Tobacco-Free Colleges and Universities

Our latest fact sheet addresses tobacco-free colleges and universities. Over 500 campuses are tobacco-free, and the list of tobacco-free campuses includes many in the southeast. In Mississippi, Delta State and several community colleges have implemented tobacco-free policies and the University of Mississippi has restricted tobacco use to a limited number of places on campus.

Recent surveys of students from MSU, USM, and UM demonstrate that the overwhelmings majority of students support a tobacco-free policy for their campus.

Calhoun City Smoke-Free Ordinance

Visit our ordinance website to read the new Calhoun City ordinance. This site also provides a comparison grid of the ordinances for smoke-free Mississippi communities.

More on Cigarette Consumption and Cigarette Tax Revenue

One of our recent fact sheets highlights trends in per capita consumption and cigarette tax revenue from 1955 to 2010. Several points are worth highlighting.

• Revenue increased steadily from 1955 to 1985, and then spiked after the 1985 increase in the state cigarette tax.
• Mississippi did not increase its cigarette tax again until 2009, and revenue from the state cigarette tax remained flat from 1986 through 2008.
• After the state increased the cigarette tax in May of 2009, revenue from this tax increased by 41.2%.
• The increased revenue was even greater in 2010. This year, the increased tax was collected in all 12 months and revenue increased by 100.8% compared to 2009.
• In addition to substantial increases in revenue, the state experienced the lowest level of per capita consumption since these data started being collected in 1955.

Updated fact sheet and YouTube Channel

And we updated our fact sheet to include all 41 smoke-free communities in Mississippi. 19.9% of the Mississippi population now lives in a community with a comprehensive smoke-free ordinance.


Also, visit our revamped YouTube Channel.

Latest Map of Smoke-free Mississippi Communities

Calhoun City is the latest Mississippi community to pass a comprehensive smoke-free ordinance. There are now 41 smoke-free communities in Mississippi.

Visit our update map.

Final Report - FY2010/11

We've posted a summary of our surveillance activities for the past fiscal year. 

Cigarette Consumption and Cigarette Revenue, 1955-2010

Check out our latest fact sheet

• Mississippi  increased the state cigarette tax from 18 cents to 68 cents on May 15, 2009.
• The data from tax records clearly demonstrates that the 2009 increase in the state cigarette tax has been followed by reduced consumption and increased revenue.
• Although the increased tax was only in effect for six and a half months during 2009, revenue from the tax increased by 41.2% and per capita consumption decreased by 4.4% from 2008 to 2009.
• Changes were more substantial in 2010, when revenue from the tax increased by 100.8% and per capita consumption decreased by 21.5% from 2009 to 2010.