Gov. Mike DeWine has proposed increasing the tax on a pack of cigarettes from $1.60 to $3.10. As a doctor, I completely agree with him − this tax hike is the best move for the health of Ohio.
Not a day goes by that I don’t have a patient in my office who is sick because of cigarettes. It’s usually more than one. I’ve had days where I see the damage of tobacco back to back to back.
Just last week, my first patient of the day was a man with COPD on oxygen, just out of the hospital after getting sick with pneumonia. My second patient was a baby, born too small and too early because his mother smoked during pregnancy. My third patient, a young man, was grieving the death of his mother from cigarette-caused lung cancer. My fourth patient was a woman with high blood pressure, now on three different medications, still smoking despite knowing that if she were to stop, her blood pressure would improve, and we could stop some of her medications. And my fifth patient of the day was a smoker, just discharged from the hospital after having a cigarette-caused stroke, and while she was lucky to survive, she is now completely dependent on her family to eat, to get dressed, and to bathe…