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Tuesday, December 10, 2013
(WDNG) - The annual report from groups including the American Cancer Society and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids says Alabama currently spends $275,000 per year on tobacco prevention and cessation programs. That is only a fraction of a percent of the more than $56 million recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Only Alaska and North Dakota fund their tobacco prevention programs at CDC-recommended levels.
According to the report released on Monday, 6,800 kids become regular smokers each year in Alabama. Nearly 23 percent of Alabama high school students smoke, a rate higher than the estimated 18 percent of all Americans who smoke.
The report assesses whether American states have kept a promise to use a significant portion of settlement funds from a 1998 state tobacco settlement to fight tobacco use. States will receive an estimated $246 billion over the first 25 years along with billions more each year from tobacco taxes.
Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids President Matthew L. Myers says states are being truly penny-wise and pound-foolish when they shortchange tobacco prevention programs. According to the report, states will collect $25 billion from the tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend less than two percent of that on tobacco prevention programs.
The report also says Alabama will collect an estimated $223.1 million in tobacco generated revenue in FY2014.
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Keywords: American Cancer Society,Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids,smoking,Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,Matthew Myers
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