Report: Missouri Ranked 46th in Anti-Tobacco Spending

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- Missouri is doing a lousy job of stopping kids from smoking, so says a coalition of anti-smoking groups.

The group that includes the American Heart Association, American Cancer Society, and American Lung Association says Missouri ranks 46th out of the 50 states in the amount it spends on tobacco prevention and cessation efforts.

The group calling itself the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids says the state should be using money from the proceeds from the 1998 tobacco settlement and the state's cigarette tax to fund more than $70 million in programs.

As it is, the campaign says Missouri spends a little more than $61,000. The group finds that 18 percent of Missouri high school students smoke, and 8,000 kids become new smokers every year.

Read the report here

Other key finds include:

States have failed to reverse deep cuts that reduced tobacco prevention funding by 36 percent, or $260.5 million, from FY 2008 to FY 2012. Funding this year is essentially flat with the $456.7 million budgeted last year.

Most states are falling short of funding levels for tobacco prevention recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  The $459.5 million the states have budgeted amounts to just 12.4 percent of the $3.7 billion the CDC recommends for all the states combined.

Only two states -- Alaska and North Dakota -- currently fund tobacco prevention programs at the CDC-recommended level.  Only three other states - Delaware, Wyoming and Hawaii - provide even half the CDC-recommended funding.