National Report: Washington Ranks 44th in Protecting Kids from Tobacco

States Challenged to Join Florida in Reducing Youth Smoking to Record Low

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Dec 11, 2014, 12:00 ET

WASHINGTON, Dec. 11, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Washington ranks 44th in the country in funding programs that prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit, according to a national report released today by a coalition of public health organizations. The state's once-vaunted tobacco prevention program remains a shell of its former self.

The report challenges states to do more by shining the spotlight on Florida, which has cut its high school smoking rate to a record low 7.5 percent. The report details the lives and health care dollars each state could save if it brought its teen smoking rate down to Florida's.

If Washington reduced its high school smoking rate from the current 9.5 percent to 7.5 percent, it would prevent 44,210 kids from becoming adult smokers, saving 15,570 lives and $773.7 million in future health care costs. Today in Washington, tobacco annually claims 8,300 lives and costs the state $2.8 billion in health care bills.

Other key findings for Washington include:

Washington spends $1.9 million per year on tobacco prevention and cessation programs, which is 2.9 percent of the $63.6 million recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). While this year's total is up from last year's dismal $756,000, that amount is still a 93 percent decrease since 2009.
Washington will collect $575.7 million in revenue this year from the 1998 tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes but will spend only 0.3 percent of the money on tobacco prevention programs.
Tobacco companies spend $88.0 million per year to market their products in Washington – 47.6 times what the state spends on tobacco prevention.

Today's report, titled "Broken Promises to Our Children: A State-by-State Look at the 1998 State Tobacco Settlement 16 Years Later," was released by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, American Heart Association, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Lung Association, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights.

Washington's high tobacco tax, statewide smoke-free law and previous programs that helped prevent kids from smoking and helped smokers quit made it a national model in the past. As a result, Washington reduced adult smoking by one-third and youth smoking by half. A recent study found that, over its first 10 years, the tobacco prevention program saved $5 in tobacco-related hospitalization costs for every one dollar spent.

"It is a travesty that Washington's once nationally recognized tobacco prevention program is barely limping along. Unfortunately, Washington is putting the health of its children at risk and costing taxpayers money by failing to properly fund tobacco prevention programs that we know save lives and health care dollars," said Matthew L. Myers, President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. "Florida's remarkable progress shows it is within our reach to create a tobacco-free generation. But we need elected leaders in Washington to significantly increase funding for proven tobacco prevention programs."

Nationally, the report finds that:

Most states fail to adequately fund tobacco prevention and cessation programs. The states will collect $25.6 billion this year from the tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes but will spend only 1.9 percent of it ($490.4 million) on tobacco prevention programs.
States are falling woefully short of the CDC's recommended funding levels for tobacco prevention programs. Altogether, the states budgeted just 14.8 percent of the $3.3 billion the CDC recommends. Only two states – Alaska and North Dakota – are funding tobacco prevention programs at CDC-recommended levels.

Tobacco use is the No. 1 cause of preventable death in the United States, killing more than 480,000 people and costing the nation at least $289 billion in health care bills and lost productivity each year.

The full report and state-specific information can be found at www.tobaccofreekids.org/statereport.

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SOURCE Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids