An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Apply Benjamin Franklin's truism to state tobacco prevention efforts, and it can be said that an annual $3 million of prevention is worth $50 million of cure. Preserve funds for tobacco prevention and control as a necessary investment against costly tobacco ailments down the road.

As it is, just 6.5 percent of tobacco settlement money now goes into the Hawaii Tobacco Prevention and Control Trust Fund: That's $3.2 million this year, down from $10 million yearly from 1999 through 2001. The Legislature diverts heftier chunks of the fund to other purposes, such as 28 percent to the University of Hawaii's new medical school and 25.5 percent to the state general fund through 2015. Despite overwhelming public testimony, House Bill 2887 moving through this Legislature aims to totally raid the tobacco-control portion through 2015 to boost the anemic general fund.

“;I know the budget is tight right now ... but every dollar we spend on prevention saves so much more in health care costs,”; Dr. Elizabeth Tam, the trust fund's advisory board chairwoman and head of the Department of Medicine at the UH John A. Burns School of Medicine, told the Star-Bulletin's Helen Altonn.

“;A Decade of Saving Money, Saving Lives”; is a recent report that says the fund is making a “;tremendous impact”; in preventing smoking and helping people quit. “;In the last six years alone, the decrease in smoking prevalence has saved 14,000 lives,”; it said.

The Coalition for a Tobacco Free Hawaii agrees on the strides.

“;We saved lives and saved state money. We saved over $400 million in direct health-related costs over eight years attributed to smoking,”; said Trisha Nakamura, the group's policy and advocacy director.

But a decade of progress is in jeopardy: Smoking and tobacco consumption have increased in states where tobacco control funding has been cut.

A 2009 report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that while U.S. smoking death rates have plunged, states with the highest smoking rates have the highest death rates from smoking. Hawaii, encouragingly, was at the bottom of that list with Utah, with the lowest death rates due to smoking.

A key is prevention among the young. The tobacco-free coalition says 1,400 kids start smoking every year—but that strides have been made in reducing youth smoking from one in four youths, to one in 10.

On Wednesday's 7th annual Kick Butts Day rally at the state Capitol, hundreds protested the anti-smoking fund raid, noting that the tobacco and alcohol industries outspend prevention and counter-marketing efforts by millions of dollars each year, making it increasingly difficult to combat the negative effects of their marketing on youth.

As state lawmakers rattle coffers to meet a $1.2 billion shortfall, successful programs risk being depleted. Yes, these are tough financial times. But an investment of $3 million annually to head off $50 million in smoking-related costs seems well worth it—in dollars and cents, and in lives saved and better lived.