Up in Smoke

Connecticut ranks as one of the worst states in the nation for preventing people from smoking. 

This year, the Nutmeg State will collect $529 million from the 1998 tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes. But it will spend only .1 percent of that on tobacco prevention and cessation programs. 

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Connecticut should spend at least $43.9 million on such programs. The state spends .9 percent of that figure.

That means Connecticut ranks 45 out of 50.

"The initial energy and enthusiasm is gone," Matthew Cooper, director of , told Patch. "It's like the air was let out of the balloon and it hasn't come back."

Diminished enthusiasm translates into more kids starting to smoke, Cooper said.

In Connecticut, 15.3 percent of high school students smoke, and 4,700 more kids start smoking every year, according to "A Broken Promise to Our Children: the 1998 State Tobacco Settlement 12 Years Later."

The report's authors include the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, American Heart Association, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Lung Association and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Each year 4,700 people die statewide from smoking-related causes. And the state spends $1.6 billion in health care bills, according to the report.

Locally there are several organizations that work to encourage people to refrain from smoking. The Housatonic Valley Coalition Against Substance Abuse has chapters in Ridgefield, Easton, and Redding.

In Ridgefield, the Ridgefield Prevention Council meets at the  the third Thursday of each month. 

In New Canaan, the  offered a 6-week smoking cessation program last year when it became a smoke free facility – indoors and outdoors.

"We gave everyone well over nine months' notice," said Pam Libertiny, human resources director for the Y. "The whole place is smoke free. You can't go outside to smoke, or smoke in your cars."

To help people quite the Y teamed with Norwalk Hospital. But only 12 people attended the free program. And the number kept dropping until only two were left, Libertiny said. 

"I was disappointed that there wasn't more of a turnout, but I feel very strongly that we need to do it again," she said.

In 1998 Connecticut joined 46 other states in the "Master Settlement Agreement." The money collected from major tobacco companies was intended for prevention and cessation programs. 

"The state took money from tobacco settlement and didn't make it a particular priority. They spent it on other things," Cooper said. "There isn't the political will power in Hartford to do anything."

The settlement money was put into the general fund and is allocated through the biennial budget process. Because of the budget shortfall the state legislature used much of that money to balance the budget.

"Taking money away from programs to balance the budget was inappropriate and wrong," said state Sen. Toni Boucher, a Republican who represents Bethel, New Canaan, Redding, Ridgefield, Weston, Westport and Wilton in the 26th Senate district.

The issue is personal for Boucher, whose father and in-laws have died from smoking-related illness.

Moreover, not spending money on prevention now costs the state in healthcare dollars later, Boucher said. 

Tobacco remains the leading preventable cause of death, killing more than 400,000 people and costing $96 billion in healthcare bills each year. In the United States, 20.6 percent of adults and 19.5 percent of high school students smoke. And a new study shows that secondhand smoke kills more than 600,000 people worldwide annually.

"My concern is younger and younger people are smoking. The kind of outreach is of national importance," Boucher said.

Yet, most states don't adequately fund programs to help prevent kids from smoking or to help smokers quit, according to the report. Only Alaska and North Dakota spent the recommended amount. 

Nationwide states will collect $25.3 billion from the settlement and tobacco taxes, but spend only two percent, or $517.9 million, on prevention programs.

Still some health groups took heart in 2009 when the state provided $7.4 million. Now they're not so pleased.

"Connecticut has completely reversed the promising progress of the past two years and reverted to being one of the most disappointing states in funding programs to protect kids from tobacco," said Matthew L. Myers, President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.