September 6, 2023–Due Process Institute and an ideologically diverse group of public policy organizations commend the bipartisan efforts in Congress to elevate the importance of tobacco harm reduction through the formation of the Congressional Tobacco Harm Reduction Caucus. It is an essential approach to addressing disease and death brought by smoking combustible cigarettes.
Despite significant declines, combustible cigarette smoking is still the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. More than 30 million Americans smoke combustible cigarettes and more than 16 million are living with disease caused by smoking. Smoking contributes to 1 in 5 deaths in America: 480,000 premature deaths every year, including more than 41,000 from secondhand smoke. In addition to the loss of life, smoking costs our economy more than $600 billion per year. Every year, more than half of adults who smoke try to quit, but fewer than 8 percent actually do so. And just as the harms of combustible cigarette smoking disproportionately fall on people of color, veterans and service members, LGBTQ people, and poor, rural and disabled Americans, quitting is especially difficult in these populations. These individuals and their families are worth the exploration of every tool that could reduce the harms of tobacco.
Public health, compassion, personal autonomy and pragmatism demand the continuation of investment in prevention and cessation, and get serious about exploring harm reduction. This calls for a paradigm shift from well-intentioned but harmful prohibitionist policies that could increase negative interactions with police, especially in communities of color. The adoption of harm reduction practices can increase quit rates and decrease health risks for many adults who are unable or unwilling to quit using available cessation products and strategies.