Louisiana ranks 26th nationwide in funding programs to prevent children from smoking and to help smokers quit, according to a report released today by a coalition of public health organizations.
The report, titled Broken Promises to Our Children: A State-by-State Look at the 1998 State Tobacco Settlement 18 Years Later, examines how states are using funds from a landmark 1998 settlement with major tobacco companies to roll out programs aimed at preventing tobacco use. The payments from the settlement are expected to reach $246 billion nationwide over the first 25 years of the agreement.
Louisiana will collect $451.7 million in revenue this year from the 1998 settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend only 1.5% of the money on tobacco prevention programs, the report says. The Bayou State is spending $7 million this year on tobacco prevention and cessation programs, only 11.7% of the $59.6 million that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends forking over for the programs.
In Louisiana, 12.1% of high school students still smoke and 2,700 kids become regular smokers each year, the report says. Tobacco use kills 7,200 Louisianans annually and sets the state back some $1.9 billion a year for related health care.
“Louisiana is putting children’s health at risk and costing taxpayers money by refusing to fund tobacco prevention programs that save lives and health care dollars,” says Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, in a prepared statement. “Louisiana should be doing everything it can to protect kids from tobacco.”
The report was released today by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, American Heart Association, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Lung Association, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights and Truth Initiative.
Read the full report, as well as a news release announcing it.
