Koop: Use settlement
to fight tobacco

By Mike Yuen
Star-Bulletin

Former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop says the state should use every cent of the $1.2 billion it will be receiving from its tobacco-industry settlement for smoking prevention and control programs.

That's what he would do, Koop said yesterday, if he were "king, czar or dictator of Hawaii."

But state lawmakers are considering whether a substantial amount of the settlement, which will be paid over 25 years beginning next year, should be used to help ease the state's budget problems or to establish a rainy-day fund for emergencies.

Koop's position is even tougher than that of the Coalition for a Tobacco Free Hawaii, which wants "a substantial amount" set aside in a special fund "to establish a comprehensive statewide tobacco control strategy."

The coalition, which has a membership that includes representatives from the Hawaii branches of the American Cancer Society, and the American Heart and Lung associations, is sponsoring Koop's appearance in the isles. Koop was to speak at a "No Smoking in Paradise" program today at the state Capitol.

Yesterday, a Senate bill aimed at banning smoking in enclosed areas of state buildings, except for state hospitals and prisons, lost momentum.

The House Judiciary Committee did not hold a hearing on the measure before a midnight deadline yesterday, which means the bill has stalled.

Koop said: "If (lawmakers) don't spend this (settlement) money wisely, you may be able to build some bridges, you may be able to fix some telephone poles and that sort of stuff. But you will still have tobacco as the No. 1 cause of death and you will you rue the day that you didn't spend that money to get rid of that scourge." For every cigarette smoked, it takes seven minutes off of the smoker's life, Koop said.

Koop advocates using Hawaii's settlement funds for programs to prevent isle youths from smoking, to launch a general anti-tobacco campaign and to get "nicotine addicts" into programs that would give them a chance to quit.

Koop, however, doesn't favor a ban on cigarettes and tobacco products.

"If you could suddenly by magic get rid of all the tobacco on this island and no more would come on this island, you'll still have to deal with all of the nicotine addicts on this island, who at this present time are your friends. And they're well behaved," Koop said. "But if you were to take tobacco out of their lives, they will kill to get it."