As a medical doctor and a community health advocate, I am increasingly alarmed by the proliferation of new tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, that are highly addictive and clearly targeting Virginia’s kids. All Virginians should be concerned about the human and financial toll this takes on our state and our nation.

We are at a pivotal moment. Congress is considering the Trump administration’s proposed reorganization of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, including whether or not to fund critical tobacco control programs. As Virginia’s federal lawmakers navigate complex priorities, their decisions will have profound implications for public health and the well-being of communities across the country. It is particularly alarming for Virginia, as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Office on Smoking and Health (OSH), a national program that bolsters states’ efforts to prevent and reduce tobacco use, is on the chopping block.

For years, Congress has allocated funding to the office to protect kids from tobacco addiction and help current tobacco users quit. This is sound public health policy — helping people live longer, healthier and more productive lives — and is a smart investment. By preventing costly tobacco-caused diseases in the future, we save taxpayers billions of dollars.

That’s not an exaggeration. Every year, American taxpayers spend more than $241 billion in direct health care costs attributable to tobacco use. In Virginia, taxpayers pay $3.61 billion in direct health care costs ($522.1 million in Medicaid alone) and forfeit an additional $9.4 billion in lost productivity — all because of tobacco use.

These statistics take on profound meaning when you consider that Virginia’s Tobacco Control Program (TCP) is 100% funded from a $1.8 million federal OSH grant. While Virginia receives state tobacco-related revenue (nearly $340 billion), Master Settlement Agreement and JUUL Settlement Agreement funds, none of those funds are currently being allocated to the Virginia TCP or the state Quitline. Losing the CDC grant funding would be particularly devastating to Virginia, because unlike other states, this is the TCP’s only source of funding.

As medical professionals, my colleagues and I work with people every day who are trying to quit nicotine. Some are teenagers who never stood a chance, hooked before they hit puberty. Others are adults who have tried to quit more times than they can count, exhausted by a lifetime of addiction. We’ve also seen what works: programs that meet people where they are, treat addiction with compassion, and help people quit for good.

In Virginia, 7 out of 10 tobacco users want to quit. State tobacco and nicotine quitlines are one of the most accessible smoking cessation resources and can efficiently reach large numbers of smokers. Every $1 spent on the Quitline results in savings of $3.16 on medical expenditures, lost productivity, worker’s compensation and secondhand smoke.

The free, confidential, evidence-based quit services through Quit Now Virginia have been available to Virginians since 2005. Currently, 45% of the Virginia Quitline users have Medicaid or are uninsured; 53% of callers live with at least one chronic health condition; and 55% live with one or more behavioral health conditions. Quit Now Virginia is providing critical support to individuals, and a loss of funding for the Quitline would end one of the best-known resources to reduce the harm of tobacco use.

At a time when youth e-cigarette and nicotine-loaded products remain a serious public health problem in Virginia and the United States, the industry is finding new and alluring ways to addict kids. Some have suggested youth vaping isn’t a pressing issue anymore, that they don’t see it as much, so the urgency has passed. But ask any pediatrician, school counselor or other health provider. The problem hasn’t gone away — it has just gone underground. Our kids are still getting hooked, and the devices they use are smaller, stronger and harder to detect than ever.

The data is alarming. Now is not the time to dismantle or defund the Office of Smoking and Health. I urge Virginia’s federal lawmakers to prioritize the continuation of and funding for this critical federal office to keep our neighbors healthy.

Ward Blalock, M.D., of Newport News is a retired pediatrician and community health advocate.

https://www.dailypress.com/2025/09/06/column-dont-end-proven-effective-smoking-cessation-programs/