Environmental attorney Sanders says Kentucky has highest death rate for nicotine addicts in the entire nation. Time for action against addiction!

According to the Center for Disease Control, Kentucky has highest death rates from smoking, a new federal study has found. Rounding out the 10 states with the highest average annual smoking death rates were West Virginia, Nevada, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, Indiana and Missouri.

The lowest death rates were in Utah and Hawaii, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study.

The smoking death rate in Kentucky was about 371 deaths out of every 100,000 adults age 35 and older. The report is published this week in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

It is long past time to raise the tax on cigarettes in Kentucky to stem the death tide from nicotine addiction in this great state. Frankfort, we have a major health problem here in Kentucky and we need to do something beside watch our citizens die of addiction. A death tax is one potential solution. Ending the right to smoke in bars and restaurants is another potential solution. Strong anti-smoking educational messages in elementary schools is perhaps the best start.

But, the General Assembly will likely wring their hands, shake their heads, and do absolutely nothing about this issue, just as they have done for decades in Frankfort. Don't we deserve better from our elected leaders in Kentucky than allowing these deaths to needlessly occur because cigarette companies addict our people with a powerful drug?