Roughly 500 advocates met at the Statehouse during Tobacco Free Indiana Advocacy Day.

Advocates met with lawmakers on Wednesday to ask them to increase the state’s cigarette tax by $2 per pack and the tax on all other tobacco products parallel to the new cigarette tax.

Advocates say increasing the tax by $2 would generate over $318 million in new annual revenue and would help save lives by keeping children from smoking and helping some adults quit smoking.

They also said lawmakers must increase the state’s investment to $15 million for programs that prevent tobacco use and help those already addicted quit.