National Report: Oklahoma Ranks 7th in Protecting Kids from Tobacco

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Nov 30, 2011, 10:00 ET

WASHINGTON, Nov. 30, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Oklahoma ranks 7th in the nation in funding programs to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit, according to a national report released today by a coalition of public health organizations.

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Oklahoma currently spends $21.2 million a year on tobacco prevention and cessation programs, which is 47 percent of the $45 million recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Other key findings for Oklahoma include:

Oklahoma this year will collect $357 million in revenue from the 1998 tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend just 5.9 percent of it on tobacco prevention programs. This means Oklahoma is spending less than 6 cents of every dollar in tobacco revenue to fight tobacco use.
The tobacco companies spend $186 million a year to market their products in Oklahoma. This is 8 times what the state spends on tobacco prevention.

The annual report on states' funding of tobacco prevention programs, titled "A Broken Promise to Our Children: The 1998 State Tobacco Settlement 13 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.

Oklahoma's funding of tobacco prevention has steadily increased because of a state constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2000 that places a portion of the state's annual tobacco settlement payments into a Tobacco Settlement Endowment Trust Fund which generates interest that is used to finance tobacco prevention and other programs. As the endowment grows, the amount of interest available to fund tobacco prevention and other programs also grows.

Thanks to this investment, Oklahoma's high school smoking rate has fallen from 33 percent in 1999 to 20.2 percent in 2009. Despite this progress, 5,000 Oklahoma kids still become regular smokers each year. Tobacco annually claims 6,200 lives and costs the state $1.2 billion in health care bills.

"Oklahoma has made a sustained commitment and is one of the top 10 states this year when it comes to protecting kids from tobacco," said Matthew L. Myers, President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. "To keep making progress, Oklahoma should continue to increase funding for tobacco prevention and also pass a statewide smoke-free law that applies to all workplaces, restaurants and bars."

Nationally, the report finds that most states are failing to adequately fund tobacco prevention and cessation programs. Altogether, the states have cut funding for these programs to the lowest level since 1999, when they first started receiving tobacco settlement payments. Key national findings of the report include:

The states this year will collect $25.6 billion from the tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend just 1.8 percent of it – $456.7 million – on tobacco prevention programs. This means the states are spending less than two cents of every dollar in tobacco revenue to fight tobacco use.
States have cut funding for tobacco prevention programs by 12 percent ($61.2 million) in the past year and by 36 percent ($260.5 million) in the past four years.
Only two states – Alaska and North Dakota – currently fund tobacco prevention programs at the CDC-recommended level.

The report warns that the nation's progress in reducing smoking is at risk unless states increase funding for programs to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit. The United States has significantly reduced smoking among both youth and adults, but 19.3 percent of adults and 19.5 percent of high school students still smoke.

Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death in the U.S., killing more than 400,000 people and costing $96 billion in health care bills each year.

More information, including the full report and state-specific information, can be obtained at www.tobaccofreekids.org/reports/settlements.

SOURCE Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids