NC Lung Association Recognizes Goodmon For Advocacy

CBC President & CEO Jim Goodmon received the Excellence in Advocacy Award from the NC chapter of the American Lung Association.

The American Lung Association of North Carolina bestowed CBC President & CEO Jim Goodmon with its Excellence in Advocacy Award at the organization's annual meeting in late July. Retired CBC VP Ben Waters accepted the award on Goodmon's behalf at a banquet at the Carolina Country Club on Friday, July 25, 2003.

The Excellence in Advocacy Award recognizes an individual who volunteers with dedicated hard work and integral involvement in policy campaigns, those who have acted as a champion and leader in advancing initiatives to improve lung health in North Carolina.

The organization cited Goodmon as a primary player in the fight to get the General Assembly to raise the cigarette tax:

As part of its mission to reduce tobacco use and the resulting death and disease, the American Lung Association has placed a high priority on increasing state cigarette taxes because raising the price of cigarettes is the single most effective way to reduce smoking rates. In North Carolina, advocates have worked tirelessly in support of increasing this tax, overcoming the unique political and cultural barriers that exist in tobacco growing states like ours. One advocate, however has sacrificed an exceptional amount of time and energy to this cause. He has testified to the House Finance Committee, spoken at three press conferences, spent countless hours educating and influencing top-level policy makers, and worked to recruit his peers as active advocates on this issue. This hard work has not been fruitless. For the first time in over eight years, the cigarette tax went to a vote in our General Assembly. Historically, the Senate even included a cigarette tax increase in its state budget proposal and continues to support an increase in this tax.

This past June Goodmon had two packs of Marlboro Lights cigarettes delivered to each North Carolina legislator at the General Assembly with the message to either raise the cigarette tax or give the packs to their favorite teenagers. His message drove home the point that many underage teens pick up the habit and add to the rising costs of healthcare to deal with the adverse effects of smoking.

In a note with the Marlboro packs, Goodmon wrote, "Yes, it is true that smoking is a personal decision and we cannot require people to stop. It is also true that smoking, in addition to hurting individual health, also places a large financial burden on the entire community who has to pay health costs for the smoker. This is not a 'tax,' it is really a user fee. It is perfectly reasonable to require smokers to pay some of the health costs their smoking habit generates."

WRAL-TV Chief Meteorologist Greg Fishel served as the keynote speaker for the evening event on the topic "Meteorology & the Media: An Interesting Mix." The awards ceremony followed.