Tobacco Control Program Funding
A number of states increased funding for tobacco control programs
in FY2008 (July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008 for most states). Florida significantly increased its funding
for tobacco control program from $5.6 million in FY2007 to $58 million in FY2008 due largely to a constitutional amendment that requires 15 percent of tobacco settlement proceeds each year be dedicated to these programs. Tennessee allocated $10 million for tobacco control programs after providing virtually no state money for such a program in previous years.
Alaska, Indiana, Iowa, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota and Wisconsin also increased funding for their programs. Connecticut is spending no new state money on tobacco control and prevention programs in FY2008.
Evidence shows that tobacco prevention programs are a wise investment for states. A study published in the February 2005 issue of the American Journal of Public Health found that if all states spent just the CDC-recommended minimum on tobacco control programs, youth smoking nationally would be 3 to 14 percent lower.6 In Maine, where tobacco prevention programs have been funded at the CDC minimum for a number of years, there has been a dramatic decline in youth smoking rates among both high school and middle school students. Despite this evidence, only six states—Alaska, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine and Montana—are funding their tobacco prevention programs above the minimum level of funding recommended
by the CDC in FY2008.
