States Not Spending Tobacco Money Wisely - Study
08/25/99
Rather than fully fund anti-smoking campaigns, state and local officials plan to spend $206 billion from the nationwide tobacco settlement on dozens of unrelated projects, including a new morgue in North Dakota and tax cuts in Connecticut, a study release
The study, conducted by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and the American Heart Association, blasted local officials for straying too far from the original goal of the tobacco settlement, reached last year between 46 states and the nation's major tobacco companies.
``This new report reveals that far too many states have failed to live up to the promise to protect our nation's children from tobacco,'' the study said, urging that more money be used to cut youth smoking and pay for health education.
Of the 27 states that have already decided how to divvy up the tobacco settlement money, only six are planning to spend what the groups said was enough on tobacco prevention and cessation programs.