Ohio 47th in Protecting Juveniles from Tobacco
WASHINGTON -- Ohio ranks 47th in protecting juveniles from tobacco and Pennsylvania ranks 39th, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids reports. All states this year will collect $25 billion from the 1998 master tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but spend just 1.9% of it -- $481.2 million -- on tobacco prevention programs.
Funds from the 1998 Tobacco Settlement, in which 47 states participate, are intended to be spent on programs to prevent children from smoking and help smokers quit, according to a national report released by a coalition of public health organizations including the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
Ohio spends $1.5 million a year on tobacco prevention and cessation programs, which is 1% of the $145 million recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the report found. This year, the Buckeye State will collect $1.2 billion in revenue from the settlement. In contrast, tobacco companies spend $394.7 million a year to market their products in Ohio. Some 21.1% of high school students smoke, and 11,500 more become regular smokers each year. Tobacco annually claims the lives 18,500 residents of Ohio and costs the state $4.4 billion in health care bills.
Pennsylvania, which ranks 39th, spent $14.2 million in fiscal 2013 compared with the CDC-recommended spending of $155.5 million.
Nationally, the report finds that most states are failing to adequately fund tobacco prevention and cessation programs. Key national findings of the report:
The states this year will collect $25 billion from the tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend just 1.9% of it -- $481.2 million -- on tobacco prevention programs.
States are falling woefully short of the CDC's recommended funding levels for tobacco prevention programs. Collectively, the states have budgeted just 13% of the $3.7 billion the CDC recommends.
Only two states -- Alaska and North Dakota -- fund tobacco prevention programs at the CDC-recommended level.
Evidence continues to mount that tobacco prevention and cessation programs work to reduce smoking, save lives and save money. Florida, which has a well-funded, sustained tobacco prevention program, reduced its high school smoking rate to just 8.6% in 2013, far below the national rate. One study found that during the first 10 years of its tobacco prevention program, Washington state saved more than $5 in tobacco-related hospitalization costs for every $1 spent on the program.
Tobacco use is the No. 1 cause of preventable death in the United States, killing more than 440,000 people annually and costing $96 billion in health care bills as well. Nationally, about 18% of adults and 18.1% of high school students smoke.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
CLICK HERE to subscribe to our free daily email headlines and to our twice-monthly print edition.