The state's decision to spend only $600,000 this year to help smokers quit and prevent kids from getting addicted is "embarrassing," according to leaders of the American Cancer Society and Heart Association, which ranked New Jersey 46th in the nation for its anti-smoking efforts.
The public health groups used Wednesday's "Great American Smokeout," a national smoking cessation event, to call attention to New Jersey's decision to use nearly all of its proceeds from a national settlement with tobacco companies and cigarette taxes to help plug a huge budget deficit.
"The fact that New Jersey has one of the highest tobacco taxes in the country and spends less than 0.1 percent of its extensive tobacco revenue on prevention programs is unconscionable," said Howard Levite, spokesman for the American Heart Association.
State Deputy Health Commissioner Susan Walsh called the ranking "unfair" because it does not take into account $2.6 million New Jersey gets for disease management and prevention from the federal government that address nicotine addiction.
About $475,000 of state money is spent on inspectors who visit stores to make sure patrons younger than 19 are not buying cigarettes, Walsh said. Another $100,000 of state funding goes to the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey to train professionals whose patients want to quit smoking.
"It's not a complete picture. We manage far more'' than $600,000, Walsh said.
Governor Christie's budget approved by the Legislature took $7.5 million used last year on smoking cessation programs and transferred nearly all of it to the general fund.
"The state is otherwise so advanced — leaders in comprehensive cancer control with a model program," said Arnold Baskies, board president of the American Cancer Society for New York and New Jersey. "But this data is embarrassing to the state."
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