Idaho’s anti-smoking efforts criticized

TWIN FALLS, Idaho – A group whose goal is to reduce the number of children who take up smoking ranks Idaho “among the most disappointing” states based on how much money from tobacco taxes it spends trying to discourage young smokers.

Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, based in Washington, D.C., said Wednesday that Idaho this year will spend less than 2 percent of its income from taxes on tobacco and the 1998 tobacco settlement on tobacco prevention.

States receive annual payments from tobacco companies under the 1998 court settlement, which funds the anti-smoking programs.

Idaho has the third-lowest smoking rate in the nation with 15.8 percent of high school students who smoke.

The national average is 23 percent.

“Tobacco still takes a very high toll, even though Idaho has a better-than-average rate,” said Bill Corr, executive director of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

The group reported that smokers cost Idaho about $319 million a year in health care.

He said lawmakers should increase the $1.4 million the state now spends to $11 million, the minimum recommended for Idaho by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention based on the money it takes in on tobacco taxes.

“We don’t have $11 million,” said Rep. Dennis Lake, R-Blackfoot, who co-chairs the state’s Joint Millennium Fund Committee, which provides spending recommendations to the Legislature.

“We take our best shot at how to use the money most efficiently.”

The state’s tobacco tax money comes from 57 cents charged per pack.

Sen. Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, said the committee that decides how to spend the money from the taxes will have $4.2 million to distribute.

He said the state has been careful with tobacco money, putting away most of future tobacco payments in an endowment.

“Some states just put (the money) in as part of their overall general fund,” Cameron said. “We opted for a more long-range approach.”

But Corr said Idaho lawmakers should spend more on prevention.

“We think of it like a childhood immunization,” he said. “We have a vaccine against tobacco addiction. It’s these best practices from the CDC.”