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Hawaii near top of states using
tobacco money to stop smoking


The New England Journal of Medicine listed Hawaii last month as one of the nation's top four states for the amount of tobacco settlement money spent per capita on tobacco-control programs.

Gov. Ben Cayetano said Hawaii spends three times more per capita than the average state to curb tobacco use.

"Even amidst fiscal difficulties, Hawaii has been a leader in using money we received from the tobacco settlement to reduce smoking and improve health," he said.

The Conference of State Legislatures has reported that only five percent of the $21 billion paid by the tobacco industry from 2000 to 2002 went toward anti-smoking programs.

About 48 percent of the money Hawaii receives each year goes to public health activities, including the Healthy Hawaii Initiative, Children's Health Insurance Program, and Tobacco Prevention and Control Trust Fund.

Remaining funds are being used to build a new University of Hawaii medical school and finance the rainy-day fund for financial emergencies.

A recent Newsweek article said some states, such as Michigan, Missouri and Tennessee, are not spending any settlement proceeds on anti-smoking campaigns. Fourteen other states reserved only small amounts for prevention.

In New York, according to Newsweek, $700,000 in tobacco funds was used to pay for a public golf course sprinkler system.

Funds were used in Alabama for a variety of nontobacco purposes, including encouraging carmakers to do business in the state and funding a program to fight satanic worship in the schools.

North Carolina actually spent about three-fourths of its settlement money on tobacco marketing and production, Newsweek said.



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