Board of Aldermen 05-14-2019 Page 13
exposure to second-hand smoke costs the country $5.6 billion dollars and about 70% of current
smoker's excess medical care costs could be prevented by quitting.
Cigarette smoking, the use of tobacco products is the single most preventable cause of death. By
potentially stopping a group of young people from starting, we could be saving a lot of lives. Let’s be
the example for other towns and cities in New Hampshire and potentially the entire State. States
around us that have raised the tobacco age, have shown a reduction in under-age tobacco usage.
Nicotine is the original gateway drug, it sets up the brain for future addiction. All of the other things
that are allowed at 18 do not cause changes in the way the brain functions. And | have a request and
you can deny this, Madam President, one of our youth arrived a few minutes late due to parking issues
and | was wondering if you would allow her to say a few words?
President Wilshire
| will add her name to the bottom of the list. | have people who signed up before her.
Ms. Valuk_ And I’m not even going to attempt her name because | know | can’t pronounce it properly.
What is your name? Advika.
President Wilshire
Ok.
Nancy Vaughn Good evening my name is Nancy Vaughn and | work for the American Heart
Association. | am Government Relations Director for the State of New Hampshire and our organization
is in support of a State Law as well as local ordinances for raising the minimum legal sales age for
tobacco products. | am going to try and not repeat what was just said and mess up the microphone,
sorry. As you just heard, tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death. So the key word
there is prevention and that’s what tobacco 21 ordinances and laws really do is help prevent the
initiation of a life-long addiction to a product that when used as directed is intended or the end result is
to kill you, cause disease and lead to your death. So tobacco does cause heart disease; we are one of
the most expensive medical ailments to have. So there are large costs to our economy for tobacco-
related diseases.
Beyond the health consequences though | just want to leave you with some economic information to
consider as well. The annual health care costs for tobacco related diseases in New Hampshire is
$729 million dollars. Of that amount $139 million is borne by the Medicaid program. Many of these
costs are borne by households whether they use tobacco products or not in the form of taxes to cover
the Medicaid program of almost $1,000.00 a year, $875.00 is the dollar amount I’ve heard recently.
Tobacco-related diseases are felt and experienced by the most vulnerable populations. Most of our
tobacco users are amongst low income families, so low income youth, individuals who suffer from
mental illnesses, about 33% are tobacco users.
Those on the Medicaid program use tobacco products at a much higher rate than even the average
adult population. As | mentioned tobacco related diseases themselves cause a burden on low income
families. The American Heart Association actually supports not having possession penalties in place
on laws and ordinances, we find these are ineffective and inequitable penalties on, again, low income
youth and minority youth, African-Americans and Hispanic youth have reported that they are more
likely to receive citations from law enforcement for these products than their counterparts regardless of
tobacco use differences. So | urge you to consider passing this ordinance and really help to prevent
young people from starting this life-long addictive habit. So thank you very much for listening tonight.
June Lemon June Lemon | live at 18 Manchester Street here in Nashua. It has been really interesting
listening to what everybody has to say and | don’t repeat anything. | am here to support the
nomination of Kim Kleiner. | have heard some interesting thoughts about maybe we need both a
