From the PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE:
States are reaping what they sowed from shortsighted policy decisions about funding anti-smoking programs. The latest proof is a new government report that concludes adult smoking rates, which had been declining for three decades, stopped going down over the past five years…
The reason for the plateau, the CDC concludes, is that tobacco companies have increased their efforts at marketing and selling, while states have cut funding to combat tobacco use. CDC Director Thomas Frieden said states spent $700 million last year on anti-smoking programs, while the tobacco industry spent $12 billion to promote its products…
California has made a big investment in anti-smoking education and smoking-cessation programs. The return in health-care savings on that expense has been huge: Smoking dropped 40 percent and lung cancer rates fell four times faster than in the rest of the United States…
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