Pennsylvania ranks as one of the worst states for tobacco prevention and reduction policies, according to the American Lung Association’s annual “State of Tobacco Control” report.

This report, released last week, gave the state “D” grades for two categories and “F” grades for three others.

The state scored Ds for “strength of smokefree workplace laws” and “coverage and access to services to quit tobacco.”

It scored Fs for “funding for state tobacco prevention programs,” “level of state tobacco taxes” and “ending the sale of all flavored tobacco products.”

The new report card marks a slight improvement over the state’s 2022 grades, resulting from an increase in coverage for state residents on Medicaid, the lung association said. But the state can clearly do more, it said such as improving coverage for services that help smokers quit and investing in tools like QuitLine, a 24-hour smoking cessation service available on the phone.

Tobacco use kills 22,010 Pennsylvanians each year, the association estimates.

“Pennsylvania lags behind when it comes to tobacco control policies, and as a result, we have higher than average adult smoking rates at 14.4% and 26.7% of high school students use a tobacco product,” said Deborah Brown, association chief mission officer in a news release. “This gives us an important opportunity to improve the health of our state through proven policies, such as preserving state funding for comprehensive tobacco prevention and control programs and closing the loopholes in the state’s Clean Indoor Act.”

The Clean Indoor Air Act aims to ban smoking from public places and workplaces.

The association recommends state policymakers allocate more state funding for tobacco prevention and cessation services, seal loopholes that weaken the state’s Clean Indoor Air Act and increase taxes on tobacco.