NJ not doing enough to keep people from smoking, report says

⚫ New Jersey receives two "F" grades in a report card on tobacco control

⚫ American Lung Association wants NJ's smoking ban to include casinos

⚫ NJ isn't spending enough on tobacco prevention, the report says

New Jersey just received its report card on efforts to control tobacco usage, and it's not one you'd want to hang on the fridge.

The Garden State has lots of work to do in the area of preventing and reducing tobacco use among residents, according to the State of Tobacco Control report released by the American Lung Association on Wednesday.

Across five categories analyzed by the American Lung Association, New Jersey earned two "F" grades. Its best grade out of five was a "B."

“In 2025, policymakers in New Jersey must focus on amending the state’s comprehensive smokefree law to finally include casinos, significantly increasing the cigarette tax and tax on other tobacco products and devoting funding to the state’s tobacco control efforts, and prohibiting the sale of all flavored tobacco products, including menthol cigarettes,” said Michael Seilback, assistant vice president for nationwide advocacy at the American Lung Association.

According to the report card, New Jersey is currently spending around $9.4 million over a year on tobacco control programs. That is only 9% of the spending that's being recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That gap is the main reason for one of New Jersey's "F" grades.

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The other "F" comes in the category of tobacco taxes. At $2.70, New Jersey's per-pack cigarette tax rate is much lower than the rates of neighboring states.

According to Seilback, a higher tax could work as a way to keep youth from buying tobacco. Higher prices, he added, can also work to help current smokers decide to finally kick the habit.

On Feb, 3, a New Jersey Senate committee is scheduled to consider a bill that would increase the amount of tobacco tax revenue that's devoted to anti-smoking initiatives.

Despite New Jersey's "B" grade in the category of smokefree workplace laws — its best grade — the American Lung Association focused much of its attention in the 2025 report on the fact that casinos remain exempt from New Jersey's ban on smoking.

A fight by advocates in 2024 to close the indoor-smoking loophole evolved into a legal battle. Legislation to include casinos in the ban has dozens of sponsors on both sides of the political aisle.

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