Teen Smoking Up, Prevention $$ Down

By Sheri Venema, 12-06-06

Colorado is tops among Rocky Mountain states and No. 3 in the country in funding anti-smoking programs, spending $25 million a year to keep kids away from tobacco, according to a new report released today.

Still, the tobacco industry spends far more to market tobacco in Colorado — about $216 million a year — than the state spends fighting it.

Montana and Wyoming also show up in the report as states that have committed substantial money to anti-tobacco programs, while Idaho puts up only a minimal amount.

Idaho, where almost 16 percent of high school students smoke, spent $1.9 million on anti-tobacco programs two years ago. This year the state will spend only $908,000 to fight tobacco use, even though it will get more than $71 million from the 1998 tobacco settlement and from tobacco taxes.

The report from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids finds that states aren’t keeping their promise to use a significant part of the 1998 settlement to fund anti-smoking programs.

The teen smoking rate is on the rise — 23 percent in 2005, up from 21.5 percent a year earlier — while overall spending by states to combat tobacco use is down to $595 million from its peak of almost $750 million in 2002, according to the report. Only three states, including Colorado, even meet the minimum spending recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

Idaho, for example, will spend only 8.2 percent of what the CDC recommends for this year. That shortfall means its spending ranks 39th in the country. In contrast, the tobacco industry spends almost $66 million a year trying to get Idahoans to use tobacco.

Even states like Wyoming and Montana, which ranked substantially higher, have not funneled as much money into anti-tobacco programs as the CDC advises.

Highlights from the report:

• Wyoming, where 22.5 percent of high school kids smoke, is ranked 9th and will spend $5.9 million this year to fight tobacco use, 80 percent of CDC recommendation. Compare that to $43.9 million the tobacco industry spends each year to market tobacco in the state.
  
  
• Montana, where 20 percent of high school kids smoke, is ranked 12th and will spend $6.9 million this year, almost 74 percent of CDC recommendation. Annual tobacco industry marketing in Montana: $49.9 million
  
  
• New Mexico: almost 26 percent of state high schoolers smoke. The state is ranked 16th and will spend $7.7 million this year, 56 percent of CDC-recommended amount. Annual tobacco industry marketing in New Mexico: $75.3 million.
  
  
• Utah: 7 percent of high schoolers smoke. Utah ranks 18th and will spend $7.2 million this year on anti-tobacco programs, just under half (47.3 percent ) of what the CDC recommends. Annual tobacco marketing in Utah: $63.7 million.
  
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