To increase the tax on cigarettes and tobacco products is the question.
It will be answered in ballot booths across the state on Nov. 7.
A Cole County Circuit Court judge has ruled that the Committee for a Healthy Future gathered the signatures necessary to place Amendment 3 on the November ballot.
“This is a great victory for the Committee, children and all Missourians,” said Cindy Erickson, CHF spokesperson and former CEO of the American Lung Association of Missouri.
The Committee for a Healthy Future is a citizen-backed initiative led by the American Lung Association, the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society. The nation’s three leading volunteer health care groups are joined by more than 170 organizations and thousands of civic leaders and health care professionals who are united to change the facts in Missouri by reducing smoking and addressing the long-term health needs of the state.
The proposed constitutional amendment would provide an increase Committee for a Healthy of four cents per cigarette and 20 percent on other tobacco products. The constitutional amendment will ensure that funds generated will be protected from the political process and used only to address the deadly impact of tobacco use and to provide increased access to health care services.