NON-SMOKERS POCKETS..THEY QUIT SMOKING AND THEY DON'T HAVE TO PAY THE TAX..I DON'T FEEL SORRY FOR THEM. AT ONE TIME I WOULD HAVE SAID NO, BUT NOT NOW.MY LUNGS HAVE BEEN DAMAGED, WISH i HAD SOMEONE TO GET IN MY FACE YEARS AGO WHEN I STARTED SMOKING...YES ON 86. Voting NO is promoting smoking... Imagine your grandchildren and kids or loved one with a tobacco product hanging from their lips inhaling and slowly dying. Not meant for too many to live.We have lost toooo many already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna G Posted October 21, 2006 Share Posted October 21, 2006 We went through this here in Minnesota. We went to court with our Leutenant governor and sued for at least some of the money be spent on victims of the tobacco companies, to help them quit. Blue Cross who got a lot of the money in partnership with the state during the suit. They use to send a tea bag and a rubbing stone to people as a "quiting aide" now they must give out nicotine patches etc. Donna G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharonjo Posted October 21, 2006 Share Posted October 21, 2006 I think it is ludacris that the settlement money won from the tobacco companies goes anywhere but to help people fighting lung cancer and to help people quit smoking! We should be writing our reps and giving them an earful on that! Just my opinion. Sharon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandyW Posted October 21, 2006 Share Posted October 21, 2006 My thoughts and Links for Info either way on settlement monies for California; I hop ehtis helps some people decide which way to vote. 1) California tobacco settlement money http://www.californialung.org/advocacy/ ... paper.html THIS IS INTERESTING AND MUCH MORE WIDESPREAD. Long article; http://www.tobacco.neu.edu/tobacco_cont ... index.html Good Luck and hope this may help. NOt sure but is interesting info!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick C Posted October 21, 2006 Share Posted October 21, 2006 I heard the money though on 86 goes to a bunch of other stuff, and only a small portion to lung cancer...is that right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debi Posted October 22, 2006 Share Posted October 22, 2006 Lily, Great idea about asking the stores where their collection jars are for lung cancer. But to go a step further, you need to have a jar along with you to put on their counter when they say they don't have one!!!!! You are so right when you say its time for action, words just aren't enough anymore! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lilyjohn Posted October 22, 2006 Author Share Posted October 22, 2006 My point is this. This bill is supposed to raise 2.1 billion dollars a year. It is being promoted as a help to smokers but all it really seems to do is thumb their noses at lung cancer. It feels like one more way of saying "well they smoke what do you expect?" In other words use these people and their addiction and their illness to raise money and then spend that money on everything BUT them When you read the voting guide it is a little deceptive. The funds for each item is listed as percent remaining after all of the items proceeding it. Prostrate cacer gets 1.75% but that is 18 million. Lung cancer is at the bottom of the list. Lung cancer gets 11% of the health and disease Research Account a whole 10 million dollars compared to the 65 million that will go to chronic (not immediate danger of death) diseases. This is just too much. Raise the taxes but use that money to help the people that are being used to try and get the bill passed. You want to raise tobacco taxes, great I don't think it will stop many from smoking but imagine what 2.1 billion a year could do for Lung Cancer research. I understand what you are saying Karen about starting somewhere> I just don't think this is the place. If they come up with a bill to raise those taxes and use that money to make stop smoking aids available to any one who wants to quit, help for those with COPD who started smoking long before the dangers were known and above all for lung cancer reasearch and support for those who settle for less because they don't have money or who give up and go on hospice before they are ready just because they can't afford the meds to stay pain free while undergoing treatment. You find someone who proposes a tax like that and I'll be the first one in line to promote it. By the way Katie where could I get one of those jars for LC donations? Is there someone to contact who can help with that? I think now that I am on a roll I may just write a letter to our local paper before LC month begins and remind them that there is a long way to go to give the kind of support that Breast Cancer gets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandyW Posted October 22, 2006 Share Posted October 22, 2006 Support cigarette tax because it could save lives Reporter Editor: Article Launched:10/21/2006 09:10:59 AM PDT This letter is to strongly encourage your readers to vote "Yes" on Proposition 86. Rather than examine the merits of how this initiative will help people stop smoking or keep them from starting, the self-serving interests of the tobacco industry are being peddled under the guise of an attack on those organizations supporting this tobacco sales tax increase. It is estimated that opponents are spending $50 million to defeat it. Since 1964, the U.S. Surgeon General has warned the public about the health risks from the use of tobacco products. We know what happens when people use these products - they die. Those supporting Proposition 86 are a coalition of health organizations, including the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association and the American Lung Association. Their agenda is simple: save lives, prevent suffering, reduce health care costs, and fund research and prevention programs. The agenda of the tobacco industry is anything but the welfare of its customers. An executive summary published on May 26 by the Tobacco Control Section of the California Department of Health Services projects that: "more than half a million smokers (502,108) in California would quit smoking because of the tax increase. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Advertisement -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The tax increase alone would prevent more than 700,000 children currently under 17 years of age from becoming smokers in adulthood." In addition, it states, "Nearly $16.5 billion would be saved in long-term health care costs." November is National Lung Cancer Awareness Month. Lung cancer is still the No. 1 cause of cancer deaths in California and the nation. More people die from lung cancer than the combined deaths attributed to breast, prostate and colorectal cancers. Proposition 86 is an initiative worthy of our support. It is an exceptional tool in the fight against cancer and improving our health. On Nov. 7, go to the polls and vote "yes" on Proposition 86. Let your voice be heard. Rick Siefke, Fairfield I say write away! Sadly enough I personally think that Politics and Pork Barrell projects have politicians caught like deer in the headlights You know what I mean, right? They just think more money to spend. JUST PERSONAL THOUGHTS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lilyjohn Posted October 22, 2006 Author Share Posted October 22, 2006 I agree with you Randy. The real issue here is the money and the ones who need it most get the least with this bill. I know I have the booklet and it shows the breakdown of where it would go. It's funny because the article you found mentions that lung cancer kills more people than colon, breast and prostrate cancers combined, yet each of those cancers would get at least double what lung cancer research would. That is the problem I have with this bil. Raise taxes on tobacco, no problem with me just put the money where it should go. Or like the old saying goes "put the money where your mouth is" By the way I have to brag. I have reached a milestone. My last cigarette was 6 months ago today Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandyW Posted October 22, 2006 Share Posted October 22, 2006 Yeah and Congratulations on that last Cigarette Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blaze100 Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 Hi lilyjohn, I read prop 86 details with disappointment too. Out of $2 billion generated, lung cancer research got a measly $10 million. On the other hand breast cancer and colon cancer got 25 million and 35 million if I remember right..... Still I voted Yes on prop 86. Hopefully it will reduce number of people smoking. It killed me to vote against Arnold. He is such a good looking governor, but he tried real hard to bust the unions and our cut wages, so he's gotta go. Barb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.