Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids – The District of Columbia has fallen from 15^th to 31^st 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.  Health advocates are urging DC leaders to restore funding for the District’s successful tobacco prevention program, which has been cut by 76 percent in the past year.

DC currently spends $1.4 million a year on tobacco prevention and cessation programs, including $850,000 in District funds and a $532,000 federal grant. This total is just 13.1 percent of the $10.5 million recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Last year, DC ranked 15^th, spending $4 million on tobacco prevention. Click on the picture to read the full report.

Other key findings for DC include:

• In the past year, DC has cut its own funding for tobacco prevention programs by 76 percent, from $3.6 million to $850,000.
• DC this year will collect $87 million from the 1998 tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend less than one percent of it on tobacco prevention programs.
• The tobacco companies spend $16 million a year to market their products in DC. This is 12 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 11 Years Later,” was released by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, American Heart Association, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Lung Association and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Before the latest budget cuts, DC’s tobacco prevention and cessation program, called the DC Tobacco Free Families Campaign, has contributed to a significant decline in smoking in the District.  Between 2005 and 2008, adult smoking rates declined by 18 percent, from 20.1 percent to 16.4 percent. DC cut funding for its tobacco prevention program even as it increased its cigarette tax by 50 cents per pack on October 1.

“DC has made important progress in the fight against tobacco, but the District this year has taken a big step backward and nearly eliminated funding for tobacco prevention programs,” said Matthew L. Myers, President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.  “DC’s progress in reducing tobacco use is at risk unless DC’s leaders restore funding for tobacco prevention.  Even in these difficult budget times, tobacco prevention is a smart investment that reduces smoking, saves lives and saves money by reducing tobacco-related health care costs.”

In DC, 10.6 percent of high school students smoke, and 400 more kids become regular smokers every year. Each year, tobacco claims 720 lives and costs the District $243 million in health care bills.

Eleven years after the 1998 state tobacco settlement, the new report finds that the states this year are collecting record amounts of revenue from the tobacco industry, but are spending less of it on tobacco prevention. Key national findings of the report include:

• The states this year will collect $25.1 billion from the tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend just 2.3 percent of it – $567.5 million – on tobacco prevention programs.  It would take less than 15 percent of their tobacco revenue to fund tobacco prevention programs in every state at CDC-recommended levels.
• In the past year, states have cut funding for tobacco prevention programs by 15.4 percent, or $103.4 million.
• Only one state – North Dakota – currently funds a tobacco prevention program at the CDC-recommended level.
• Only nine other states fund prevention programs at even half the CDC-recommended amount, while 31 states and DC are providing less than a quarter of the recommended funding.

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 the CDC’s most recent survey showed that smoking declines among adults have stalled.  Currently 20 percent of high school students and 20.6 percent of adults 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.  Every day, another 1,000 kids become regular smokers – one-third of them will die prematurely as a result.

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