Jump to full article: (Long Island, NY) Newsday, 2003-11-12
Author: JOEL STASHENKO / Associated Press Writer
Intro: Despite a middle-of-the-pack commitment to funding anti-smoking efforts, a coalition of groups praised New York state's efforts Wednesday to combat tobacco use among young people.
A report on the fifth anniversary of the states' master settlement with the tobacco industry showed that the $37 million New York will devote to tobacco-use prevention programs in the current fiscal year is 20th best in the country when compared to the amount the Centers for Disease Control recommended that states spend. The CDC recommended New York spend at least $95.8 million. New York is spending 39 percent of that.
Some other Northeastern states did better, according to a report from the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids . . .
Pennsylvania's $52.6 million in tobacco prevention funding was 80 percent of its recommended spending, Vermont ($4.5 million) is spending 57 percent of what it should be and Maine ($14.5 million) was one of four states nationally spending at least the minimum CDC recommendation.
In New York's last fiscal year, it finished 24th among the states, spending $40 million on anti-smoking efforts, the groups said.
Thanks to increases in its cigarette tax to $1.50 a pack, anti-smoking ads aimed at children and enforcement actions against vendors who sell cigarettes to underage people, "New York is one of only a few states that have made a solid commitment to tobacco prevention,"
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