By Bryan LaBore

North Dakotans head to the ballot in a few weeks, and there is much more to vote on than just Trump vs. Clinton. One thing in particular is Measure 4, a statewide statue regarding a proposed increase in the taxation on tobacco products. Half of the revenue generated would create a fund to pay for veterans’ services and benefits. This seems like common sense, but that is not what you are hearing. So what gives?

The “Vote No” campaign is a well-funded apparatus and is poised to outspend the “Vote Yes” campaign by a wide margin. This should be of no surprise. It’s a story as old as public health. Tobacco companies such as Altria Group Inc (the parent company to Philip Morris USA) and RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co. have deep pockets, and both are funding the “Vote No” campaign. Public health proponents, like North Dakota Medical Association and other similar organizations funding the “Vote Yes” campaign, do not. That is the story of this measure.

Mike Rud, the President of the North Dakotans Against the 400 percent Tax Increase campaign, recently wrote an editorial in statewide newspapers highlighting his complaints with Measure 4. The most common complaint seems to be that the money gained from Measure 4 does not do enough to help prevent, treat, and control smoking. This is an oxymoron. Well-run scientific studies have consistently and persistently shown that increasing the cost of tobacco leads to lower smoking rates, which by definition leads to better control on smoking. Lower rates also lead to lower treatment needs among the smoking population. Measure 4 devotes only a fraction of the funds generated by the increase in taxation because the increase taxation itself helps solve all of those problems.

Mike Rud knows that. So do the tobacco companies funding the “Vote No” campaign. That’s why they are flooding billboards, mailboxes, and airwaves asking you to let them put the profits of tobacco companies ahead of the health of North Dakotans. If they really cared about the health of North Dakotans, they would be supporting Measure 4. But they don’t, and they are asking you not to care either.

Vote yes on a healthier North Dakota. Vote yes on helping veterans. Vote yes on lower smoking rates. Vote yes on Measure 4.