RI Lawmakers Must Not Let Big Tobacco Turn Back the Clock on Public Health

In the final days of legislative session, Rhode Island lawmakers must prioritize public health over the tobacco industry’s bottom line 

PROVIDENCE – JUNE 16, 2025 – In the days ahead, Rhode Island lawmakers may consider passing legislation that would make deadly and addictive tobacco products cheaper by reducing taxes on what the Food and Drug Administration calls ‘Modified Risk Tobacco Products’ or MRTPs, as well as rolling back legislation that keeps flavored tobacco products off store shelves in Rhode Island. Both initiatives stand to set back the clock on Rhode Island public health.

The following statement can be attributed to Ryan Strik, Rhode Island director of government relations for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN):

“Any reduction in tobacco taxes (S417 and H5770) or moves to make it easier to sell flavored tobacco products to our kids (S543 and H5329) are gifts to major tobacco companies like Phillip Morris International and others. These gifts come with devastating consequences and would result in lining Big Tobacco’s pockets at the risk of public health and expense of our state budget. Make no mistake; these products are still deadly, and Big Tobacco knows it.

“Now is not the time to be lending a helping hand to an industry whose products result in the deaths of nearly 1,800 Rhode Island adults each year, and when nearly 18 percent of Rhode Island high schoolers use tobacco – with more than 90% of them using flavored products.

“The General Assembly must see these bills for what they are – another gift to Big Tobacco – and say, ‘not again’. We owe it to future generations of Rhode Islanders to enforce and strengthen current restrictions on tobacco use, not roll back decades of progress by weakening current law.”