The cut of Nebraska's tobacco control program from $3 million in spending in fiscal year 2007 to $2.4 million for fiscal year 2012 puts the state in the company of states cutting tobacco prevention programs, but may set the state up for future spending, based on two reports released this week.

A report released today by a national coalition of public health organizations shows that states have slashed funding for programs to reduce tobacco use by 12 percent in the past year and by 36 percent over the past four years, threatening the nation’s progress against tobacco.

And research released earlier this week said funding such tobacco control programs at recommended levels could save 14 to 20 times more than the cost of implementing the programs.

“It is truly penny-wise and pound-foolish for the states to cut funding for tobacco prevention and cessation programs,” said Nancy Brown, CEO of the American Heart Association. “These programs not only reduce smoking, but also lower tobacco-related health care costs that total nearly $100 billion annually. Tobacco prevention programs are smart investments that save lives and money.”

The states in fiscal year 2012 will collect a near-record $25.6 billion in revenue from the 1998 state tobacco settlement and tobacco taxes, but will spend only 1.8 percent of it – $456.7 million – on programs to prevent kids from smoking and help smokers quit. This means the states are spending less than two cents of every dollar in tobacco revenue to fight tobacco use.

In Nebraska, total funding of $2.4 million is a mere 11 percent of the $21.5 million that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend be spent here to reduce tobacco use. Nebraska ranks 25th nationally for funding of state tobacco prevention programs, based on percent spent of the CDC's recommended levels.

Nebraska's $2.4 million planned for 2012 to reduce tobacco use compares to $66.5 million that was spent in tobacco company marketing in the state in 2008, meaning that tobacco companies outspend Nebraska by 28.1 to 1, and that to reduce tobacco use, Nebraska spends just 3.6 percent of the amount tobacco companies spend to spur it.

Both the total amounts states are spending nationally on tobacco prevention programs and the percentage of tobacco revenue spent on these programs are the lowest since 1999, when the states first received significant tobacco settlement funds.

A study published in the journal Contemporary Economic Policy said that smoking costs affect the states through medical costs, Medicaid payments and lost productivity by workers. The researchers used data from 1991 to 2007, when states paid for the tobacco control programs with the help of the tobacco taxes, public and private initiatives and funds from the Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement between the nation’s four largest tobacco companies and 46 states. If states funded anti-smoking efforts at levels recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to the study, they could save 14 to 20 times their investment.

The coalition report, titled “A Broken Promise to Our Children: The 1998 State Tobacco Settlement 13 Years Later,” warns that continued progress against tobacco use – the nation’s number one cause of preventable death – is at risk unless states increase funding for tobacco prevention and cessation programs. In Nebraska, more than 18 percent of adults smoked in 2008.

The report also calls on states to increase tobacco taxes.

The report was released by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, American Heart Association, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, American Lung Association, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Americans for Nonsmokers’ Rights. Issued annually, the report assesses whether states have kept their promise to use tobacco settlement funds – expected to total $246 billion over the first 25 years – to fight tobacco use.

View the full coalition report and state-specific information.

Nebraska could be one of three states that requires smoke-free hotels, and tobacco shops and cigar bars in Lincoln and cigar bars in Omaha could return to their previous smoke-free status if a ruling issued January 25 by a Lancaster County District Court judge is upheld by the Nebraska Supreme Court. The Lincoln Journal Star, KHAS in Hastings, the Beatrice Daily Sun, the Scottsbluff Star Herald and others told the story. Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning has appealed the case brought by Big Johns Billiards of Omaha. The Nebraska Supreme Court agreed to consider the constitutionality of making these exceptions to the smoke-free air law. "Hurrahs" for the decision, said Blair letter writer Charles Bagby, MD.

The Nebraska Candy & Tobacco Association has voiced opposition to a proposal by Sen. Mike Gloor of Grand Island to raise Nebraska's cigarette tax from 64 cents per pack to $1.99 per pack. A Beatrice Daily Sun poll that asked, "Would you support a large raise in taxes on cigarettes to help cover the state's budget shortfall?" found that 55 percent of respondents favored a cigarette tax increase.

Nebraska tobacco settlement money has funded medical research to tackle hearing disorders, viruses, nerve malfunctions, infections, toxic fungi, youth behavior problems, cancer and other diseases and disorders, according to a report conducted by Creighton economist Ernie Goss. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the N.U. Medical Center, Creighton University and the Boys Town National Research Hospital formed a consortium to receive the tobacco settlement money and carry out the research. Those groups commissioned the study.

Discussion continues regarding the proposal brought forward by Sen. Mike Gloor of Grand Island to raise the tax on cigarettes and other tobacco products. The Daily Nebraskan published back-to-back editorials by Warren Hale exploring the issue from the standpoint of making tobacco use illegal and from an anti-tobacco tax standpoint.