Here's how some of our states are spending the money earmarked to help educate youngsters about the perils of smoking and make decisions not to smoke. The 1998 legal settlement allocated millions of dollars to the states for this purpose, but few strings were attached, and enforcement wasn't even breathed. So here's what's happening...
Humboldt County, California, received $1.3 million and spent $0 on smoking prevention but gave the money to a project to improve health care in jails.
Pisgah High School, North Carolina, received a $250,000 grant from the tobacco settlement to buy computer-operated lathes and mills.
The State of Ohio has its top officials glowing after receiving a $5 billion payment for selling tobacco bonds.
In Washington DC council members voted to spend $116 million in tobacco settlement funds on a project to sell and rehabilitate a collapsing hospital in the city.
Connecticut decided to spend $1.7 million in tobacco settlement cash on various medical research projects, none of them related to tobacco.
Pennsylvania gives details for spending the $424.4 million it will receive from the Tobacco Settlement Fund in 2007-08 and reports that 12 percent will be spent on tobacco use prevention and cessation. The rest, as allowed by the fund, goes to various health-related programs including health investment research (30%) and health research (19%).
That's only the tip of the iceberg.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment