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State Spending On Anti-Smoking Efforts Lax?

Report Suggests States Not Spending Enough

POSTED: Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Ten years after the tobacco settlement between the industry and the states, a national report suggested states aren't spending enough on programs to keep people from smoking.

The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids said that no states fund prevention efforts at the minimum levels suggested by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Only nine states reach half of the recommended level.

States get money under a settlement reached with tobacco companies over tobacco-related health care costs.

Over the past decade, states have taken in more than $200 billion of revenue, including cigarette taxes -- but only 3 percent of that money has gone to anti-smoking efforts. The report said that this year alone, states will take in $24.6 billion from taxes and the settlement.

The CDC recently updated recommendations for how much states put into tobacco prevention programs, taking into account inflation, population gains and new science.

South Carolina, with the lowest-in-the-nation cigarette tax at 7 cents a pack, ranked last in the study, while Alaska is first at 86 percent. Alaska spends $9.2 million on anti-smoking efforts; South Carolina spends $1 million.

After Alaska, the rest of the top 10 are Delaware, Wyoming, Hawaii, Montana, Maine, Vermont, South Dakota, Colorado and Arkansas. The full list is available here.

Overall, states will spend $718.1 million on the effort this year, the report said. It compares that to the $13.4 billion tobacco companies spend on marketing.
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