Ken Wassum, Associate Director, Clinical Development & Support, Tobacco

Funding for quit smoking programs has fallen to the lowest level since 1999. States across the country are doing a lousy job of meeting their obligations to help smokers quit and prevent youth from starting to smoke.

Yes, we are experiencing tough economic times, but here are the facts:

In 1998, states were awarded approximately $246 billion dollars from the Master Settlement Agreement. According to the agreement this money was to be used for a variety of purposes related to the adverse health effects of tobacco use, including helping smokers quit and to prevent youth from initiating use.  In 2012 states will collect $25.6 billion yet they will spend only 1.8% of it for tobacco control and prevention. That’s less than 2 cents on the dollar.

On top of this bundle of money, states have been taking in record revenues from cigarette taxes with little to none of the money used to help those who are being taxed –smokers. With greater restrictions on where and when smokers can smoke and steadily increasing tobacco taxes, smokers are becoming isolated from the rest of society.  Low income smokers are now forced to choose between basic needs, such as housing and food, or smoking.  Given the highly addictive nature of nicotine delivered through tobacco products like cigarettes, cigars, and spit tobacco, sadly the choice is often tobacco. In essence, these people have become invisible. They huddle outside doorways to have a cigarette in the cold, or just stay home where they can smoke. In extreme cases it seems the states would prefer not to acknowledge their existence.

The American Lung Association just released their “Tobacco Prevention and Control Spending Report Card.” US states as a whole flunked – miserably. Only seven states received a passing grade and just barely. Sadly, the state whose Attorney General (now Governor) led the Master Settlement deal has all be eliminated tobacco prevention and cessation programs—grade F.

So, contrary to what states legislatures say, it is not a lack of adequate funding for tobacco prevention and control programs. At best it is a lack of political will, and our worst fear may be coming true—that states are becoming addicted to the tobacco tax revenue and it is undermining their obligation to honor the $246 billion dollar agreement.

So the bottom line is that the tobacco industry is winning, and smokers, especially lower income smokers, are paying with their lives. One out of every two smokers in America will die prematurely. One-half million will die in 2012 from smoking-related diseases. The tobacco industry spends $23 on advertising and promotion to every $1 spent by the states on helping smokers quit and to prevent our kids from starting.

We can do better than this. We have to do better than this. We need to hold the feet of state governments to the fire to force them to use the Master Settlement money as intended and to dedicate tobacco tax revenue to helping those who are dying daily from their addiction to tobacco.