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.

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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.
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California has already protected people from other harmful products, and it's time to hold the tobacco industry to the same standards.

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Raise your voice against the tobacco industry

Hold the industry accountable

The tobacco industry currently spends billions each year on slick marketing tactics and political influence so they can profit off death and disease.

Influence, manipulation & deceit

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Even for people who don’t use tobacco, there can be deadly consequences.

Death & disease

The industry calls kids their “replacement customers. Big Tobacco sentences them to a lifetime of addiction and disease.

Addicting kids

This racist and unjust industry has strategically targeted certain communities with deadly products and manipulative messaging.

Racism & injustice

No one’s safe from the environmental damage and health risks from toxic tobacco waste and its plastic pollution.

Environmental destruction

Explore the tobacco industry's damage

Cancer

Lung Harm

Brain Harm 

Heart Harm

Secondhand Dangers

THE EFFECTS OF EXPOSURE

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TAKE ACTION TODAY

I’m concerned about the rapidly escalating amount of toxic secondhand smoke in the air from vaping, marijuana, and cigarettes. It’s practically everywhere like in places such as public parks, restaurant patios, shopping centers, transit stops, recreational facilities, and sidewalks. The problem is only getting worse in large part to the rise of vaping and marijuana use in California. According to the California Adult Tobacco Survey, e-cigarette secondhand exposure increased more than 65% in two years, and marijuana secondhand smoke nearly doubled!  As you may already know, the U.S. Surgeon General has said there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke. This is the reason I’d like to encourage you to enact new and stricter smokefree policies in public and private spaces across our community.

As a resident of our city, I believe everyone has the right to breathe clean air. Yet I find myself constantly exposed to toxic secondhand smoke. Any exposure can be harmful, especially to children, older adults, and people with a disability. The consequences of secondhand smoke exposure are severe and can lead to fatal health issues such as cancer, stroke, serious respiratory illnesses and heart disease.

I’m asking for your leadership in addressing the rise of secondhand smoke in our city. You have my full support to limit the number of places people are allowed to smoke and I encourage the enforcement of such rules. I think we can all agree that it would make our city a healthier, more enjoyable place to call home.

Thank you for implementing and supporting strong smokefree policies throughout our community. As a resident, I feel a tremendous amount of pride knowing that you’ve put laws in place to keep me and my family safe from toxic secondhand smoke exposure. Your tireless work has earned our city an A on the American Lung Association’s State of Tobacco Control Report. It’s a cumulative grade based on factors such as the number of places designated smokefree and strengthening the definition of “smoke”, “smoking” or “tobacco products” to include new products, like e-cigarettes, in our community’s secondhand smoke policies.

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Secondhand Smoke Is Harmful

THE EFFECTS OF EXPOSURE

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