Kentucky gets a failing grade from the American Lung Association when it comes to efforts to stop tobacco use.

Shannon Baker with the organization's Kentucky Chapter, said she's not surprised the state received an F in the annual State of Tobacco control report.

However, she's hopeful legislation this session could help more people quit smoking and keep more young people from even starting.

MOORE And tonight's look at medical news.

The fact is Kentucky has the highest lung cancer incidence, which of course, means new cases of lung cancer rate in the nation, as well as the highest rate of deaths due to lung cancer in the entire nation.

And we all know that smoking or the use of nicotine products is the leading cause of lung cancer.

And so what I would say is this discussion isn't more relevant or more important anywhere in the country than it is right here in Kentucky.

And yes, we have huge opportunities for improvement.

We saw a bit of improvement.

Access to cessation services moved from a C grade to a B grade.

And that's great news.

But we also need to get serious about funding this state tobacco prevention and cessation program at a more reasonable level.

The Lung Association and our partner organizations are calling on lawmakers to increase from the current level of $2 million to $10 million the funding for the state program, because we know that prevention and cessation moves the needle.

It's evidence based policy.

It works and we need to get there and we need to really focus on prevention as it relates to kids in Kentucky, our children are using nicotine products at an alarming rate, even though there is a law that that prohibits sales to people under the age of 21, we nevertheless have a youth e-cigarette use crisis in our state.

Kentucky is one of about ten states in the union that does not have a comprehensive database, nor do we have an effective system, an optimal system for enforcing the law against underage sales.

We've made advancements, but in the tobacco space, we have miles to go, and that means huge opportunities ahead of us to do the right thing.