States Use Small Part of Tobacco Settlement Payments
Today's reports from the Kaiser Family Foundation states that
Only a fraction of the money that states receive from the 1998 tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes is being used to prevent smoking, according to a report released on Wednesday by several advocacy groups, the AP/Boston Globe reports. The report, titled "A Broken Promise to Our Children," was released by the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society and the American Lung Association. The report found that states in total have allocated $551 million for tobacco-use prevention programs in fiscal year 2006, although CDC recommends $1.6 billion in spending. Meanwhile, according to the report, the tobacco industry spends $15.4 billion to market tobacco products -- nearly 28 times the amount states spend on prevention. Maine, Colorado, Delaware and Mississippi are the only states that spend at least the minimum levels recommended by CDC, according to the report."
Comments
Is this a surprise? The government uses the money we give them or they get for purposes other than what they're supposed to use it for. Big surprise!
In my opinion, prohibition didn't work and neither will attempting to prevent smoking. People like it and they're going to do it. Get over it. They know it's bad for them, but who cares? Isn't alcohol bad for you? Guess what, too much calcium is also bad for you. Should we start banning calcium consumption too?
Posted by: Cigars & Tobacco | October 11, 2007 1:34 PM