Utah uses 34.0 percent of funds
Three years ago, the Unites States reached a $246 billion agreement with the tobacco industry, but most states are failing to use the portion of money allotted to them for prevention.
Five states, Massachusetts, Arizona, Maine, Mississippi and Minnesota, are using their funds within the levels recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), according to a report published on the Tobacco Free Kids Organization’s (TFKO) Web site at www.tobaccofreekids.org. Three states, Michigan, North Carolina and Tennessee, along with Washington, D.C., have not allocated any funds for the fiscal year 2002.
Utah is using 39.4 percent of its suggested allocation and ranks 26th in the nation for fund use.
The CDC recommends Utah use $15.23 million to $33.38 million for tobacco prevention programs, according to TFKO, but Gov. Mike Leavitt and the Legislature recently approved the 2002 fiscal year budget providing $6 million for tobacco prevention.
Holly Budge, health programs coordinator for the Bear River Health Department (BRHD), said even though many people think Utah has limited tobacco use, it is an issue which needs to be dealt with.
“People think that there is no problem and that we don’t need to focus on tobacco use, but we are seeing more kids using, and those kids are tomorrow’s adults who we will have to help quit,” Budge said. “And it is easier and more fiscally responsible to help them not start than it is to help them quit.”
Tobacco program manager for the BRHD, Corene Goodman, said she feels the biggest focus should be prevention.
“People in this state think it’s not a problem worth focusing time and resources on, but we need to deal with it now before it gets too bad,” Goodman said.
According to TFKO, 11.9 percent of high school students in Utah smoke, and 4 percent of male high school students use smokeless tobacco.
And 4,300 youth less than 18 years old begin smoking each year, and 3.7 million packs of cigarettes are bought or smoked by kids each year.
Nearly 13 percent of adults in Utah smoke, and 100,000 kids are exposed to second-hand smoke at home, according to the organization’s special report on their Web site.
More than 1,100 people die each year in Utah from smoking, and TFKO predicts 29,000 deaths of people under 18 if current trends continue.
Nationwide statistics are much higher than those in Utah, largely because of the culture, Budge said, but are also misleading because they do not show the progression.
“When you look at the statistics for Utah, we are lower. But in the Bear River District, youth rates are going up while adults hold steady,” Budge said.
William V. Corr, executive vice president for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, said, “We have conclusive evidence that tobacco prevention works. States that have implemented such programs have dramatically cut smoking among both children and adults, reduced the incidence of lung cancer and heart disease and saved millions of dollars in heath care costs.”
Budge said studies have shown most tobacco initiation takes place in 15 to 16 year olds, so many of the prevention programs implemented in the Bear River District take place in the fifth through seventh grades.
Money spent on these programs comes from the Master Settlement Agreement and the CDC, and although Budge said the Health Department is under-funded, they are still seeing benefits.
“When you look at what should be done and the money spent, you see we are significantly lower than is recommended, but we feel we are able to do a lot with what we have through great partnerships and learning how to be efficient,” Budge said.
“Show us the Money: An Update on the States’ Allocation of the Tobacco Settlement Dollars” is a report released by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, American Heart Association, American Cancer Society and the American Lung Association, which studied the effects of tobacco-prevention programs and the use of funding among states.
According to the report, Florida has reduced smoking by 47 percent among middle school students and 30 percent among high school students in three years. Maine has reduced smoking by 36 percent among high school students, and Mississippi’s number of high school students smoking has decreased 25 percent in the same time period.