Clearing the air regarding purpose of Proposition 56

Corrections are needed for the No on Proposition 56 campaign.

The entire campaign is funded by tobacco companies from out of state. More importantly, these ads are misleading if not downright lies. Aside from this initiative spending, the industry annually spends millions of dollars promoting its products in California.

Here is what Proposition 56 will do: (1) It will prevent youth from smoking and result in current smokers quitting. We know this from research done on tobacco control for decades. (2) In addition to increasing tobacco control funds to communities and schools, the funds will be used for Medi-Cal. The public cost for tobacco use in our state is in the billions each year. Tobacco use is still the leading cause of death in California from cancer and heart disease primarily. (3) And, most important to voters, if you don’t use tobacco products, you don’t pay the tax. As we have found, when smokers quit and fewer people start, health improves, medical costs go down and tax revenue goes down — all good things.

Proposition 56 is sponsored by the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, American Lung Association and the California Medical Association among others. We are your neighbors.

This story was originally published October 25, 2016 at 8:33 PM with the headline "Clearing the air regarding purpose of Proposition 56."