Tobacco.org

State budget cuts mean fewer stop-smoking clinics next year 

A new report by the American Cancer Society gives Indiana mixed reviews on state legislative action aimed at reducing the number of Hoosiers dying from cancer. The state's rating is expected to decline next year when a new report is released, because the Legislature voted earlier this year to slash the Indiana Tobacco Prevention Cessation budget by more than half to $10.8 million annually. The funding cuts will mean fewer smoking-cessation clinics statewide in 2004.

"It's a shame, because these funds are very difficult to get," said Bob Gold, a local pharmacist and founder of the nonprofit organization PharmAssist. PharmAssist has received Indiana Tobacco Prevention Cessation money to conduct free smoking-cessation clinics in the Evansville area for the past two years. The money is part of Indiana's share of the national tobacco settlement.

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