Last year, the American Lung Association's annual State of Tobacco Control Report gave the state a rare "I" or incomplete grade for smokefree air, as voters had not yet approved Referred Law 12, the statewide smoking ban. This year, South Dakota earned a "B" grade for smokefree air and a special "thumbs up" to voters who overwhelmingly voted in favor of the ban during the November 2010 election. The report also singled out South Dakota for exceeding the recommended "investment per smoker" in funding its Quit Line telephone service.
Other grades were mixed, however. In the tobacco prevention and control spending category, the state's grade slipped from a "D" last year to an "F." Grades in the two remaining categories remained the same as last year: a "C" for the state's cigarette tax; and an "F" grade for cessation, which revaluates services and products offered to state employees and Medicaid recipients to help them quit smoking.
"South Dakota took a huge step forward when it went smokefree on November 10th, and we should all celebrate what state lawmakers and the voters finally accomplished last year," said Penny Gottier Fena, executive director of the American Lung Association in South Dakota. "That said, the annual report shows that we still have some work ahead of us this year."
The American Lung Association in South Dakota will advocate for a return to the $5 million level of funding for tobacco prevention and control, as well as ensuring the new smokefree law remains strong and is enforced fairly statewide.
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