Letter to the editor

I-185 will save lives

As a retired ICU physician, I know the end-stage consequences of tobacco use: heart disease, stroke, vascular disease, dementia, COPD, emphysema, and cancers – not just lung cancer, but also throat, stomach, pancreatic, colon, liver, kidney, and bladder cancers, to name a few. It was difficult to repeatedly see these horrible diseases, and their devastating consequences on patients and their families.

Initiative 185 will place higher taxes on tobacco and vaping products. Hopefully, this will discourage their use. In addition, the revenue generated will be directed to mult...