LANSING - Michigan ranks low in its spending on smoking control programs, despite having a high number of smokers, according to a national group.
Most of the 44 other states in the national tobacco settlement created new smoking-cessation programs, but neither Michigan nor North Dakota is using any of the money that way, according to the National Center for Tobacco-Free Kids in Washington, D.C.
And Michigan has a high smoking rate, with about 2 million smokers. Locally, in an MSU study conducted in 2000, 29.4 percent of respondents reported smoking in the month prior to the survey - meaning there could be more than 11,000 smokers attending MSU.
The national center, whose supporters include the American Heart Association and American Cancer Society, ranked the states by how much of the tobacco money they spend, per state resident, on anti-smoking programs.
Gov. John Engler and state lawmakers have decided to pour three-fourths of Michigan’s share of the settlement into a college scholarship program and the Michigan Education Assessment Program, which administers statewide standardized school tests.
State health department officials say that independent of the tobacco settlement, Michigan is spending about $8 million a year on an anti-smoking program it has had for years.
“A lot of other states started programs with the money, but we’ve been putting general-fund dollars into tobacco programs since the 1980s,” said Geralyn Lasher, spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Community Health. “More money doesn’t necessarily equal better results. We want programs that are outcome-based and are working.”
The Center for Tobacco-Free Kids says the $8 million-a-year program falls far short of the minimum of $54 million advised by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Based on Michigan’s population, the CDC estimates that is what a comprehensive anti-smoking effort would cost.
“If Michigan doesn’t spend that in the next few years, you’re going to see its smoking rates significantly higher than in surrounding states,” said Peter Fisher, a spokesman for the anti-tobacco group.
Some MSU officials agree, saying more money needs to be allocated towards prevention campaigns.
Jonathan Kermiet, a health educator at Olin Health Center, said with lung cancer replacing breast cancer as the No. 1 killer of women, more programs should be established to raise awareness for females.
“I think that the state spending the settlement money on scholarships is misguided,” he said. “It should be used for what it was intended for. I think a lot of people may want to quit but do not have the resources. Officials should begin to think outside the box to creatively develop incentive-based programs that will encourage people to quit smoking.”
However, under the settlement, the states are free to spend the money as they wish. Michigan expects to collect $8.5 billion over 25 years from the $250-billion, 46-state, 1998 settlement. Funds began flowing in 1999.
Michigan’s share will average $350 million a year.
State leaders designated $1 billion toward development of a corridor of life-sciences research centers stretching from Detroit west to Grand Rapids, which includes Wayne State University, the University of Michigan, MSU and the Van Andel Institute.
And the state plans to use about $72.5 million to balance the state budget. Most of the rest will go to health care research, nursing homes and other health-related programs.
Other states have used their settlement share for nontobacco use, including: $2 million toward law enforcement in Ohio, $315 million for property tax relief and an income tax rebate in Illinois, and $269 million directed to Wisconsin’s general fund for various purposes, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Republican state Sen. John J. Schwarz of Battle Creek, one of three physicians in the state Legislature, defends the Republicans’ tobacco settlement priorities.
Schwarz is one of 11 directors of the American Legacy Foundation, a national organization using a separate $1.6 billion pool of tobacco settlement money exclusively for smoking prevention among teen-agers over the next five years nationwide.
“We do spend the (settlement) money on things that are both preventive and aimed at the treatment of medical conditions,” he said.
Michigan’s $8 million outlay for anti-smoking programs amounts to less than $1 per resident and ranks in the bottom 10 among the 50 states.
Neighboring Ohio last year spent $5.43 per capita ($61.5 million total), Wisconsin $4.63 per resident ($24.6 million) and Illinois $2.63 per person ($31.7 million) on smoking cessation efforts.
Information taken from State News archives is included in this article. State News staff writer Audrey Barney contributed to this report.
