National Report: Louisiana Ranks 27th in Protecting Kids from Tobacco

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

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Dec 11, 2014, 10:00 ET

WASHINGTON, Dec. 11, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Louisiana ranks 27th 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 could save if it brought its teen smoking rate down to Florida's.

If Louisiana reduced its high school smoking rate from 12.1 percent to 7.5 percent, it would prevent 77,550 kids from becoming adult smokers, saving 27,370 lives and $1.4 billion in future health care costs. Today in Louisiana, tobacco annually claims 7,200 lives and costs the state $1.9 billion in health care bills.

Other key findings for Louisiana include:

Louisiana spends $6.8 million per year on tobacco prevention and cessation programs, which is 11.4 percent of the $59.6 million recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Louisiana will collect $279.6 million in revenue this year from the 1998 tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes but will spend only 2.4 percent of the money on tobacco prevention programs.
Tobacco companies spend $215.2 million per year to market their products in Louisiana – 32 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.

The last year alone saw another 15 percent drop in state funding for tobacco prevention programs in Louisiana. The state's tobacco tax remains the nation's second lowest at just $0.36 per pack, well below the national average of $1.68. Health advocates urge the state to raise the tobacco tax and dedicate some of the funds to tobacco prevention.

"Louisiana is literally sacrificing the health of its children and costing taxpayers money by refusing to properly fund tobacco prevention efforts and ignoring the mountain of evidence that these programs 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 Louisiana to wake up and 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