American Cancer Society officials say the organization isn't interested in the cigarette tax hike as a source of income for the state.

Instead, they view this as a public health measure.

"We just did a poll last week that said 68% of Kentuckians are in favor of a 70 cent tax increase," says American Cancer Society grassroots manager for Kentucky Eric Evans. "We're one of the lowest taxed states anyway. Indiana is at 99 cents. They just raised their cigarette tax. When they did that, 20% of the smoking consumption went down."

That's exactly what's concerning Kentucky tobacco farmers, especially in counties like Logan, where tobacco is so deeply rooted in the area's history, it's celebrated with an annual festival.

"It's not only going to hurt tobacco farmers, but all the farmers in the state of Kentucky," says Logan county tobacco farmer Don Fuller. "It's going to cause job loss. It's going to cause income loss in the state."

Evans believes the tax hike won't hurt area farmers.

"It's an international market, so farmers are selling to large corporations that are then selling overseas," he says.

He adds the American Cancer Society views this as a chance to curb teen smoking in addition to relieving some of the costs tobacco puts on Medicaid.

"In some of our counties, 58% of pregnant women smoke," says Evans. "A lot of the expenses are for low birth weight babies. That's one thing where the cigarette tax helps too because a lot of birth mothers are looking to cut spending.
It helps with revenue, it helps with health, and of course, the people of Kentucky are for it as well."

Evans says the American Cancer Society expects a 70 cent tax hike to result in a 16% reduction in teen smoking.