Over the last ten years, policymakers and public health advocates have taken great – and sometimes controversial – measures to help fight the tobacco epidemic by raising cigarette taxes, expanding clean air laws, and implementing smoking cessation and prevention campaigns and programs, among other efforts. Until recently, no study has responded to these concerns by capturing the impact of tobacco control across the nation.

To coincide with a new book released in August 2011 from Columbia University Press, entitled, After Tobacco: What Would Happen if Americans Stopped Smoking? Legacy hosted a forward-thinking discussion on what America might look like if and when smoking rates plummet to historic lows.

Our panel of experts considered the economic impact of reducing smoking rates on tobacco farmers, cigarette-factory workers, the Southeastern regional economy, state governments, tobacco retailers, the hospitality industry, and nonprofit organizations that might benefit from the industry’s philanthropy. It also examined the effect of smoking reduction on mortality rates, medical costs, and Social Security, as well as minority and disparate populations such as African Americans and the mentally ill.