Tobacco in the United States

Tobacco has a long cultural, economic, and social history in the United States. Tobacco cultivation near Jamestown, Virginia Colony, in 1610 was the beginning of the plant's development as a cash crop with a strong demand in England. By the beginning of the 18th century, tobacco became a significant economic force in the American colonies, especially in Virginia's tidewater region surrounding Chesapeake Bay. Vast plantations were built along rivers, and socioeconomic systems were developed to grow and distribute the crop. In 1713, the Virginia General Assembly (under the leadership of Governor Alexander Spotswood) passed a Tobacco Act requiring the inspection of all tobacco intended for export or for use as legal tender.^[1] American tobacco farmers sold their crops on consignment to merchants in London, which required them to take out loans for farm expenses from London guarantors in exchange for tobacco delivery and sale.^[2] As the demand for tobacco grew in continental Europe, further colonization and tobacco production in British America saw a parallel increase,^[3] and tobacco cultivation spread into Britain's other Southern Colonies and beyond. A brisk trade developed among wholesalers in Charleston and New Orleans to ship tobacco to London merchants.^[4] Tobacco use had also become common in early American society and was heavily consumed before and after the declaration of American independence in 1776.

An estimated 34.3 million people in the United States, or 14% of all adults aged 18 years or older, smoked cigarettes in 2015, a figure that decreased to 13.7% of U.S. adults in 2018.^[5] In 2015, the prevalence of smoking in individual U.S. states ranged from between 9.1% and 12.8% in Utah to between 23.7% and 27.4% in West Virginia. By region, smoking prevalence was highest in the Midwest (18.7%) and South (15.3%) and lowest in the West (12.4%). Men tended to smoke more than women: In 2015, 16.7% of men smoked compared to 13.6% of women.^[6] Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the United States, accounting for approximately 443,000 deaths—1 of every 5 deaths—each year.^[7] Cigarette smoking alone has cost the United States $96 billion in direct medical expenses and $97 billion in lost productivity per year, or an average of $4,260 per adult smoker.

In 1964 the Surgeon General of the United States published its landmark report, Smoking and Health, which identified smoking as the cause of many health problems.^[8] Since then, the public perception of tobacco has shifted from that of a harmless product to a clear hazard for the health. From 1965 to 2022, smoking rates in the United States plummeted by some 73%, from 42.6% of all adult Americans to 11.6%.^[9]