Tobacco excise taxes are proven to save lives by reducing the use of tobacco among current users and preventing many youth from using it all together. These taxes also raise much needed revenue for our state. Prop 56 will be on the November ballot and will help protect kids, fight cancer, and will help fund cancer treatment, smoking prevention, health care, and cancer research.  This will help cut health care costs by decreasing the amount of tobacco-related medical expenses.

We must start taking action now. According to the new How Do You Measure Up? released by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, California could make huge strides in fighting cancer if it raised its tobacco tax, which is one of the lowest in the country and has not been raised in nearly 20 years.

Cancer prevention can’t be pushed under the rug. Cancer will claim the lives of nearly 60,000 Californians by the end of 2016, but if we act on Nov. 8 we can change cancer outcomes in the future!

— Lisa Vorse