Wyoming Highlights

Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States and in Wyoming. To address this enormous toll, the American Lung Association calls for the following actions to be taken by Wyoming's elected officials:

The American Lung Association in Wyoming supports evidence-based policy interventions to reduce tobacco use rates and prevent youth initiation. Together with our partners, the Lung Association works to ensure tobacco control and prevention remains a priority for state legislators and local decisionmakers.

The Lung Association continues to educate elected officials and the general public about the negative public health impacts of tobacco use in Wyoming, and the ongoing importance of providing adequately funded tobacco prevention and cessation programs. The most important tobacco control measure that Wyoming policymakers can pursue is raising the cigarette tax by at least $1.00 per pack and ensuring parity for tax rates among all tobacco products.

Wyoming legislators should be applauded for voting down a proposal in 2024 to create a state registry of e-cigarette products based on U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) pre-market tobacco application status that could allow some products to be marketed and sold in Wyoming without FDA authorization. Tobacco manufacturers pushed for similar legislation across the country.

It has been over 20 years since the last time Wyoming legislators raised the cigarette tax. At $0.60 per pack, it remains among the lowest in the country. The Lung Association will continue working with partners to support a significant increase in taxes on cigarettes and all tobacco products. Raising tobacco taxes is one of the most effective ways to drive down smoking rates and prevent many young people from ever smoking at all. Additionally, funding generated from raising tobacco taxes provides a steady source of revenue for tobacco prevention and cessation programs, and other crucial public health needs.