Tobacco Facts ...

Research shows that addiction, especially to nicotine, is one of the hardest behavioral traits to modify. And, to ensure that it remains difficult, tobacco companies spend over $150 million every year, just in Colorado, to keep their products in the minds of consumers.

Tobacco in Colorado

• $1 billion is spent each year in Colorado for health care costs related to tobacco
• $249 million of that is covered by our taxpayer funded state Medicaid program
• 550-980 adults, children and babies die each year from secondhand smoke
• 4,200 Colorado adults die each year from smoking related illnesses
• 12.1 million packs of cigarettes are bought by kids each year in Colorado
• 10,800 kids become new daily smokers each year
• 92,000 kids now under 18 and alive in Colorado will ultimately die prematurely from smoking

Tobacco in the U.S.

• 4.5 million high school students are current smokers
• 4,000 kids try smoking for the first time every day
• 15.5 million kids are exposed to secondhand smoke every day
• 900 million packs of cigarettes are consumed by kids each year
• 45 million adults smoke in the U.S.
• $23.5 billion is paid each year for smoking-related illnesses by taxpayer-funded federal and state Medicaid program
• $20 billion is paid each year due to tobacco-caused health care by the federal Medicare program
• 4000,000 people die each year from their own cigarette smoking
• 40,000 people die each year from other people's smoking
• 6 million kids under 18 alive today will ultimately die from smoking (unless the current rate declines)
• $9.7 billion is spent each year by the tobacco industry to market its products nationwide