CONCORD — The state is ready to sign a $2.6 million contract with a Bow communications firm for a major anti-smoking campaign.

The Executive Council is scheduled to vote on the contract with High Point Communications today. The state plans to pay for the project with some of its annual $40 million payment from a nationwide settlement of lawsuits against tobacco companies. The Department of Health and Human Services selected High Point from seven companies that bid on a two-tiered contract. The company will launch a two-year effort to help smokers quit and stop non-smokers from picking up the habit. It plans to work with existing coalitions of non-profits and community groups that already run campaigns to avoid duplication of effort. The chief aims will be to cut into teen smoking, help pregnant women stop smoking, create smoke-free environments and promote prevention and cessation programs. The American Lung Association estimates that one in four New Hampshire adults smoke. Among high school students, the figure is 34 percent, including 40 percent of high school girls and 32 percent of boys. Another 8 percent of boys use smokeless tobacco. About 5,000 youths under 18 take up tobacco every year, fueling sales of 4.2 million packs of cigarettes to kids each year, the ALA said, citing a 1999 Youth Risk Behavior study. Tobacco companies spend an estimated $36 million on New Hampshire advertising and promotion every year, part of an $8.4 billion nationwide campaign, according to the ALA. The state will use a total of $2 million in tobacco settlement money and $500,000 in money from a federal anti-tobacco fund to pay for the program. Laura Monica, president of High Point, said she expects the industry to outspend the state by about a 20-to-one margin. That’s one reason she plans to be careful with New Hampshire’s money. She said the company will review media campaigns, including TV ads, that worked best in other parts of the country and use them here, rather than spend money on producing new ones. “There is a wide reservoir that New Hampshire can draw from,” she said. Another money-saver will be to link up with local groups and state coalitions that are already working on anti-tobacco projects, augmenting their work rather than replacing it. High Point has won other state contracts in the past, including an education program on electric deregulation from the Public Utilities Commission. The contract was worth more than $1 million. HHS Commissioner Donald Shumway said High Point will implement a program the Legislature approved a year ago. “There is no more important activity for the health and well-being of our citizens and no activity with greater potential for lowering health care costs for employers in this state than reducing tobacco use,” he said. The program is modeled on those that have been successful in other states, Shumway said. Douglas Barry, president of New Hampshire’s ALA chapter, said he’s “extremely happy” to see the anti-tobacco program begin. “Even though it’s a small portion of the tobacco settlement funds, we’re hopefully going to see some big results,” he said. “The media campaign will be there, education will be there, cessation capabilities will be there,” he said. If the state passes smoke-free restaurant laws and raises tobacco taxes, “It’s almost a no-lose situation to help reduce smoking in New Hampshire.” Barry said the state has made strides in cutting teen smoking. New Hampshire has the 16th highest percentage of teen smokers among U.S. states and the ninth highest among young women. Three years ago, the state’s overall ranking was seventh highest, Barry said. The reduction came “with us spending almost nothing,” he said. Barry noted that the national Centers for Disease Control said that with its teen smoking rates, New Hampshire should spend $20 million range a year to combat tobacco industry marketing.

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