Policy Information Exchange

The tobacco-settlement funded North Carolina Health and Wellness Trust Fund Commission has dropped plans to expand a teen stop-smoking campaign, saying it needs the funds for a prescription-drug plan for senior citizens, the Associated Press reported May 26.

The decision not to go forward with the promised $7.6-million campaign angered tobacco-prevention advocates. "This is a disgraceful abandonment of North Carolina's duty to protect its children from tobacco," said Matt Myers, president of Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. "It seems only North Carolina's elected leaders haven't gotten the message that tobacco is killing more North Carolinians than any other single cause."

Commission executive director Jim Davis said the prevention program, launched last year, had had a positive effect on youth attitudes toward smoking and said it would be revived at some point, "but we don't know when at this point."

Gov. Mike Easley supported the decision to cancel the campaign, but he also supports raising the state's tobacco tax, which some have viewed as a way to pay for prevention programs.

"A government official can always find an excuse for diverting money for tobacco prevention, but the choice here isn't between a prescription-drug plan and protecting North Carolina's children," Myers said. "It is the state's obligation to do both."

North Carolina spends about one-third of the minimum recommended for tobacco prevention by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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