Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable disease, disability, and death in the United States. Based on 2019 data, about 34 million US adults smoke cigarettes. Every day, about 1,600 young people under age 18 years smoke their first cigarette, and 235 begin smoking cigarettes daily. Over 16 million people live with at least one disease caused by smoking, and 58 million nonsmoking Americans are exposed to secondhand smoke.

For more informaton please see a CDC factsheet on Extinguishing the Tobacco Epidemic in West Virginia

West Virginia (WV) continually ranks among the top three states in the US, (WV, Kentucky, Louisiana) with the highest tobacco use prevalence rate. According to the 2018 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), smoking prevalence in WV was 25.2 percent, which is a lot higher than the national prevalence of 14.0 percent. According to the 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), 14.4 percent of WV’s youth are current smokers. This figure is higher than the national average of 6.0 percent.