National Report: District of Columbia Ranks 21st in Protecting Kids from Tobacco

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

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Dec 11, 2014, 09:00 ET

WASHINGTON, Dec. 11, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The District of Columbia ranks 21st 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 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 and D.C. could save if it brought its teen smoking rate down to Florida's.

If D.C. reduced its high school smoking rate from the current 12.5 percent to 7.5 percent, it would prevent 6,400 kids from becoming adult smokers, saving 2,000 lives and $112 million in future health care costs. Today in D.C., tobacco annually claims 800 lives and costs the state $391 million in health care bills.

Other key findings for D.C. include:

D.C. will spend $2.0 million this year on tobacco prevention and cessation programs, which is 18.7 percent of the $10.7 million recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
D.C. will collect $69.6 million this year from the 1998 tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes but will spend only 2.9 percent of the money on tobacco prevention programs.
Tobacco companies spend $8.7 million per year to market their products in D.C. – 4.4 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.

The report assesses whether the states kept their promise to use a significant portion of their settlement funds – estimated to total $246 billion over the first 25 years – to fight tobacco use. The states also collect billions of dollars more each year from tobacco taxes.

DC in the past year has increased funding for tobacco prevention from $495,000 to $2 million, but it is still spending less than 20 percent of what the CDC recommends.

"D.C. is missing an opportunity to protect children and save taxpayers money because it is failing to properly fund tobacco prevention programs that are proven to 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 D.C. to 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.

Evidence shows tobacco prevention and cessation programs work to reduce smoking, save lives and save money. One study found that during the first 10 years of its tobacco prevention program, the state of Washington 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 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