December 28th, 2009

Philadelphia Inq report:

The nation’s battle against smoking and its many health-related perils has had more ups and downs than a patient fever chart: Tobacco revenues go up, but government spending on antismoking programs declines, as smoking rates creep up.

The challenge is to drive those numbers in the right direction to improve public health.
 

But on the heels of the first reported increase in smoking in a decade — driven mostly by younger smokers — comes a study documenting that states see the benefits of antismoking programs and are trying to maintain funding.
 

Pennsylvania unfortunately was singled out as one of the states making large cuts last year in antismoking efforts amid the budget crisis, according to the study, done for American Heart Association and other health advocacy groups.
 

That’s the wrong path to take on such a key public-health issue, especially at a time of record revenues from tobacco taxes and continuing payouts from the 1998 tobacco settlement. Moreover, the growing number of states with indoor smoking bans provides a golden opportunity to piggyback antismoking efforts so that more people quit.

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