Small share of tobacco income spent on prevention
US states are failing to fund tobacco-use prevention programs adequately despite receiving billions of dollars in tobacco revenue, according to a report released today by a coalition of public health organizations.
The upshot of this is that for every $20 that tobacco companies spend on marketing their products, the states spend $1 on programs aimed at preventing young people from taking up smoking and helping smokers quit.
The report, Broken Promises to Our Children: A State-by-State Look at the 1998 Tobacco Settlement 17 Years Later, was released by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the American Lung Association, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights and the Truth Initiative.
‘This year (fiscal year 2016), the states will collect $25.8 billion from the 1998 tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes,’ said a press note issued alongside the report through PRNewswire. ‘But they have budgeted less than two percent of it – $468 million – for tobacco prevention and cessation programs, according to the annual report assessing state funding of such programs…
‘Tobacco use kills more than 480,000 Americans and costs the nation about $170 billion in health care spending each year. Without strong action now, 5.6 million kids alive today will die prematurely from smoking-caused disease, according to the U.S. Surgeon General.’
Matthew L. Myers, President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids was quoted as saying that tobacco companies were as relentless as ever in marketing their “lethal products”; so it was critical that the states stepped up their efforts. “We know how to win the fight against tobacco, but most states are falling woefully short,” he said. “These states are putting their children at risk and costing taxpayers billions by refusing to fund tobacco prevention programs that are proven to save lives and money.”
And the worst-performing of the states was New Jersey, which, the press note said, was the only state that had budgeted zero state funds for tobacco prevention programs this year. This was the fourth year in a row the state had provided no funding.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) recommends that the state spends $103.3 million annually on the program.
At the other end of the scale, is North Dakota, which has been ranked first in the country for funding programs that prevent young people from smoking and help smokers quit. This is the third year in a row in which it has been ranked in first place.
North Dakota is said to be the only state that currently funds tobacco prevention programs at the level recommended by the CDCP. In fact it has funded its tobacco prevention program at or near the CDCP-recommended level since fiscal year 2010 as the result of a voter-approved ballot measure requiring such funding.