The tobacco settlement of all time

Remember 1988?

That was the year when 46 states plus the District of Columbia were told they would be receiving a total of about $250 billion over the next 25 years. The money comes from the settlement the courts determined should be paid by tobacco companies to sponsor tobacco education and reduce the rate of smoking.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) made recommendations for the amount of money that should be allocated to each state to spend on tobacco education programs.

The latest statistical report shows that Idaho is near the bottom of the list when it comes to spending the settlement money on promoting non-smoking. Only 12 states were lower, but Idaho did report spending 8.2 percent of the state's allotment in the fiscal year ending in 2007. That's better than five states (Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, and Tennessee) who spent nothing at all of the money that was given to the states to encourage a smoke-free lifestyle for children and adolescents.

Ironically, Mississippi was heralded as the star of the program for the first years of its existence. The poverty-ridden state actually met the CDC's recommended spending allotment--until last year. That's when Governor Haley Barbour began lobbying furiously to sidestep the program. His former job as a tobacco lobbyist obviously had something to do with his pro-tobacco campaign.

Is your sense of justice stirred by this? What can you do? What should all of us do?