Arkansas Ranks 9th in Smoking Initiatives - January 21st, 2010
In a report released in early December, Arkansas ranks 9th in the nation for funding programs to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit. Currently, Arkansas is only funded at half of what the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends when orchestrating tobacco prevention and cessation programs. Arkansas’s commitment to remain one of the top 10 states will require more support from statewide leaders to increase funding that will reduce smoking to help save lives, save money, and, ultimately, reduce tobacco-related health care costs.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 9, 2009
CONTACT: Joel Spivak/Ashley Rockhold, 202-296-5469
National Report Ranks Arkansas 9th in Protecting Kids from Tobacco
Washington, DC (December 9, 2009) –Arkansas ranks 9th 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.
Arkansas currently spends $19.8 million a year on tobacco prevention and cessation programs, which is 54.4 percent of the $36.4 million recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Last year, Arkansas ranked 10th, spending $16.9 million on tobacco prevention.
Other key findings for Arkansas include:
- Arkansas this year will collect $276 million from the 1998 tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes and will spend just 7.2 percent of it on tobacco prevention programs.
- The tobacco companies spend $155.7 million a year to market their products in Arkansas. 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 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.
“Arkansas has made a solid commitment and is again one of the top 10 states when it comes to protecting kids from tobacco,” said Matthew L. Myers, President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. “But Arkansas still spends just over half of what the CDC recommends. To continue reducing tobacco use, it is critical that Arkansas’s leaders build on their commitment and increase funding to the CDC’s recommended amount. 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 Arkansas, 20.7 percent of high school students smoke, and 3,400 more kids become regular smokers every year. Each year, tobacco claims 4,900 lives and costs the state $812 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.
- 40 states and the District of Columbia are spending less than half the CDC-recommended amount. Of these, 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.
