ASAM Joins Coalition Letter Highlighting Tobacco Related Concerns in Appropriations Bills

On January 30, ASAM and 80+ public health organizations and medical societies sent a letter to leadership of the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations urging them to ensure that final appropriations bills for fiscal year 2025 allow the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to retain their respective oversight authorities over tobacco related products and receive key resources to protect children from such products. 

For example, the letter outlines concerns over current appropriations bills in the House of Representatives. These bills would prevent the FDA from issuing critical rules to reduce nicotine in cigarettes to minimally or non-addictive levels and remove menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars from the market. These rules, backed by robust science, would address the harms caused by tobacco products and divert youth away from these products. The letter's signatories call upon lawmakers to protect the FDA's oversight authority and allow it to advance these lifesaving rules. 

Read the full letter here.