Anti-tobacco funding gone up in smoke

When it comes to tobacco use, there is a problem of willpower. It's not limited to smokers who can't resist the urge for one more cigarette. It also affects state lawmakers, most of whom can't summon the willpower to spend tobacco settlement and tax money on smoking prevention and cessation.

According to a report by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, states in fiscal year 2012 are collecting a near-record $25.6 billion in tobacco-related revenue. That total is a combination of a 1998 court settlement with tobacco companies and taxes on tobacco products.
The American Medical Association and others have pushed for maximizing spending on smoking prevention and cessation. But, as the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids notes, states will spend only 1.8% of tobacco revenues -- or $456.7 million -- on anti-tobacco programs. Worse yet, the spending is on a sharp decline -- down 36% in four years.

No one expects 100% of tobacco settlement and tax money to go toward anti-smoking efforts. But it's shameful that states can only muster up less than 2 cents out of every revenue dollar to fight the No. 1 preventable cause of death and disease in the United States. The campaign's report should wake up state legislators to the idea that anti-tobacco programs must be funded adequately if they want to eliminate tobacco-related health, social and economic consequences.

In areas other than funding, there is some good news to report. States and localities have gone a long way toward restricting where smokers can light up, with laws banning indoor smoking in many public places. And they've made it tougher to buy tobacco by raising taxes on it.

But what state legislators haven't done much is to help those smokers who want to quit. Anti-tobacco funding from the 1998 settlement and tobacco taxes doesn't even come close to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recommended goals.

The CDC points out that states need only spend $3.7 billion -- 15% of their tobacco revenues -- to meet its recommended funding level (that's about one-quarter of what tobacco companies spend annually on advertising their products). Instead, states are spending barely more than one-tenth of what they should be spending, the CDC reports.