W.Va. Tobacco Use Declining
A decline in cigarette sales in the Wheeling area gives credence to a West Virginia Division of Tobacco Prevention report claiming there is a decline in the number of people lighting up.
WVDTP Director Bruce W. Adkins said the report, released last week, shows the prevalence of Mountain State adult smokers is lower than it has been in decades and that the youth smoking rate has dropped 32 percent over the past five years. Adkins credits three factors for the decline in tobacco use.
"We have the busiest tobacco quit line per capita in the country," he said. "Over the past couple of years, it has averaged 40,000 calls per year."
He said WVDTP is helping — 25 percent to 30 percent of those enrolled in cessation programs are quitting, and local health departments have been successful in passing clean indoor air regulations.
Adkins said WVDTP's annual funding of $7 million is far below the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommended level of $28 million.
Jody Prather, owner of 21 Gumby's Cigarette World outlets in eastern Ohio and West Virginia's Northern Panhandle, said sales of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products "are definitely down over the past year." He said clean indoor air regulations and an increased public health consciousness are causing the decline in sales.
"They (WVDTP) are doing a good job of getting the word out there," Prather said. "They are doing a good job of addressing the health issues and a good job of policing underage consumption."
He also said West Virginia cigarette retailers are benefiting from the fact that neighboring states have higher taxes for smoking products.
"The 25 percent of Americans who are still smoking are traveling to buy their products," Prather said, noting cigarettes cost $1 less per pack in West Virginia than in Ohio. "They are $10 per carton cheaper in West Virginia than in Ohio and $8 less per carton here than in Pennsylvania."
Prather said his Ohio outlets have lost more than 50 percent of their business because people are crossing the Ohio River to buy cigarettes in West Virginia.
"Some good news for the West Virginia stores," he said, "is that people come in to buy tobacco products and, while they are here, they buy pop, chips, snacks and milk."
Source: Wheeling News Register