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House District 4
Full Questionnaire text can be found here. All answers are verbatim with the exception that explanations that started with a lower case letter were capitalized.
Question 1: Do you support legislation that would create a strong fully funded, comprehensive tobacco retail licensing system in Michigan that includes strong enforcement and penalties on violators?
Tonya Wells: Yes.Smoking used to be a status claim of being "hip" when people did it on tv or in the streets. Now it is the leading cause of COPD, Lung Cancer, Breast Cancer and other kinds of cancer. As a stage 3 as a 21 year breast cancer survivor I feel the cigarettes should be banned and cost more than it already does. Not everybody wants to smell like or smell smoke
Karen Whitsett: Did Not Respond
Question 2- Do you support simplifying the taxation rate to a uniform rate of 32% that covers all tobacco products?
Tonya Wells: Yes. No parts of the tobacco industry should be different for the others, should be the same across the board. Smoking is a recreational choice and it should be equal taxation of it
Karen Whitsett: Did Not Respond
Question 3- Do you support legislation that would reduce or eliminate ineffective Purchase, Use and Possession laws?
Tonya Wells: No. Our children are going to one day if they live thru the status of not smoking will be taking care of their parents and other members of their family if they live that long. Cigarettes are not the only products that should have a closer look at because of the negative outcomes of it. We hear everyday on tv about taking vapor in place of tobacco when vaping is very dangerous, pills meant to help people with one illness creates cancer too
Karen Whitsett: Did Not Respond
Question 4- Do you support increasing Michigan's annual expenditures for cessation and prevention services to a minimum of $10 million annually to support the two-thirds (68%) of people who currently smoke and would like to quit?
Tonya Wells: Yes. Once people look at pictures of lungs that have been filled with tobacco resulting in death of a person, once you have held the hand of a person dying from cancer or you see a relative that smoked their whole live that is hanging by a thread you might want to look at preventive measures to stop, ban, dispose of or rethink what should be done for the citizens of the Great Lakes State of Michigan. The tobacco industry stems from the states that lost the civil war and have done nothing to help people recover from the addiction.
Question 5- Do you support recognizing Certified Tobacco Treatment Specialists as a profession for Medicaid billing?
Tonya Wells: Yes. Just like anything else, addiction to a chemical is hard to beat alone. I did not have to be told twice of my cancer situation, I had just bought a pack of cigarettes that I thru in the garbage before the diagnosis. There are people who need to be told what they should do to break unhealthy habits. The gum and patches do not work, one has to stop smoking tobacco, vaping and weed (my personal opinion)
Question 6- Do you support giving pharmacists the authority to prescribe all seven tobacco cessation medications?
Tonya Wells: Yes. It is a cry for help. I think support groups should be formulated to help Michigan aide in the fight for people not to smoke. It's just an idea, but the thought of Zone can call another before they light up to talk them off the ledge is an awesome idea.