A California without Big Tobacco isn’t just possible, it’s already happening

When California leads, the rest of the country follows. When it comes to fighting Big Tobacco’s deadly epidemic, our state is no exception. In the past few decades, we’ve cut the adult smoking rate by over 60%, achieved the lowest youth vaping rate in the county, slashed lung cancer rates by 42%, and saved over one million Californians from tobacco-related deaths. Two California cities have already created healthier communities by ending the sale of tobacco products.

Despite monumental progress, Big Tobacco remains an urgent threat to our community’s health, particularly for kids. The tobacco industry has doubled down on their business model of making a profit by getting young people addicted to nicotine with products like vapes and oral nicotine pouches. They target our kids online and through social media tricking them into thinking nicotine is harmless. And even though California has the lowest youth vaping rate in the US, vapes are the most used tobacco products with 6% of high school youth currently vaping and use of oral nicotine pouches among California high school youth nearly doubled in one year.

Now is the moment to break the cycle of destruction Big Tobacco causes in our families and community—and we need your help. We have the power to create a better future for our kids, and it starts with keeping Big Tobacco from targeting them with addiction, disease, and death. With your leadership, we can undo Big Tobacco’s deadly epidemic.