2025 ‘State of Tobacco Control’ Report Notes Improvement in Access to Cessation Services in Arkansas

Arkansas receives a “B,” one “C,” and three “F” grades in the American Lung Association’s latest report card on the state’s tobacco prevention and cessation efforts.

The 2025 State of Tobacco Control report, which can be viewed in interactive form or as a PDF, gives Arkansas failing grades in the categories of tobacco prevention and cessation funding, tobacco taxes, and availability of flavored tobacco products — categories in which the state also received “F” grades in last year’s report.

Arkansas’s grade for access to tobacco cessation services improved from a “C” to a “B” in the 2025 report. The state once again received a “C” in the category of smokefree air.

What the Grades Mean

On tobacco prevention and cessation funding, the report states that $12.8 million has been allocated for that purpose in Arkansas for fiscal year 2025, including $11.3 million in state funding and $1.5 million in federal funding. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended the state spend $36.7 million in the current fiscal year on tobacco control efforts.

Arkansas receives an “F” grade in the tobacco tax category in part for having a low cigarette tax — $1.15 per pack vs. the national average of $1.93 per pack. Also factoring into the state’s grade in this category is the fact that although Arkansas’s taxes on small cigars, smokeless tobacco, and pipe tobacco are comparable to its cigarette tax, its tax on large cigars is low compared to the cigarette tax.

On flavored tobacco products, the state receives a failing grade for lacking any state law or regulation to restrict the sale of flavored tobacco products.

The report gives Arkansas a “C” for its efforts to restrict smoking in certain environments. While the state has prohibited or restricted smoking across many settings, including private and government workplaces, smoking is still allowed in restaurants, bars, and casinos and gaming establishments in Arkansas that do not allow persons under 21 to enter. This grade is unchanged from last year’s report.

Arkansas’s best grade in the new report, a “B” for tobacco cessation services, reflects an investment in these services of $3.75 per smoker. In last year’s report, Arkansas received a “C” in this category for an investment of $1.93 per smoker. The cessation service category is graded based on coverage for cessation services under the state’s Medicaid program and the state and public school employees health plan, as well as the state’s investment in tobacco cessation.

Arkansas Medicaid covers all seven of the pharmacotherapy treatments for tobacco cessation listed in the report. The program covers individual and phone counseling services, but it does not cover group counseling. The state and public school employees health plan covers three of the seven pharmacotherapy treatments.

Recommendations

The report includes three specific actions that state policymakers can take to further curtail tobacco use in Arkansas:

• Ensuring continued access to tobacco cessation services for all those who want to quit smoking, including comprehensive coverage for cessation services under Medicaid.
• Allocating state funding of $14.6 million for the Arkansas Department of Health’s tobacco cessation program and ensuring the funds are spent according to the CDC’s best practices.
• Repealing state preemption of local tobacco control authority.

Arkansas has some of the highest adult smoking and teen vaping rates in the country, with 15% of adults reporting they were current smokers in 2023 and 18% of public high school seniors reporting they used electronic vapor nicotine products within the past 30 days in 2023.